millenarianism Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (3 ed.)
...millenarians, and millenarian beliefs were widely held in 16th- and 17th-cent. English Protestantism. In Germany the millenarian view gained currency in the Pietist movement of the 17th and 18th cents. In the 19th cent. new advocates of apocalyptic and millenarian ideas arose in the USA and in Britain, among them the Irvingites , Plymouth Brethren, and Adventists , these last reviving the idea of a heavenly millennium after the Second Coming. In the 20th cent. the indigenous Churches of Asia, Africa, and South America produced a variety of millenarian...
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The Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages
... ( millennialism ) Belief (usually heretical) in an earthly age of peace (the millennium of Revelation 20) instituted after the destruction of evil by human, sometimes revolutionary, action. Richard K. Emmerson N. Cohn , The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages , rev. edn. (1970). R. E. Lerner , ‘ Millennialism ’, in The Encyclopedia of Apocalypticism , ed. B. McGinn (1998),...
millenarianism ([Ge]) Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Archaeology (3 ed.)
... [Ge] Beliefs held by the members of certain types of religious movement, according to which cataclysmic changes will occur in the near future, heralding the arrival of a new...
millenarianism Quick reference
World Encyclopedia
... Belief, widespread in Christianity until the 4th century, that Christ's second coming will bring a thousand years of peace on Earth. It has its origins in the Judaic notion of the Messiah and a literal translation of the Book of Revelations (20). Saint Augustine 's allegorical interpretation of the kingdom of God supplanted millenarianism. Sects such as the Anabaptists and the Moravian Church revived the belief during the Reformation . Since the 19th century, Mormons and Adventists professed millenarian beliefs. Some sects, such as ...
millenarianism Quick reference
A Dictionary of British History (3 ed.)
... Belief in a future millennium (1,000 years) either preceding (premillennialism) or following (postmillen‐nialism) the second coming of Christ, when he will reign on earth in a kingdom of his saints. Contemporary events were interpreted by reference to biblical prophecies or divine revelations concerning the immediate arrival of Christ on earth. Millenarian hopes and visions surfaced at the time of the Peasants' Revolt ( 1381 ) and again among 17th‐cent. sects such as the ranters , Muggletonians , Fifth Monarchy men, and some early quakers ....
millenarianism Reference library
John F. C. Harrison
The Oxford Companion to British History (2 ed.)
...on earth. Millenarian hopes and visions surfaced at the time of the Peasants’ Revolt ( 1381 ) and again among 17th-cent. sects such as the ranters , Muggletonians , Fifth Monarchy men , and some early quakers . Prophets and prophesyings continued into the 18th cent., and the French Revolution occasioned an outburst of both popular millenarianism (as among the followers of Joanna Southcott ) and scholarly exegesis of the millennium by orthodox churchmen. Because of its concern with imminent change, millenarianism appealed to radical reformers and could be...
millenarianism Quick reference
A Dictionary of World History (3 ed.)
... (or millennialism ) The belief in the imminent end of the present world order and the establishment of a new and radically different one. Millenarian movements, which are found all over the world in many different societies, usually occur at times of change and upheaval. The millenarian idea that divine intervention will bring about a reversal of worldly expectations resulting in an earthly paradise, tends to appeal to those who are dispossessed both culturally and economically. Much millenarianism has its roots in the Jewish expectation of...
millenarianism Quick reference
A Dictionary of Philosophy (3 ed.)
... Any religious movement that predicts the collapse of the world order as we know it, with its replacement by the millennium, or period of justice, equality, salvation, etc. Millenarian movements are thought to be an extreme example of the use of religion as a ‘way out’ or reaction to social stress and its resulting anomie . They are found within Christianity and Islam, and in the cargo-cults of...
millenarianism Reference library
Philip Lockley
The Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (4 ed.)
...principal exponent of millenarian themes was Joachim of Fiore , whose doctrines aroused much excitement in the W. Church but were treated with suspicion by the ecclesiastical authorities. At the Reformation, the magisterial Reformers broadly maintained Augustine’s ‘amillennialism’. However, many Anabaptists , as well as the Bohemian Brethren , were millenarians, and millenarian beliefs were widely held in 16th- and 17th-cent. English Protestantism, finding particular expression in the writings of Mede . In Germany the millenarian view gained its widest...
millenarianism Quick reference
Andrew Reeve
A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations (4 ed.)
... The belief that Christ’s second coming would inaugurate a thousand‐year period of divine rule on earth. Because Christ’s second coming has been expected after the appearance of anti‐Christ, and great misfortunes, this belief has been associated with political radicalism—especially hopes of overthrowing oppressive government—and some believers have seen revolution as the prelude to the millennium. Andrew...
Millenarianism Reference library
Jeffrey K. Jue
The Oxford Guide to the Historical Reception of Augustine
...Birth of Calvinist Millenarianism (Dordrecht 2000). ——, ‘Arianism and Millenarianism. The Link between Two Heresies from Servetus to Socinus’, in R. H. Popkin and J. Laursen (eds), Millenarianism and Messianism , 4: Continental Millenarianism. Protestants, Catholics and Heretics (Dordrecht 2001) 9–35. J. Jue , Heaven Upon Earth. Joseph Mede (1586–1638) and the Legacy of Millenarianism (Dordrecht 2006). ...
Millenarianism Reference library
Encyclopedia of the Enlightenment
...R. G. The Rebirth of Millenarianism. In Puritans, the Millennium and the Future of Israel , edited by P. Toon , pp. 42–65. Cambridge and London, 1970. An excellent and detailed survey of seventeenth-century millenarian theory. Cohn, N. The Pursuit of the Millennium . 2d ed. London, 1970. A classic book, emphasizing the Middle Ages and a sociological interpretation of millenarianism. Firth, K. R. The Apocalyptic Tradition in Reformation Britain . Oxford, 1979. Harrison, J. F. C. The Second Coming: Popular Millenarianism, 1780–1850 . London, 1979. A...
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The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Reformation
...and emphasizes instead the role of millenarian and other apocalyptic notions in the everyday outlook of premodern Europeans. Belief in the imminent establishment of a godly kingdom was not simply a reaction to oppression or upheaval; it was a common way of making sense of the world. While millenarianism was often an expression of frustration or dissent, it could and did also support established authorities by giving them positive roles in the divine drama. Thus despite official theological discouragement, millenarian schemes were widely adopted in the...
millenarianism Quick reference
A Dictionary of Sociology (4 ed.)
...outside organized religions. Millenarianism therefore can take many different forms. However, it usually involves explosions of discontent, a rejection of the status quo, and the proposal that the coming millennium will see the installation of a new social order. This new society is usually constructed as egalitarian and just. Millenarianism often develops in a colonial situation and can have grave consequences for the dominant political order. There is little chance of political compromise since the followers of millenarian movements are not afraid of...
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and
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
...prophetic roles were frequently espoused by individuals from the most humble and unlettered backgrounds. However, millenarianism did not simply remain part of the *popular culture [23] in the period. Joseph *Johnson alone published over thirty books on *prophecy . His output reflects the market for such books and the interest in millenarianism within Rational Dissent. Joseph *Priestley and Richard *Price were devoted millenarians who believed that the diffusion of knowledge and political reform were moving the world towards the millennium. Such a...
millenarianism Reference library
The Oxford Companion to Irish History (2 ed.)
... , a version of the Christian belief that history will end with the establishment of a 1,000‐year reign of the kingdom of God on earth, to be established by means of a cataclysmic struggle between the forces of good and evil. Such beliefs, implying the imminent transformation of the world by direct supernatural intervention, were widespread among the common people of medieval and early modern Europe, particularly at times of social or political crisis. Their most notable appearance in Ireland was in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. While some...
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Dictionary of the Social Sciences
...of the perfectability of humankind, and in the many political and philosophical movements that carry it forward—Progressivism, social democracy , and others. Comparative study of millenarian social and religious movements suggests that there are a number of precipitating factors that at least partially account for phases of rapid growth and decline. Common to many millenarian movements is the experience of crisis, often stemming from culture shock as societies modernize, or as they come into contact with cultures significantly different from their own ( see...
Millenarianism Reference library
Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages
...advent of a millenarian reign of the Spirit. Millenarianism was drastically rejected by the Dominican friar Thomas Aquinas , who likened it to a Heresy both in the Summa theologiae (III a , suppl., q. 77, a. 1, 4) and in the Summa contra Gentiles (III, 27; IV, 83). Present within dissident fringes and heterodox groups like the Franciscan Spirituals in the late 13th c. and Fra Dolcino 's apostolici in the early 14th, mixed up with eschatological expectations and apocalyptic interpretations of History , millenarianism exploded among the...
Messianism and Millenarianism Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures
...necessarily millenarian in nature, notwithstanding the invention of a messianic leader by their participants: a yearning toward the otherworldly or an understanding of this world in terms of religious idioms is not the same as framing a program for an alternate reality, even a largely metaphorical one. The loosest technical definition of millenarianism might thus exclude many of the religiously inspired or tinged belief systems and political movements in Mesoamerican history, particularly near the contemporary era. The template for a millenarian ideology or...
millenarianism Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)
... the doctrine of or belief in a future (and typically imminent) thousand-year age of blessedness, beginning with or culminating in the Second Coming of Christ. It is central to the teaching of groups such as Plymouth Brethren, Adventists, Mormons, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The term may also be used more generally for belief in a future golden age of peace, justice, and...
