La recherche sur les questions touchant aux leaders de groupes sectaires et à la violence sectaire a mené à l’étude du rôle joué par l’autorité charismatique, tel que défini par Weber (1922) et repris par Dawson (2010). À ce sujet, d’éminents spécialistes des études sur les sectes sont d’avis qu’un vide important dans la recherche sur l’autorité charismatique dans le contexte de groupes sectaires et de nouveaux mouvements religieux reste à combler (ajouter les références ‘d’éminents spécialistes’). Ce mémoire vise à contribuer à l’étude cet aspect négligé, le rôle de l’autorité charismatique dans le recours è la violence dans les groupes sectaires, par une étude de cas historique d’un groupe de la Réformation protestante du XVIe siècle, le Royaume anabaptiste de Münster (AKA), sous l’influence d’un leader charismatique, Jan van Leiden. Cette recherche s’intéresse plus spécifiquement aux divers moyens utilisés par Jan van Leiden, pour asseoir son autorité charismatique et à ceux qui ont exercé une influence sur le recours à des actes de violence. L’étude de cas est basé sur le matériel provenant de deux comptes-rendus des faits relatés par des participants aux événements qui se sont déroulés à pendant le règne de Leiden à la tête du AKA. L’analyse du matériel recueilli a été réalisé à la lumière de trois concepts théoriques actuels concernant le comportement cultuel et le recours à la violence.. L’application de ces concepts théoriques a mené à l’identification de quatre principales stratégies utilisées par Jan van Leiden pour établir son autorité charismatique auprès de ses disciples, soit : 1) la menace du millénarisme, 2) l’exploitation d’une relation bilatérale parasitique avec ses disciples, 3) l’utilisation de l’extase religieuse et de la prophétie, 4) l’utilisation du désir de voir survenir des changements sociaux et religieux. En plus de ces quatre stratégies, trois autres dimensions ont été retenues comme signes que le recours à la violence dans le Royaume anabaptiste de Münster résultait de l’établissement de l’autorité charismatique de son leader, soit : 1) la violence liée au millénarisme, 2) la notion d’identité et de violence partagée, 3) des facteurs systémiques, physiques et culturels menant à la violence. / Research surrounding questions regarding cultic behaviors, leadership and issues of sectarian violence has lead to the study of charismatic leadership. Prominent cultic scholars have identified that there remains a rather large void in research when analyzing charismatic leadership within the context of sectarian groups and new religious movements. This thesis will attempt to bridge that gap through a historical case study analysis of a 16th century protestant reformation group, the Anabaptist Kingdom of Münster (AKM), under the influence of a charismatic leader, Jan van Leiden. More specifically, this research will focus on the various means utilized by the group’s leader, to establish charismatic leadership and how this affected the group’s recourse to acts of violence. The case material was obtained through two primary source accounts from participants in the events that unfolded in Münster during Leiden’s reign. The analysis of this material was made using three current theoretical concepts on cultic behavior and violence, that is Casoni (2000), Robbins (2002) and Dawson (2010). It appears that four major strategies were utilized by Jan van Leiden to establish his charismatic leadership over his followers: (1) the threat of millenarianism, (2) the exploitation of a bilateral parasitic relationship with his followers, (3) the use of religious ecstasy and prophecy, and (4) the use of their desire for social and religious change. By contrasting the results of the analyses undertaken in chapters three and four, three factors that have played a crucial role in Leiden’s charismatic leadership, as it relates to the recourse to violence in the AKM, will be identified. These are: (1) millennial violence, (2) shared identity, and (3) macro-level dimensions.

English summary This dissertation focuses on the apocalyptic fiction of Thomas Pynchon and analyses various representations of the apocalypse as "revelation" or "unveiling of truth" in its various aspects and manifestations (i.e. paranoia, angels, etc.) in the novels V., The Crying of Lot 49 and Gravity's Rainbow. The theme of apocalypse as a revelation concerning the true nature of the world has a key role to play in the above mentioned novels as well as significance for Pynchon's protagonists. This is so despite the fact that such revelation is depicted as illusory and mostly unattainable, since these novels are all based on the premise that there is no ultimate truth, and therefore, there is nothing that can be revealed. Pynchon's characters get only a revelation of individual truth, and thus theirs is a private apocalypse. When analysing the role of the apocalypse in Western culture, it is also important to analyse the role of millenarian expectations as well as the supposed communication process between God and people, a process depicted as being mediated by angels. The interpretation of God's message can never be precise and perfect, since its meaning is distorted during the communication process. On the rhetorical level, this distortion is equal to metaphor, which in turn causes feelings of paranoia...

