Affiliation:
1. Aidan Cottrell-Boyce completed his PhD in Theology at the University of Cambridge, UK. He has published multiple chapters and articles in journals such as The Review of Religion and International Affairs and the Journal of the Irish Society for the Academic Study of Religions.
Abstract
The text of the thirteenth chapter of the book of Revelation has provided a template for the development of many radical, political identities over the course of many centuries. The text describes an idolatrous majority, beholden to the power of a tyrannical and pseudo-theocratic ruler. It also describes an embattled minority, who are given an ‘insight’ which allows them to resist the thrall of this ruler. In more recent times, these images have captured the imaginations of participants in conspiracy cultures. In particular, those who resist the use of vaccinations by public health authorities see prophetic significance in the concept of the ‘mark of the beast.’ For the entire history of the use of vaccination, anti-vaccination campaigners have seen prophetic significance in the topos of ‘the mark of the Beast.’ This article traces the themes which link the apocalyptic language used by anti-vaccination campaigners in the nineteenth century with the apocalyptic language used by anti-vaccination campaigners in the twenty-first.
Reference70 articles.
1. The Anti-Compulsory Vaccination Reporter, vol. 5, no. 5 (1 February 1881).
2. How Schrödinger’s Cat Became a Zombie