Cults: Mystics and Messiahs in a Modern World

Why do people choose to invest their faith, intellect, and labor in the fate of a single individual, and what consequences follow from such collective investment? This course brings together anthropological and historical perspectives in the study of religion to examine how mystical and messianic movements form, unfold, and dissolve. By drawing on a range of cases from medieval Iran to contemporary America, students will explore the political, economic, temporal, and spatial dimensions of embodied authority.