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BOOK REVIEWS General and Miscellaneous Apocalypses: Prophecies, Cults, and Millennial Beliefs through the Ages. By Eugen Weber. (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 1999. Pp. vii, 294. $24.95.) Eugen Weber first came to the attention of this reviewer in the pages of Action Française (1962), and he has been his prophet (see p. 87) ever since. In this case the author denies research in original sources to prove a point but rather proclaims his effort as a journey through the morass of materials that have accumulated under the name in the title. As interesting as the material is in itself, the author adds his special touch to make it all the more appetizing. Léon Bloy becomes "the bizarre Christian writer who expected a Second Coming any day after the 1870's." As might be expected in such a book, Nostradamus has the most entries, if the (excellent) index is to be believed. There is no entry for "pyramid," except in a note on Nostradamus in which it is stated, "Numerological interpretations of the great pyramid suggest the end of the world in 2001." The journey is not altogether haphazard. After some numerology about hundreds and thousands there are mini-courses in Scripture Studies, Patrology Medieval Studies, and Renaissance-Reformation. The reform of the calendar by Pope Gregory XIII brings the delightful remark of Voltaire that Protestant mobs preferred their calendars to disagree with the sun than to agree with the Pope. At about mid-book the author's area of specialty takes over with a plethora of French, and especially English, manifestations of MiUenarian, apocalyptic, and Utopian urges. As often as not, it was the oppressed who followed these movements because they saw in them the only hope for relief from their burdens. Weber puts it all in one paragraph on page 150: Medieval history, modern history,Jewish history, and Christian history are full of expectant , credulous, turbulent hewers of wood and drawers of water; husbandmen, tillers, shepherds, cowherds, swineherds, peddlers, 'weavers,pastoureaux, tafurs, flagellants , free spirits, beghards.bégM^s. Hussites,Taboritesjohannites,vessels of the Holy Spirit, incarnations of Elias, Enoch, the Messiah, and God himself,jostling toward apocalyptic emancipation. 95 96BOOK REVIEWS As often as not the solution is found in the annihilation of the clergy and/or the Jews. The book is as up-to-date as Pat Robertson, Waco, Texas, and the thirtynine suicides at Rancho Santa Fe near San Diego in 1997. As for useful practical information it has been discovered (p. 205) that if one adds the nine-digit zip codes that the U.S. Post Office used to the nine-digit numbers of the Social Security Administration, the total is eighteen, which when divided by three is six, i.e. 666, the number of the beast of the Apocalypse. All in all the book is a gem for readers and a gold mine for theft by students writing papers and preachers preparing sermons. John R. McCarthy Cleveland, Ohio Celtic Christianity:Making Myths and Chasing Dreams. By Ian Bradley. (New York: St. Martin's Press. 1999. Pp. x,246. $45.00.) Celtic Christianity, regardless of how one defines it, plays an important role in the spiritual life and thinking of many English-speaking people. The main question is: does it have some objective reality, even when mixed with various accretions and imaginings, or is it entirely a figment? (Celtic should always be understood here as if in inverted commas.) Ian Bradley, whose previous writings promoted Celtic Christianity for its spiritual benefits, now takes a long, cool look at its history and its validity. There is immense erudition in the book. It covers six periods from the seventh century to the present day, pointing out how in each the supposed golden age of a Celtic Church has been exalted above its prosaic reality. There are just short of 600 footnotes. In post-Reformation times, many writers have taken a denominational stance, the commonest being to assert the Celtic Church's independence and to contrast its freedom of spirit with the authoritarian and legalistic Church of Rome. On the whole, however, Catholics and Protestants have not reacted very differently. Differences, though by no means...

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