| |
| 1517 |
Martin
Luther nails his famous theses against the Church's sale of indulgences
onto the church door at Wittenburg, Germany, launching the Protestant
Reformation.
Luther's great belief was that Christians could best commune with God by
studying scripture themselves, rather than relying on the Church for mediation.
Although his own attitude toward the Book of Revelation is ambivalent at best,
Luther's dictum, "sola scriptura," opens the way for new readings of prophecy
and an explosion in Christian apocalypticism. Ever since, Protestants have
generally proven far more willing than Catholics to read Revelation literally
and develop highly apocalyptic belief systems.
|
|
| |
| 1525 | The
German Peasants' War violently shakes German society, as peasants,
miners, and urban artisans storm castles and monasteries demanding a more
equitable, postfeudal order.
One of those who brought revolutionary eschatology to this class war was
Thomas Muentzer, a former student of Martin Luther who had gained many
followers since taking up his ministry in 1520. His movement was violent and
fiercely egalitarian--unlike Luther's, which attracted the well educated.
Muentzer capitalized on the social unrest of the Peasant's War and made it a
vehicle for his own messianic ambitions.
But in 1525, Muentzer's revolt was crushed in Thuringia. Despite his rousing
promise that he would catch the enemy's cannonballs in his shirtsleeves,
Muentzer's army was crushed and he was beheaded. As many as 100,000 or his
followers may have died. Still, in the 19th and 20th centuries, particularly in
East Germany, communists would rescue Muentzer from obscurity and celebrate him
as a hero of the oppressed.
|
|
| |
| 1535 | Defeat
of the Anabaptists who had held the Westphalian town of Munster, which
they declared the site of the New Jerusalem. They had first occupied the town
the year before, led by Jan Matthys, who was killed leading a raid on Easter
Sunday, the day they believed the world would end. When Jan Bockelson (a.k.a.
John of Leyden) took over and a declared himself the "Messiah of the Last
Days," events took an even stranger turn. Bockelson instituted polygamy, taking
several wives for himself; issued coins with apocalyptic inscriptions; and
generally terrorized the populace, who starved while he and his inner circle
lived opulently. The following January, Bockelson would be publicly tortured to
death, his body displayed in a cage which hung in the town square.
According to historian Paul Boyer, the Anabaptists were "religious
radicals who rejected Luther's alliance with princely power in Germany and
Calvin's theocracy in Geneva." They won support, especially among the poor of
northern Europe, stressing "rebaptism of adult believers (hence anabaptists),
personal piety, nonresistance, and separation from the world." They were
strongly apocalyptic, believing that the return of Christ was near, and that
"Christ and Antichrist were locked in the final struggle."
Luther, Calvin, and other Reformation leaders reacted with horror to the
Peasants' War, the rise of Anabaptism, and the bizarre events in Thuringia and
Munster.
|
|
| |
| 1607 |
|
 | |
John Winthrop, Puritan leader
| | |
The English Puritans begin to colonize America, in the hope that it would
become the New Jerusalem predicted in scripture. Launched at a time of high
apocalyptic awareness in England, the enterprise held great eschatological
importance for those involved.
More on the Puritans.
|
|
| |
| 1642-1653 | Civil
war rages in England as radicals move against the crown. Led by Puritan Oliver
Cromwell, the Parliament's forces defeat the King's army and take him prisoner
in 1646. Three years later, Charles I is tried and beheaded, after which
England is governed by an ineffective Rump Parliament.
In 1653, Cromwell takes over and is declared Lord Protector. The radicals who
had supported Cromwell felt betrayed, and soon turn their apocalyptically
fueled anger against him. They call themselves "Fifth Monarchy" men, a
reference to the righteous kingdom which succeeded four earthly ones in the
Book of Revelation.
