History of terms

[Laurie Patton]

Just for clarification:
The name "Davidian" was given to a break-away group of the Seventh Day 
Adventist church, led by a man in Victor Houteff.  In 1930, he wrote
"The Shepherd's Rod," a book that argued that the apocalypse would come 
after the reign of a king who was appointed by god, as David was in the 
Hebrew Bible. In 1938 he and his followers established Mt. Carmel in Waco.
Houteff believed himself to be a modern King David.
	The name "Branch" comes from a theological formulation by Ben 
Roden, leader of a splinter group of the Davidians that formed in 1959.
The new, expanded name was in part based on a prophecy of Ellen White, early 
leader of the 
Seventh Day Adventists, and in part on a passage from Zechariah (6.12-13), 
which 
declares that the man who builds the temple of lord shall be called the 
branch, and shall sit on the throne as the priest of god.

Ben Roden's widow, Lois, was involved with Vernon Howell, or David Koresh.

A far cry from Indology, but it's amazing what you have to teach (learn)
at liberal arts colleges in the USA.

Laurie L. Patton
Bard College