“Every Messianic movement known to history has arisen in a society that has been subjected to severe stress of contact with an alien culture—involving military defeat, epidemic, and acculturation”

— Peter Farb

Man's Rise to Civilization (1968)

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Peter Farb 92

American academic and writer 1929–1980

Peter Farb (1929–1980) American academic and writer

Man's Rise to Civilization (1968)
Context: The Ghost Dance made its unfulfillable promises at a time when the Indians were ready to rebel. The teachings of the Native American Church spread at a time when the Indians were ready to admit defeat.... The problem they had to solve was the same as any messianic movement: how to exist with an alien culture yet remain spiritually autonomous. The solution had been to borrow freely from White culture while salvaging what is considered important in Indian religious thought.<!-- p. 269

“Almost every messianic movement in the world came into being as a result of hallucinatory visions of a prophet. One point must be emphasized about the prophet of a messianic movement: He is not a schizophrenic, as was so long assumed. A schizophrenic with religious paranoia will state that he is God, Jesus, the Great Spirit, or some other supernatural being. The prophet, on the other hand, never states that he is supernatural—only that he has been in contact with supernatural powers.”

Peter Farb (1929–1980) American academic and writer

Of course, after his death, his disciples tend to deify him or at least give him saintly status.
Man's Rise to Civilization (1968)

“All routinized religions today (including the Native American Church, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity) are successful descendents of what originated as messianic movements—that is, the vision of a new way of life for a culture under extreme stress.”

Peter Farb (1929–1980) American academic and writer

p, 125
Man's Rise to Civilization (1968)

“The movement of the progressive societies has hitherto been a movement from Status to Contract.”

Henry James Sumner Maine (1822–1888) British comparative jurist and historian

‘Ancient Law’ (1861) ch. 5.

“The history of the Church of Christ from the days of the Apostles has been a history of spiritual movements.”

Henry Liddon (1829–1890) British theologian

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 4.

“The Indians have not only refused to vanish, but have… managed to salvage a part of their native culture through revitalization and messianic movements.”

Peter Farb (1929–1980) American academic and writer

Man's Rise to Civilization (1968)
Context: The Indians have not only refused to vanish, but have... managed to salvage a part of their native culture through revitalization and messianic movements.... they are of further interest to anthropologists for the light they shed on such movements in general.<!-- p. 271