Rather than strive for uniformities . . . it would surely be more fruitful to look for pertinent differences. In one situation, for example, factors a,b,c,d,e,f, might seem to be present; in another situation factors c,e,g,h,f, might seem to be present, in a third situation we might find factors a,f,h,i, to be present .... Carrying on with such a procedure, looking for differences, specific relations - of which, as yet, we really have small knowledge - might be adduced (11).

List 1. Examples of Nondeprived Millennial Groups

1. The Free Spirit millennial sects, which arose in Europe from the thirteenth century onward, included people from the privileged strata of society as well as less affluent members of the intelligentsia. For example, some of the Free Spirit Brethren came from wealth; well-established family backgrounds (77). The Free Spirit millennial prophets [36] appealed especially to idle women from the elite of urban society (78). This is not a case of the uprooted or the poor banning together in order to compensate for their frustrations.

2. A little-known millennial group was that headed by the Wirsberg brothers in Europe in the 1450s and 1460s. These brothers, Janko and Livin of Wirsberg, acted as millennial catalyst figures despite the fact that they were rich and powerful (79).

3. Members of every class and occupation were involved in the millennialism that spread through Florence at the end of the fifteenth century. The millennial catalyst figure here, the famous civic reformer Savonarola, put forward a worldview that spoke to political officials and the upper class as well as to the poor (80). Donald Weinstein, a major expositor of Savonarolan millennialism, writes that it was surely "a case of millenarianism that did not arise out of the protests of the poor and cannot be explained by economic crisis" (81). In this case, millennialism was not the religion or worldview of the deprived. Rather, Savonarola's millennial group instruction was taken up as the basis for the civic program of the Florentine republic itself.

[37] 4. A well-lalown brand of millennialism of the Middle Ages was that of Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135-1202 C.E.). No special deprivation or crisis occurred in Calabria, where Joachim revived Christian millennialism. As Theodore Olson writes, "At most, one can suggest that Joachim found the exegetical practices of the period inadequate to support his need to understand the shape of the scriptures as a whole" (82). This situation hardly counts as deprivation. The rise of Joachimism, the movement that based itself on Joachim, was not associated with deprivation either. Rather, the Franciscan Spirituals who were at the center of the movement were made up largely of people who had abandoned great wealth (83). Norman Cohn writes, "The Spirituals were drawn mainly from the more privileged strata of society, notably from the mixture of noble and merchant families, which formed the dominant class in Italian towns" ( 84).

5. Joachimite millennialism spawned a millennial group among the sixteenth-century Spanish colonizers of New Spain. Geronimo De Mendieta, a Franciscan friar, led this millennial group, which acted on behalf of Spain's monarchy. During the reign of Charles V, Mendieta's group held episcopal, governmental, and economic power (85). Far from being deprived or oppressed, Mendieta himself described the Spaniards as the "whales" and the natives as the "sardines" (86).

6. The Skoptzi millennial sect in Russia, as well, did not arise among peripheral groups or among the economically marginalized. The sect included noblemen, state officials, and the rich among its members (87). Even though the sect was not caused by economic or class-status deprivation, its worldview was clearly millennial. The group expected an [38] imminent judgment that would usher in the millennial kingdom. One uniqueness of the group's beliefs was their conviction that the millennial kingdom would be sexless. As a preparation for this, the group's millennial plan included the castration of all males (88).

7. The seventeenth-century Jewish messianic movement led by Sabbatai Sevi is another group whose cause cannot be explained either in terms of economic deprivation or in terms of observable stresses such as class tensions (89). After Sabbatai Sevi revealed himself as the Messiah in May 1665, he attracted a following that included burghers and elders, wealthy merchants, and rabbinic scholars (90). It cannot be argued that persecution of Polish and Russian Jews was an important cause in the rise of the movement (91). Rather, as Gershom Scholem states, "The messianic wave swept no less over communities that had had no immediate experience of oppression and bloodshed than over those which had" (92). For example, in the prosperous Jewish community in Amsterdam, the messianic enthusiasm was just as great as in other communities. In fact, it was precisely those communities that were least poor or persecuted that led in the propagation of the Sabbatian millennial beliefs.

8. The well-to-do Irvingite Catholic Apostolic Church, which formed in nineteenth-century Britain, was not caused by deprivation; its general membership was of the middle or upper class (93). The leaders of the [39] group in particular belonged to the elite of society and some were members of the wealthiest classes. P E. Shaw describes these leaders, the so-called Irvingitc apostles, as follows: "Were they a persecuted company of people, or such as had not made good in the world, it would be easy to account for [their belief that they would be rulers in the millennium] in terms of psychological compensation" (94). In fact they were neither poor nor persecuted: One of these so-called apostles, Frank Sitwell, owned Barmoor Castle in Northumberland, and John Bate Cardale, held to be the founder of the group, was affluent too (95).' A third "apostle," Henry Drummond, was one of the wealthiest persons in England. Further, Drummond was a member of Parliament and belonged to aristocratic circles (96). Even more than wealth, membership in England's gentry or aristocracy meant great status, and several Irvingite leaders shared this distinction with Drummond. Thus, Spencer Perceval, another Irvingite "apostle" who served in Parliament, was also of aristocratic family (97). He was descended from the fourth earl of Northampton. His fellow Irvingite Thomas Carlyle joined the titled gentry when lie received the dormant title of Baron Carlyle in 1824.