As Paul Boyer has noted, "apocalyptic speculation surged among English
radicals, largely drawn from society's lower ranks, who saw an egalitarian new
order on the horizon. Like the Taborites and early Anabaptists, they invoked
Bible prophecy to validate their expectations."
|
|
| |
| 1650 | Anglican
Bishop James Ussher publishes The Annals of the Old Testament, Deduced from
the First Origin of the World. This widely influential chronology
called for the Second Coming of Christ in the year 2000. It did this by
following the common practice of assuming six thousand years of human history
(based on six days of creation), and placing creation at 4000 B.C.E.
|
|
| |
| 1666 | Just
six years after the Restoration of King Charles II to the English throne, the
great fire in London ignites an orgy of apocalypticism. The calendrical "666,"
cited in Revelation as the "number of the Beast," had already inspired dread in
many.
This year was also predicted as the end of history by the Jewish Kabbalistic
leader Shabbetai Tzevi, who had gained a large following since declaring
himself the Messiah in 1648. Shabbetai was excommunicated by the rabbis of
Jerusalem in 1665, then imprisoned when he arrived in Constantinople the
following year. Threatened with further torture, he converted to Islam,
disillusioning most of his followers. But a core remained, and spread what
became known as Shabbetaianism, which would reach its peak in the 18th century.
|
|
| |
| 1740s | The
first Great Awakening brings spiritual and eschatological revival to
England and her colonies, despite the trend toward rationalism earlier in the
18th century.
The dominant eschatology of the time is known as postmillennialism, or
the belief that Christ would return only after righteous men had created a
godly kingdom on earth through their own efforts.
One prominent leader was Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, who saw the revival
as "the dawning, or at least a prelude, of that glorious work of God, so often
foretold in Scripture, which in the progress and issue of it, shall renew the
world of mankind." He added that "Many things ... make it probably that this
work will begin in America."
|
|
| |
| 1776 |
The American Revolution. Apocalyptic rhetoric fuels the rebellion: colonial
pamphleteers equate the hated Stamp Act with the "mark of the beast" from
Revelation, and cast King George in the role of Antichrist. They also see their
victory in apocalyptic terms, as a sign that America is truly destined to
become Christ's new millennial kingdom.
More on the American Revolution.
|
|
| |
| 1780 | Calling
themselves the "Millennial Church," a religious sect known as the
Shakers begin to attract followers in upstate New York. Founded by Ann
Lee, who had left a small sect known as the Shaking Quakers in England, they
establish an unusual communal life near Albany. Their name derives from their
worship services, which feature frenetic dancing so that believers might
"shake" sin from their bodies. Believing the Millennium is at hand, the Shakers
require celibacy, hold property in common, and share ministry equally among men
and women. Eventually establishing villages from Maine to Kentucky, they would
become one of the more successful (among many) apocalyptic sects in America
during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
|
|
| |
| 1820s
- 1830s
| Religious
revival known as the second Great Awakening sweeps through America,
igniting religious energies so fierce its epicenter in western New York becomes
known as the "Burned Over District."
In many ways, this represents the cresting of the religious tide which had been
surging in the U.S. for decades, spawning sects like the Shakers, the Rappites,
the Amana and Oneida Communities, and the Mormons. These groups are all
millennial and utopian to some degree, and while some did not last very long,
they bear witness to the incredible vitality and diversity of American
religious life during this period and beyond.
|
|
| |
| 1830 | After
receiving a vision, Joseph Smith publishes the Book of Mormon,
beginning his effort to restore the "true" church of Christ. According to
religious historian Stephen Stein, "In Mormon eyes, the world divided sharply
between Latter-day Saints--what they called themselves--and Gentiles, who
rejected the gospel." Smith's Mormons look forward to Christ's imminent return,
believing they would "reign with Christ a thousand years on the earth."
