Inform 2008 Winter Seminar
Inform Seminar XL
New Religions and Prophecy
Online clickable map available
here.
Prophecies, even those that have apparently failed, continue to be widely
accepted. Believers and sceptics will assess the role of supernatural
revelations in contemporary religions.
Speakers will examine subjects including: the roles of prophecy in life within
the World of Yaad, Branch Davidians, Twelve Tribes and in Biblical times;
whether Christian predictions of the end of the world constitute a tool for
analysing a society that lies beyond the control of believers; how the Jehovah's
Witnesses' 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1975 dates came to be derived from scripture,
and how they have developed over the past 150 years; and how, when the
esotericist prophesies, s/he is contributing within a "hylozoic" (all-living)
universe.
LIST OF SPEAKERS
PROF EILEEN BARKER PhD OBE FBA, Professor Emeritus, London School of Economics;
Chair and Honorary Dirctor, Inform: "Verily, Verily, I say unto You....and it
Shall Come to Pass.......": An Introductory Overview of Prophecy and New
Religions.
LIVINGSTONE FAGAN, surviving Branch Davidian: "Prophecy and New Religious
Movements."
DR GEORGE CHRYSSIDES PhD, Research Fellow in Contemporary Religion, University
of Birmingham: "1914 and All That - Jehovah's Witnesses and Biblical Prophecy."
SHEBET, Twelve Tribes Representative: "The Stone and the Sword."
THE REVEREND ANDREW MAGUIRE, Nominee, Free Churches' Group & Inform Governor and
Treasurer: "Prophecy - a perspective from the early centuries of the
Christian Church."
SUZANNE ROUGH, Head of the DK Foundation School of Astrology: "Remembering the
Future."
DR DAMIAN THOMPSON PhD, Author and Leader Writer Daily Telegraph and Catholic
Herald: "It's not the End of the World - what Pentecostals Really Think about
the End Times."
Dr JACK KREINDLER MBBS, former student of Mehdi Zand: "Insights into the World
of Yaad."
(This talk has been postponed in light of the recent public announcements
relating to Mehdi Zand and the speaker's wish to remain sensitive to Mehdi
Zand's followers and family.)
Dr MARAT SHTERIN, PhD, Department of Religious Studies, King's
College London and Inform Governor: "The role of Prophecy in the history leading
up to the Penza cave event." (Dr Shterin has agreed at short notice to speak.)
Registration
Tickets booked before 15 November 2008 cost £37 each (£15 students/unwaged) and
include buffet lunch, morning coffee and afternoon tea. Tickets booked after 15
November 2008 cost £40 each (£20 students/unwaged). To register, email inform@lse.ac.uk,
phone 020 7955 7677 or complete and post Registration Form available
here