9. Modern Western culture also provides examples of millennial groups that have not suffered empirically observable deprivations. For instance, the Brotherhood of the Sun, a late-twentieth-century millennial group in Santa Barbara, California, owned a chain of supermarkets and warehouses as well as a central headquarters on a 4,000-acre ranch. The millennial catalyst figure of the group, Norman Paulsen, had an annual personal salary of $150,000 (98). Burridge writes, "By and large, the participants in Californian apocalyptic, charismatic, and prophetic movements do not reveal those relative deprivations, frustrations, etc. so beloved by so many students of the phenomena" (99).

[40] 10. Former President Ronald Reagan has received much publicity for his great interest in the apocalyptic sections of the Bible and his belief in an imminent global cataclysm (100). Reagan is held to have identified elements of the international scene daring his tenures in public office with biblical apocalyptic figures and references. G. Clark Chapman, Jr., reports that "While governor of California, in 1971 Reagan startled guests at a formal dinner by launching an interpretation of Ezekiel 38-39: . . . 'Gog must be Russia' . . . `It can't be long now'' (101). Later when president of the United States, Reagan said in a 1953 phone conversation: "I turn back to your ancient prophets in the Old Testament and the signs foretelling Armageddon . . . believe me, hey certainly describe the things we're going through" (102).

Postive Motivating Factors Must Be the Focus of Investigation. Different types of social arenas harbor millennial groups - commonality is found only at the narrower group level. Therefore, millennial groups cannot be characterized as always arising in reaction to a situation of deprivation. This discovery helps us do, justice to millennial groups' creative and active aspects. This is an important corrective, because deprivation theory has too long viewed millennial religion only in negative or compensatory terms (126). By the same token, the factors motivating millennialism have been viewed too one-sidedly as lacks or negative elements. Constructive or active motivating [47] factors are characteristically present behind millennial groups, and these have been insufficiently explicated. Therefore, future investigation should focus on millennial groups and their positive causes. After all, the creative activity, of the millennial institution, not an amorphous deprivation void, is what produces apocalyptic literature.
        One actual positive factor allowing for millennialism is a belief predisposition. Simply put, a millennial group will not form unless the belief that apocalyptic events can happen is allowed (127). Thus, the traditions or literature carried by the group must allow for a radical inbreaking of God. At the least, the group must have a linear view of history and believe in a God outside of history (128).
        Beyond this, potential millennial groups are often further predisposed (129). Events can call currently held worldviews into question creating cognitive dissonance - a situation ripe for millennialism. For example, the Irvingites (see List 1, item 8) arose in an atmosphere predisposed toward millennialism (130). As the millennial group was coming into existence, an outbreak of glossolalia occurred in Scotland. At the same time, eschatological expectations were raised by the sermons of Rev. James Stewart, a traveling preacher (131). Finally, the recent revolutions in Europe were taken as a sign of a great apostasy, that God would not tolerate. The French Revolution aimed at "liberating" humanity from religion and royal authority. The Revolution, which ushered in years of instability in the rest of Europe, horrified the upper-class supporters of the English crown (132). Indeed, the events they observed around them contradicted their mundane view of the world, creating a mood of apocalyptic tension.
        Similarly, before Sabbatian millennialism arose, a predisposition for belief in the imminence of the Messiah's arrival was excited by kabbalism. Indeed, by the seventeenth century, kabbalism had created a widespread [48] expectation that apocalyptic events were imminent (133). As a result, a predisposition toward millennial belief was rife both among the common people and in the writings of leading rabbis.
        Given such a predisposition, a catalyst such as an influential literary work, or a teacher, or a visionary is often a second positive motivating factor in the rise of millennialism (134). Such a catalyst brings any latent eschatological expectations to the surface, acts as a symbol for the group, and helps to bring an apocalyptic group-vision to a focus (135). The millennial [49] catalyst figure often seizes upon the ancient myths of the group and integrates them into a linear view of world history. An apocalyptic worldview is generated as mythic paradigms are fused with a futuristic type of world-historical thinking (136). Alternatively, if apocalyptic traditions are accessible to the group, catalysis may involve giving these traditions a central place in the group's consciousness. Thus, the worldview of an older apocalyptic writing may undergo recrudescence when the work is drawn on for guidance at a time of worldview reconstruction. Because familiarity with apocalyptic traditions and writings usually reflects systematic study; scribalism can be an important factor in the formation of a millennial group.
        In the case of the Irvingites, Edward Irving's preaching of a corning cataclysmic end provoked a new universe of meaning among his predisposed group. This new symbolic universe better fit the group's experience, accounting for the glossolalia and the European revolutions. At the same time, it also consisted of beliefs and values incompatible Nvith the group members' older worldview.