Although he avoids setting specific dates, Smith is hardly afraid of
prediction: he holds that there will be "two places of gathering" in the latter
days, Palestine for the Jews and Zion in western Missouri for the Gentiles. He
leads followers to various settlements in the Midwest, finally founding the
town of Nauvoo in Illinois. Their strange beliefs and practices (including
polygamy), as well as their militance, engender hostility from outsiders, and
Smith is murdered by a mob in 1844. To the faithful, such persecution only
confirms that the latter days are upon them.
|
|
| |
| 1844 |
"The Great Disappointment" of the Millerite movement. In the preceding years,
the self-proclaimed Baptist preacher William Miller had attracted as many as
100,000 followers in New York and Massachusetts. Miller boldly predicted that
Christ would return and engulf the world in fire some time between March 21,
1843 and March 21, 1844. When that didn't happen, he changed the date to
October 22. Many followers left after that spectacular failure, but enough
stayed to form the 7th Day Adventist movement. The type of eschatology
espoused by the Millerites is called premillennialism, which holds that
the world will grow more and more sinful until Christ returns to usher in the
Millennial kingdom--in other words, man can't save himself. Although their
failure would serve as a great caution against hard date-setting, historians
view them as a harbinger of the type of apocalyptic thinking so prevalent in
the 20th century.
|
|
| |
| 1859 |
British
minister John Nelson Darby begins preaching in America. He would create
an ingenious theology known as premillennial dispensationalism, which
remains the dominant eschatological system in Christianity today.
"Dispensationalism" refers to Darby's belief that human history can be divided
into a series of epochs, or dispensations, in which God has dealt with humanity
in different ways. Darby teaches that biblical prophecy refers to the past and
future periods, but is silent on the present "Church Age," which began with
Christ's crucifixion. By asserting that God's prophetic clock had temporarily
stopped ticking, this "Great Parenthesis" ingeniously preserves prophecy while
avoiding the risks of date-setting.
One of the most enduring elements of Darby's system is the Rapture, in
which true believers in Christ would travel instantly to heaven, where they
would watch the terrible seven-year Tribulation unfold on earth, killing
all but a righteous few. His emphasis on the Jews' return to Palestine and his
strong reliance on scripture over church authority have also won favor with
fundamentalists.
|
|
| |
| 1861-1865 | America
is torn by the Civil War, a conflict so great it taps into apocalyptic
fears and expectations. For example, the "Battle Hymn of the Republic"
written by Julia Ward Howe, clearly is drenched in apocalyptic imagery: "Mine
eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord ... He hath loosed the
fateful lightning of his terrible swift sword ..."
|
|
| |
| January
1, 1901
| While
millions sip champagne on the first day of a new century ripe with promise, a
curious thing happens at a small bible school in Topeka, Kansas. During an
all-night prayer vigil, a zealous young woman named Agnes Ozman begins babbling
in unrecognizable tongues--it is the first authenticated "Spirit Baptism" of
modern times and the beginning of the Pentecostal movement. Today, at
the end of the century, Pentecostals and other charismatic Christians number in
the hundreds of millions and are perhaps the fastest growing religious group in
the world.
|
|
| |
| 1909 | Cyrus
Scofield publishes the first of many editions of his influential Scofield
Reference Bible, which helps spread Darby's dispensational system. By 1990,
various editions had sold upwards of ten million copies, making it one of the
most important documents in Christian fundamentalist literature. Shrewdly
placing his comments in the margins of the scripture itself, Scofield advances
a classic Darbyite dispensational system which both reflected and solidified
the emerging premillennialist consensus of his day. Deeply suspicious of all
organizations, the Scofield Bible encourages individual study as the path to
the utopian "Kingdom Age," his term for the Millennium.
|
|
| |
| 1910 | The
Fundamentals are published between 1910 and 1915. A committee of
"Fundamentalists" is formed to write the pamphlets, which are sponsored by two
California oilmen and sent to some 3 million Protestant leaders. The
Fundamentals stress the accuracy of biblical history, the important role of
the Jews, and the value of prophetic prediction, which one "fundamentalist"
called "the ultimate antidote for all infidelity and the impregnable bulwark
against liberalism and false cults."
|
|
| |
| 1914 | The
outbreak of the First World War, the largest-scale conflict the world
had ever seen, unleashes a torrent of apocalyptic fears.
The Jehovah's Witnesses also believe that this will be the year of the
Second Coming, when Christ will free the world from Satan's domination through
national governments. