Millenarianism

"Millenarism" redirects here. It is not to be confused with Millerism.

Millenarianism (also millenarism), from Latin mīllēnārius "containing a thousand", is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming major transformation of society, after which all things will be changed. Millenarianism is a concept or theme that exists in many cultures and religions.[1]

Millennialism

Millennialism is a specific type of Christian millenarianism, and is sometimes referred to as "chiliasm" from the New Testament use of the Greek chilia (thousand). It is part of the broader form of apocalyptic expectation. A core doctrine in some variations of Christian eschatology is the expectation that the Second Coming is very near and that there will be an establishment of a Kingdom of God on Earth. According to an interpretation of prophecies in the Book of Revelation, this Kingdom of God on Earth will last a thousand years (a millennium) or more.[2]

The application of an apocalyptic timetable to the establishment or changing of the world has happened in many cultures and religions, and continues to this day, and is not relegated to the sects of major world religions.[3]

The terms millenarianism and millennialism are sometimes used interchangeably, but this usage is incorrect. As Gould notes:

Millennium is from the Latin mille, "one thousand," and annus, "year"--hence the two n's. Millenarian is from the Latin millenarius, "containing a thousand (of anything)," hence no annus, and no two n's.[4]

Theology

Many if not most millenarian groups claim that the current society and its rulers are corrupt, unjust, or otherwise wrong. They therefore believe they will be destroyed soon by a powerful force. The harmful nature of the status quo is considered intractable without the anticipated dramatic change.[5]

Some who held millenarian views were condemned in 1530 by the Lutherans.[6]

In the modern world, economic rules or vast conspiracies are seen as generating oppression. Only dramatic events are seen as able to change the world and the change is anticipated to be brought about, or survived, by a group of the devout and dedicated. In most millenarian scenarios, the disaster or battle to come will be followed by a new, purified world in which the believers will be rewarded.

While many millennial groups are pacifistic, millenarian beliefs have been claimed as causes for people to ignore conventional rules of behavior, which can result in violence directed inwards (such as the Jonestown mass suicides) or outwards (such as the Aum Shinrikyo terrorist acts). It sometimes includes a belief in supernatural powers or predetermined victory. In some cases, millenarians withdraw from society to await the intervention of God.[7]

Millenarian ideologies or religious sects sometimes appear in oppressed peoples, with examples such as the 19th-century Ghost Dance movement among Native Americans and the 19th and 20th-century Cargo Cults among isolated Pacific Islanders.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 676, follows a discussion of the church's ultimate trial. "The Antichrist's deception already begins to take shape in the world every time the claim is made to realize within history that messianic hope which can only be realized beyond history through the eschatological judgement. The Church has rejected even modified forms of this falsification of the kingdom to come under the name of millenarianism [emphasis added], especially the 'intrinsically perverse' political form of a secular messianism."

Movements

There have been examples of millenarian groups, movements, and writings over the years. While each is different, and not all of these adhere to a strict millennial pattern, they do ascribe to patterns of wide-scale change as described above:

See also

References

  1. ↑ Gould, Stephen Jay. 1997. Questioning the millennium: a rationalist's guide to a precisely arbitrary countdown. New York: Harmony Books, p. 112 (note)
  2. ↑ Kark, Ruth "Millenarism and agricultural settlement in the Holy Land in the nineteenth century," in Journal of Historical Geography, 9, 1 (1983), pp. 47-62
  3. ↑ Landes, Richard A. Heaven on Earth: The Varieties of the Millennial Experience. New York: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
  4. ↑ Gould, Stephen Jay. 1997
  5. ↑ Worsley, Peter. 1957. The trumpet shall sound ; a study of "cargo" cults in Melanesia. London: MacGibbon & Kee.
  6. ↑ "The Confession of Faith: Which Was Submitted to His Imperial Majesty Charles V. At the Diet of Augsburg in the Year 1530. by Philip Melanchthon, 1497-1560." Translated by F. Bente and W. H. T. Dau. Published in: Triglot Concordia: The Symbolical Books of the Ev. Lutheran Church. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1921, p. 95.
  7. ↑ Wessinger, Catherine. Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2000. Print.

Further reading

External links

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