A Bloomian "School" Of Religious Criticism

When Harold Bloom published Omens of Millennium in 1996, I bought it hot off the press and read it eagerly. I must confess, however, that my first reading of the book did not impress me favorably. At the time, I suspected that Bloom was venturing into waters beyond his depth and pandering to the popular taste for New Age mystifications for the sake of increased sales.

I have since re-read the book at least a half-dozen times and, with every reading, my admiration for it grows ever deeper. A fine, critical and academic appreciation may be found here.

All I wish to say at present is that Bloom's Omens is a superb example of the "religious criticism" he undertook with The American Religion and developed further with Jesus and Yahweh. Indeed, those three volumes, read as a trilogy, constitute (the author's own wishes to the contrary) the foundation of a Bloomian "school" of Religious Criticism.