ABSTRACT
Despite the claims of many anticult activists, the appearance of new or alternative religions is not a phenomenon unique to the late twentieth century. Throughout history and across cultures, new religions have arisen in response to a variety of factors; often they have espoused millennial beliefs. The origins and subsequent careers of new religions cannot easily be reduced to a simple pattern; nor can their relations to millennialism. The connections between contemporary “cults” and millennial beliefs and movements should be considered fluid and strongly conditioned by specific contexts. In their earliest phases of development, new religious movements are particularly volatile; patterns of leadership, forms of organization, systems of belief, and relations to the surrounding social environment are all in flux. Some groups with millennial beliefs may preserve them as an unshakeable part of their core identity, while others may experience a millennial phase or phases of limited duration, whether as part of a rhythm of rising and falling millennial expectations, the climax of a gradual buildup, or an initial commitment that is gradually compromised. In any case, understanding the millennial beliefs of some new religions is greatly complicated by the highly controversial nature of groups labeled “cults.”
