millennialism

Introduction
The nature of millennialism
Early Christian millennialism
Patristic and medieval millennialism
Millennialism from the Renaissance to the modern world
Non-Christian millennialism

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millennialism summary

Related Questions

How are premillennialism and postmillennialism different?
How did Augustine’s idea of the Two Cities oppose a future earthly millennium?
How did Buddhist millennial beliefs contribute to the fall of the Yuan dynasty?
How did Christopher Columbus show interest in Renaissance millennial prophecy?
How did Handsome Lake’s Gai’wiio movement express millennial ideas?
How did Hippolytus use biblical chronology to postpone expectations of the End?
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How did Y2K contribute to apocalyptic fears near the year 2000?
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How did the sabbatical millennium use the six days of Creation to calculate world history?
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Why do some scholars describe Jesus as a millennialist?
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Why is postmillennialism often associated with gradual social reform?
Why is premillennialism often associated with catastrophes before Christ’s return?
What is the Rapture in Christianity?
How did the idea of the Rapture gain popularity in the 20th century?
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What famous works incorporate the seven deadly sins?
What is the significance of the rosary in Marian devotion?

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External Websites

University at Albany - Off Course - From Nebuchadnezzar to Negroponte: Three Millennia of Millennialism
St Andrews Encyclopaedia of Theology - Millenarianism
Simon Fraser University - Millenarianism

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Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Millennialism - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

millennialism

religion

Also known as: chiliasm, millenarianism

Written by

Richard Landes

Professor of History and Director of the Center for Millennial Studies, Boston University. Author of Relics, Apocalypse, and the Deceits of History and co-editor The Apocalyptic Year 1000.

Richard Landes

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

millennialism, the belief, expressed in the book of Revelation to John, the last book of the New Testament, that Christ will establish a 1,000-year reign of the saints on earth (the millennium) before the Last Judgment. More broadly defined, it is a cross-cultural concept grounded in the expectation of a time of supernatural peace and abundance on earth. Millennialism offers a version of the fundamental eschatological belief that at the end of time (the “End,”...

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