ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the endogenous conditions and processes within religious movements which appear to enhance volatility and the potential for violence. Evaluation of the relative salience of exogenous and endogenous contributions to particular explosive events are highly controversial and sometimes elicit accusations of "blaming the victim." The exogenous factor of persecution is only one limiting condition on any explanation of religious violence and sectarian volatility in terms of apocalyptic worldviews. The chapter explores some residual factors that are somewhat related to both apocalypticism and charisma. Apocalyptic belief systems and millennial visions of the imminent "last days" or "end times" appear to characterize almost all violent religious sects. Charismatic authority is a factor that may affect the volatility and violent potential of religious movements. Charismatic authority is really a hallmark, almost by definition, of noninstitutionalized movements that therefore partake of whatever instability or volatility is associated with charismatic leadership.
