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What were the beliefs of the Branch Davidians? This is the first full scholarly account of their history. Kenneth G. C. Newport argues that, far from being an act of unfathomable religious insanity, the calamitous fire at Waco in 1993 was the culmination of a long theological and historical tradition that goes back many decades. The Branch Davidians under David Koresh were an eschatologically confident community that had long expected that the American government, whom they identified as the Lamb-like Beast of the book of Revelation, would one day arrive to seek to destroy God's remnant people. The end result, the fire, must be seen in this context.
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T H E B R A N C H DAV I D I A N S O F WAC O
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The Branch Davidians of Waco The History and Beliefs of an Apocalyptic Sect
K E N N E T H G . C . N EW P O RT
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Great Clarendon Street, Oxford ox2 6dp Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide in Oxford New York Auckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi New Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto With oYces in Argentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece Guatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore South Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in the United States by Oxford University Press Inc., New York ß Kenneth G. C. Newport 2006 The moral rights of the author have been asserted Database right Oxford University Press (maker) First published 2006 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this book in any other binding or cover and you must impose the same condition on any acquirer British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Cataloging–in–Publication Data Newport, Kenneth G. C. The Branch Darvidians of Waco: the history and beliefs of an apocalyptic sect/Kenneth G. C. Newport. p. cm. ISBN–13: 978–0–19–924574–1 (alk. paper) ISBN–10: 0–19–924574–6 (alk. paper) 1. Branch Davidians. I. Title. BP605. B72N49 2006 299’. 93–dc22 2005 0 33133 Typeset by SPI Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India Printed in Great Britain on acid-free paper by Biddles Ltd., King’s Lynn ISBN 0–19–924574–6 978–0–19–924574–1 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
In memory of Baby Gyarfas and Baby Gent, whose lives were ended almost before they began.
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Preface This is a book about religious belief. It is about the kind of religious belief that may lead a person to come to the conviction that God has called him or her to lead a community of the faithful and to teach them the ways of God. It is about belief that may lead a person to take action—to move thousands of miles, to establish a place on earth where people may be prepared for heaven, to devote oneself to the writing and spreading of religious tracts. It is about belief that looks for the self-revelation of God in scripture and in the spoken word of living prophets. It is about the kind of belief for which one may choose to die. The story told here is the story of ‘Waco’—the name of a pleasant enough Texan town now synonymous in many people’s minds w