This year, the CenSAMM annual conference will take place at the University of Cambridge, 23-24 September 2025.
The conference will investigate apocalypticism, apocalyptic language, and millenarian movements in modern Britain, though papers on wider contextualisation will also be considered. The chronological period is the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The conference welcomes presentations and participants from across disciplines and fields, including history, literary studies, anthropology, sociology, religious studies, biblical studies, art history, film studies, and political sciences. Terms such as ‘apocalypticism’ and ‘millenarian’ are understood broadly to include (for instance) interrelated ideas of transformation of the existing order, a predicted golden age (or not), revelation, spiritual warfare, and prophecy, whether cast in religious or secular language.
Papers include:
James Crossley, “Apocalypticism and Millenarianism in Modern Britain”
Suzanne Newcombe, “What Happens after ‘A Search in Secret India’ (1934)? Self-Realisation, Apocalyptic Visions and Conspiratorial Paradoxes in the Teachings of Paul Brunton (1891–1981)”
William Allchorn, “Christgram: Traditionalist, Apocalyptic & Authoritarian Narratives among Extreme Far Right Youth”
Sarah Harvey, “The Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light: A Millennial Community in the North of England”
Matthew Worley, “Punk's No Future: The Dystopian Visions of British Punk, 1976–84”
Michelle Fletcher presents the Visual Commentary on Scripture
Hugh Pyper, “‘Alas, That Great City!’: The Apocalypse of John in Two Mid-twentieth Century English Oratorios”
James Carlton Paget, “Albert Schweitzer in Britain”
Andrew Tate, “'And the Trumpet Shall Sound’: Music, Revelation and Contemporary British Fiction”
Susie Triffitt, “Undisappointed Hope: Revival and Healing in Bradford Now”
Joseph Powell, “Babylon Fall: Contributory Visions of Apocalypse amongst UK Armed Forces Rastafari”
The conference will be livestreamed. To sign up for livestreming, please contact the Director of CenSAMM.
