eschatology

Nativistic movements

Although usually associated with societies in the Judeo-Christian tradition, eschatological and messianic movements have emerged in various societies around the world. For example, the people of the Andaman Islands in the Bay of Bengal believe that the Endtime will come when, at the command of the god Puluga, an earthquake will destroy the earth and the bridge of heaven. The souls and spirits of the dead will then arise, and humans and animals will lead happy lives without sickness and death. According to the Andamanese, the impatient spirits of the underworld are already shaking the roots of the palm tree that supports the earth to bring about the end of this world and its resurrection, and someAustralian Aboriginals claim that the end of the world will come when the moral world order legislated by the gods is no longer upright.

Several of these societies hold messianic beliefs structured around the myth of the return of the original god or man. The Gabonese of equatorial Africa believe that Kmvum (the original man) once lived among them but that their behaviour brought on the “day of separation.” His return, ... (200 of 16,630 words)