The Branch Davidians of Waco

Eugene V. Gallagher, Journal of the American Academy of Religion ...comprehensive study ... a careful and detailed account that will both support further studies and challenge prevailing orthodoxies.

Jeffrey W. Barbeau, Journal of Ecclesiastical History carefully-documented study.

Richard J. Mouw, Books & Culture Newport's detailed exposition of these matters ... is itself worth the reading of his book for anyone who cares about the varieties of Bible prophecy schools of thought, as well as about apocalyptic religious movements in general. But his analysis takes on added significance for a very down-to-earth hypothesis that he sets forth regarding the setting of the Waco fire that destroyed the Davidians' Mt. Carmel compound.

Church Times ...a readable, careful, and meticulous survey of the Branch Davidians and their apocalyptic beliefs.

David Martin, Times Literary Supplement In this meticulously documented, judicious and readable book, free of easy ironies, we now have the definitive study of the subject.

Kenneth G. C. Newport is Professor of Christian Thought, Liverpool Hope University College.

1. 'A mad man in Waco': David Koresh in Popular Perspective; 2. 'A sure word of prophecy': The Bible, Prophecy Belief and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church; 3. 'Hear ye the Rod': Victor T. Houteff, the Shepherd's Rod and the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists; 4. 'Thy Kingdom Come': The Theology of Victor Houteff and the Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists; 5. 'But the end is not yet': Florence Houteff and the End of the World; 6. 'Behold the man whose name is The Branch': Ben Roden and the Emergence of Branch Davidianism; 7. 'The Branch he': Ben Roden and the Theology of Branch Davidianism; 8. 'The Branch she': Lois Roden, Shekinah and the struggle for leadership; 9. 'A pale rider': Vernon Howell and the Branch Davidians 1959-1985; 10. 'And death shall follow in his wake': Vernon Howell, David Koresh, and the Branch Davidians 1986-1993; 11. 'The seventh angel': David Koresh and the Mystery of God; 12. 'A lamb-like beast': The Branch Davidians and the ATF; 13. 'A call for the endurance of the saints': Mt. Carmel 28 February-19 April 1993; 14. 'An ultimate act of faith'? The Cause of the Waco Fire; 15. 'For behold the Lord will come with fire': Theology and the Waco Inferno; 16. 'Prophecies shall fail': Post-1993 Branch Davidianism; Concluding Observations