The History of a Modern Millennial Movement : The Southcottians

A feverish expectation of the end of the world seems an unlikely accompaniment to middle-class respectability. But it was precisely her interest in millennial thinking that led Jane Shaw to a group of genteel terraced townhouses in the English county town of Bedford. Inside their unassuming grey-brick exteriors Shaw found something extraordinary. For here, within the ‘Ark’, lived two members of the Panacea Society, last survivors of the remaining Southcottian prophetic communities in Britain. And these individuals were the heirs to a rich archive charting not just their own apocalyptic sect, but also the histories of the many groups and their leaders who from the early nineteenth century onwards had followed the beliefs of the self-styled prophetess and prospective mother of the Messiah (‘Shiloh’), Joanna Southcott, who died in 1814. Placing its subjects in a global context, this is the first book to explore the religious thinking of all the Southcottians. It reveals a transnational movement with striking and innovative ideas: not just about prophecy and the coming apocalypse, but also about politics, gender, class and authority. The volume will sell to scholars and students of religion and cultural studies as well as social history. Front Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of Plates Acknowledgements Notes on Contributors Chapter 1: Introducing the Southcottians Chapter 2: Joanna Southcott’s Apocalyptic Theology, 1792–1814 Chapter 3: Southcottians in Britain, 1801–51: Revealing a Popular Religion Chapter 4: A Southcottian Methodist: The Prophetic Odyssey of George Turner Chapter 5: The Emergence of Southcottian Israelite Theology, 1815–63 Chapter 6: Christian Israelites in the English-Speaking World, 1823–63 Chapter 7: The Jezreelites and their World, 1875–1922 Chapter 8: Israelites in America: The House of David and Mary’s City of David, Benton Harbor Chapter 9: Southcottians in the Early Twentieth Century: The Panacea Society Chapter 10: A Southcottian Healing Panacea, 1924–2012 Chapter 11: Southcottian Archives: A Global Guide Bibliography of Works Connected to the Oxford Prophecy Project Index