Thirty-two years ago today, on February 28, 1993, my life was forever changed. It was a Sunday morning and I was upstairs in my office. Lori, my wife called through the house, “James, James, come down here, there is a shootout in Texas with some religious group and the leader of the group is on the phone with a the BATF quoting the book of Revelation!” I rushed down to watch the CNN live coverage–and every network in the country, and many around the world, were focused in on the Mt Carmel Center outside Waco, Texas.
As all of you know, my field of study is the ancient world–ancient religions, particularly Judaism and earliest Christianity in the 1st century. But that day I took on an entirely new role.
For those of you who remember that day, and those who have only heard of it, I uploaded a short video clip to my Patreon site that is an excerpt from the Paramount Pictures film “Waco” about the attack.You may view it here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/123304319
I encourage you to watch all six episodes–you can find them on Amazon Prime and other streaming services, see link here: https://amzn.to/41ngXcB
I contacted my friend and colleague, Dr. Philip Arnold, who has a Ph.D. in Christian Origins from Rice University, and we got involved from Day One, as Phil, who lives in Houston, headed up to Waco. Our composite ” character” appears toward the end of the series. Unfortunately, the siege and standoff came to fiery 51 days later, on April 19th–DAY 51. Working with the lawyers, David Koresh, the leader of the group, and the FBI who took over the next day, Phil and I worked out a peaceful surrender plan–which was tragically never shown to Janet Reno nor President Clinton, due to conflicts between the D.C. Justice Department Bosses and the negotiation team on the ground. We drew upon our study of the book of Revelation, the history of apocalyptic groups, and even the Dead Sea Scrolls, to communicate with Koresh. The whole thing was unnecessary from start to finish–there was no need for the raid in the first place, and it would have been peacefully resolved. The best analysis I have seen is that of Malcolm Gladwell, in his article in the New Yorker: “Sacred and Profane,” how not to negotiate with apocalyptic believers. You can read it free here at this link: https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/03/31/sacred-and-profane-4
Here is a clip from the Congressional hearings in which Arnold and I offer our evaluation of what happened at Waco and how it all could have been completely avoided.
I subsequently published a book with my colleague Eugene Gallagher, that has become basic reading on the topic in most universities, and yes, even among the FBI and ATF academies who have been meeting with Religious Studies scholars for the past few decades as a result:
Why Waco: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America. I think you will find it an enlightening and gripping read, with applications far behind Waco in 1993. Here is the link: https://amzn.to/3D1q0Yx
If you want to dive really deep here the link to a three hour conversation between me and three other academic colleagues who have devoted decades to studying “what went wrong at Waco.” We cover everything, from A to Z–the initial raid, the 51 day siege, and the final tragic fire–revealing facts that most of the major media coverage has missed.
Even now all the government files have not been released after over 30 years, due to partisan politics, as Bill Clinton and the Democrats were in control with Janet Reno as the new Attorney General. We have made a formal request to the White House for everything to be released. Let’s hope that happens. If so, may the chips fall where they may.
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