本論文以十七世紀英國千禧年思想為脈絡，從神學的角度檢視密爾頓千禧年思想的發展。千禧年思想在十六世紀時被斥為異端，但卻在十七世紀初興起，並於英國大革命時達到前所未有的高峰。密爾頓早年並未相信千禧年王國會降臨人世。從密爾頓1640年之前所寫的短詩中，我們發現他期待這個世界結束後，接續而來的是天國。然而隨著內戰爆發，密爾頓也受到當時盛行的千禧年思想所感染；因而在其反對聖公會神職制度文章中，密爾頓熱切企盼基督早日再臨人世，建立千禧年王國。唯此熱度很快就消退，直到1649年查爾斯一世戰敗後，密爾頓又重燃對千禧年王國的渴望。在為弒君辯護的文章中，密爾頓懇求基督速速降臨，在這個世界興起第五王國。但1652年眼睛全盲後，密爾頓對於忍耐有了更深刻的「洞視」，因而也重新調整他的千禧年思想。密爾頓終於體認到主的日子是無法預測的，人只能忍耐等候神。但他仍然持守對於千禧年王國的信仰。1660年當查爾斯二世即將復辟之時，密爾頓最後一次表達他的千禧年思想。他希望英國共和體制能延續到千禧年王國的來臨。然而這次他並未表達對千禧年王國的急切性。在密爾頓的兩部史詩──《失樂園》與《復樂園》──當中，我們看不到任何的千禧年思想。老詩人似乎重拾他早年的思想：天國的盼望。但同時密爾頓也鼓吹大家追求神在人內心創建的樂園；也就是說，神的國已經降臨：神的國並不是外在物質的邦國，而是內在屬靈的國度。 / This dissertation aims to discuss Milton in the context of seventeenth-century English millenarianism. The writer examines the development of Milton’s millenarian ideas through a theological lens. Millenarianism was condemned heretical in the sixteenth century, but it arose at the beginning of the seventeenth century and reached its zenith during the English Revolution. At first, Milton did not believe in the realization of an earthly millennial kingdom. In his early short poems written before 1640, we only find his hope for a kingdom of heaven after the end of the world. However, with the outbreak of the Civil War, Milton was influenced by the then widespread millenarianism, and in his anti-prelatical tracts he expected the imminent coming of Christ to inaugurate an earthly kingdom of God. But his fervency for millenarianism was soon quenched, and was not rekindled until the defeat of Charles I in 1649. In his regicide tracts, he urged the imminence of Christ’s Advent to usher in a terrestrial fifth monarchy. Yet his total blindness in 1652 gave him a deeper “insight” into the value of patience, causing him to readjust his attitude toward millenarianism. After two wrong guesses, Milton finally came to realize in terms of experience that the Day of the Lord was unpredictable, and that all he could do was to wait patiently for God’s time. But he still maintained his belief in the realization of an earthly kingdom of God. On the eve of the Restoration of Charles II in 1660, Milton for the last time uttered his millenarian hope. He wished the English Commonwealth would last until the arrival of God’s millennial kingdom. Only this time he did not urge its imminence. Millenarianism was absent in Milton’s two epics—Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. In them the old bard seemed to resume his earlier stance: anticipating a heavenly kingdom of God. But he also emphasized the importance of enjoying a paradise within heart—that is, the kingdom of God has already arrived, and it is not an external, physical monarchy, but an inward, spiritual realm.

Between 1648 CE and 1666 CE, news, rumours, and theories about the messiah and the Lost Tribes of Israel were disseminated amongst diverse populations of Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Employing a world history methodology, this thesis follows three sets of such narratives that were spread through the American colonies, England, the Dutch Republic, the Italian peninsula and the Ottoman Empire, connecting people separated by linguistic, religious, national, and continental divides. This dissertation starts by situating this transmission within a broader context that dates back to 1492 CE and then traces the three-stage process in which eschatological constructs originating in the Americas in the 1640s were transmitted across Europe to the Levant in the 1650s, preparing the minds of Jews and Christians for the return of these ideas from the Ottoman Empire in the 1660s. In this manner, this study seeks to make three contributions to the existing literature. It brings together often isolated historiographies, it unearths fresh archival sources, and it provides a new conceptual framework. Overall, it argues that one cannot understand the growth of apocalyptic tension that reached its peak in 1666 without examining the major historical events and processes that began in 1492 and affected Jews, Christians, and Muslims across the Atlantic and Mediterranean worlds.

Throughout the seventeenth century, numerous Scots became convinced that the major political and religious upheavals of their age signified the fulfillment of, or further unfolding of, the vivid prophecies described in the Book of Revelation which foretell of the final consummation of all things. To date, however, an in-depth analysis of the evolution of Scottish apocalyptic belief during the seventeenth century has never been undertaken. This thesis utilizes a wide variety of source material to demonstrate the existence of a cohesive, persistent, and largely conservative tradition of apocalyptic thought in Scotland that spanned the years 1588 to 1688. Chapter One examines several influential commentaries on the Book of Revelation published by notable Scots during the decades either side of the Union of Crowns. These works reveal many of the principal characteristics that formed the basis of the Scottish apocalyptic tradition. The most important of these traits which became a consistent feature of the tradition was the rejection of millenarianism. In recent years, historians have exaggerated the influence of millenarian ideals in Scotland during the Covenanting movement which began in 1638. Chapter Two argues that Scottish Covenanters consistently denounced millenarianism as a dangerous, subversive doctrine that could lead to the religious radicalism espoused by sixteenth-century German Anabaptists. Chapter Three looks at political and religious factors which led to the general decline of apocalyptic expectancy in Scotland during the Interregnum. It also demonstrates how, despite this decline, Scottish apocalyptic thinkers continued to uphold the primary traits of the apocalyptic tradition which surfaced over the first half of the century. Lastly, Chapter Four explains how state-enforced religious persecution of Scottish Presbyterians during the Restoration period led to the radicalisation of the tradition and inspired the violent actions of Covenanter extremists who believed they had been chosen by God to act as instruments of his divine vengeance in the latter-days.