Product Description

Are Milton’s Paradise Lost, Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defense program, our culture’s fascination with UFOs and alien abductions, and Louis Farrakhan’s views on racial Armageddon somehow linked? In Children of Ezekiel Michael Lieb reveals the connections between these phenomena and the way culture has persistently related the divine to the technological. In a work of special interest at the approach of the millennium, Lieb traces these and other diverse cultural moments—all descended from the prophet Ezekiel’s vision of a fiery divine chariot in the sky—from antiquity to the present, across high and low culture, to reveal the pervasive impact of this visionary experience on the modern world.
Beginning with the merkabah chariot literature of Hebrew and Gnostic mysticism, Lieb shows how religiously inspired people concerned with annihilating their heretical enemies seized on Ezekiel’s vision as revealing the technologically superior instrument of God’s righteous anger. He describes how many who seek to know the unknowable that is the power of God conceive it in technological terms—and how that power is associated with political aims and a heralding of the end of time. For Milton, Ezekiel’s chariot becomes the vehicle in which the Son of God does battle with the rebellious angels. In the modern age, it may take the form of a locomotive, tank, airplane, missile, or UFO. Technology itself is seen as a divine gift and an embodiment of God in the temporal world. As Lieb demonstrates, the impetus to produce modern technology arises not merely from the desire for profit or military might but also from religious-spiritual motives.
Including discussions of conservative evangelical Christian movements, Reagan’s ballistic shooting gallery in the sky, and the Nation of Islam’s vision of the “mother plane” as the vehicle of retribution in the war against racial oppression, Children of Ezekiel will enthrall readers who have been captivated, either through religious belief or intellectual interests, by a common thread uniting millennial religious beliefs, racial conflict, and political and militaristic aspirations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #499142 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

From Library Journal
Lieb (English/humanities, Univ. of Illinois, Chicago) explores modern attempts to "technologize" Ezekiel's Old Testament vision of a fiery chariot in the sky?evidence of the technological superiority of God's righteous anger. He shows how the biblical narrative has touched modern cults and political movements such as Jehovah's Witnesses, Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), and the Nation of Islam. UFOs are touched upon, but half of the book looks at the genesis, ideology, and societal impact of the Nation of Islam and Elijah Muhammad, as well as Louis Farrakhan. Lieb views these men as "children of Ezekiel" since both molded various aspects of Ezekiel's vision to fit their modern world views. This thought-provoking and highly original study belongs in most academic libraries.?Gary D. Barber, Silver Creek, NY
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
"... fascinating and highly sophisticated ... a marvellous example of a Wirkungesgeschichte (history of influence or effect) approach to the Bible, taking the visionary discourses of the Book of Ezekiel and reading them in relation to a wide-ranging set of historical and cultural treatments of such phenomena, from John Milton's poetry to the proclamations of the Honourable Louis Farrakhan ... Readers of and writers on the Book of Ezekiel ought to read this excellent book ... an immensely enjoyable, exemplary piece of writing on a biblical vision and its afterlife."--The Christian Parapsychologist, September 1999 "Lieb's book is the product of remarkable research and scholarship. His genealogy tracks the development, interpretation and transformation of Ezekiel's vision through various representational, political and religious forms."--Time & Society "Lukacher's reading of eternal recurrence impressively extends some earlier work on time and phenomenology."--Time & Society

From the Back Cover
“This exciting book interrelates urgent topics in ways never before imagined. While replete with information, teeming with insights, and relevant to the major concerns of present-day society, this book is written with dramatic immediacy and gratifying clarity. More than ‘essential reading,’ this book should be at the top of everyone’s list.”—Albert C. Labriola, author of Milton’s Legacy in the Arts

Customer Reviews

Ezekiel researcher eagerly awaits reading valuable resource.
I'm looking forward to the release of this book. Over the years I've been conducting research into Ezekiel UFOs catastrophism and the end times. From time to time quality books appear. The latest on Ezekiel received through Amazon is by bible scholar Moshe Greenberg. I'm sure this book, released December 98, will prove another vital resource for any serious researcher, judging by the author's past work listed by and available through Amazon.

bored me
Skip this book if you're into alien, u.f.o theories.