Advantages of a Worldview Theory over Deprivation Theory. A focus on positive factors that allow for a group's new apocalyptic worldview overcomes the deprivation model's tendency toward psychological explanation. This tendency, is reductionistic, making millennialism look like a coping mechanism. Also, because deprivation is a psychological term, focusing on individuals' feelings and psyches, by itself deprivation theory does not allow sociologists to discuss group issues and group formation. Thus, scholars have tried to combine deprivation theory with other approaches, like cognitive dissonance theory, in order better to move from individuals' psychological states to group attempts at resolving psychological turmoil [50] through worldview reconstruction (137). Scholars' new sociological sophistication, however, in fact renders deprivation theory unnecessary. Worldviews, the creation of groups, not individuals, are indeed social phenomena (138); but groups re-create worldviews for various reasons and not only in reaction to conditions of deprivation. Thus, focusing on what facilitates a group's creation of a new apocalyptic worldview helps push our sociological understanding of millennialism forward, as long as we remember that deprivation is not always at issue.
        Data such as that of List 1 above show that deprivation is not a necessary cause of a group's creation or adoption of an apocalyptic worldview. The evidence shows that a change in worldview can take place among many kinds of groups, even among groups in power who do not feel resentment like those in a setting of deprivation. This is not incredible. Sociological studies reveal that people with power and high social rank often develop and hold worldviews seemingly inconsistent with their status (139). Thus Andrew D. H. Mayes can note the suggestion that, "In the framework of a differentiated society; it may be that apocalyptic eschatology is an ideology quite incongruent with the social status of those who adhered to it, since people can and do hold belief systems inconsistent with their place in society: (140). Furthermore, though the elite of a society, are most well-off, their hopes and wishes often transcend a mere desire to maintain the realized status quo. Upper-echelon figures are quite capable of desiring [51] major changes in or even the overthrow of the system they control (141). These figures may come to embrace a worldview that anticipates such changes.
        A paradigm illustration of how a central and power-holding group can adopt a radically new religion or worldview is found in Burridbges discussion of the founders of Jainism (142). The founders of Jainism in the sixth century B.C.E. were from the upper strata of society. They were aristocrats drawn from the Kshatriya category of persons, which was composed of warrior and ruler. Further, Jains were part of the financial elite of society. They were the bankers of India and had always been extremely wealthy people. Despite the fact that the Kshatriyas were in power, they were led to question their current assumptions so radically that a group of them underwent a reconstruction of their worldview.
        The integrity of the Kshatriya universe of meaning began to break down due to purely internal and subjective factors. According to their worldview, their own category of persons did not have access to Moksha, the religious goal of absorption into Being itself. External oppression or deprivation was not at issue; rather, interior turmoil arose as members of this elite stratum of society began to experience revulsion at their own social category: Burridge describes Jainism as a "revulsion on the part of Kshatriyas against continuing to be Kshatriyas" (143).
        Kshatriya predisposition for a worldview change manifested itself objectively in the successive appearance of new religious teachers propounding new ideas. Eventually, a catalyst figure arose who disseminated a religious view that embodied the new assumptions and convictions about redemption increasingly necessary to many Kshatriyas. The catalyst figure here was Mahavira, a founder of Jainism, who is described by Burridge as a guru, a prophet or teacher (144).  In holding that Moksha was open to anyone, [52] Mahavira paved the way for a new religion, Jainism, for the Kshatriyas. Conversion to Jainism involved a radical change in orientation for the aristocrats. It involved substituting unworldliness for worldliness and the giving up of wealth so as to become mendicants. The founding of Jainism may thus serve as a paradigm of how a group in power may undergo a radical change in their symbolic universe.

Classes of Arenas:                     Class A                   Class B                    Class C
                                                    Ax Ay Az                Bx Bv Bw                 Cx Cu Cy
                                                                                                                          
Concrete Situations:                       Ax  -------------------- Bx  -------------------- Cx
                                                                                             
Sitz-im-Leben                                                                     x <------------------> Gattung
 

        Note that concrete situations are designated in the schema by a combination of an upper- and lowercase letter. The lowercase letter, the same in each situation, represents the Sitz-im-Leben. Form criticism links a given Gattung to a specific Sitz-im-Leben. The term Sitz-im-Leben designates what is constant or common (represented here by the element x) among a group of comparable concrete situations (147). By designating the concrete situations as Ax, Bx, and Cx in this way, the schema also illustrates the argument that recurring concrete situations may appear in a variety of social arenas. The influence of the larger arena is indicated by the capital letter in each of the respective designations.
        This form-critical schematization provides a framework for understanding the fact that millennial groups can occur in social arenas that lack observable deprivations including the upper strata of a society The millennial group, like the other social occurrences, institutions, and groups that constitute the Sitze-im-Leben of form criticism, will occur in a variety of [54] larger social arenas. No social stratum or type of social contact configuration can be ruled out a priori as a possible social arena or matrix for millennialism. When the positive factors discussed above occur, groups undergo millennial catalysis within a variety of larger social environments (arenas like those designated by class A, class B, and class C in the above schema).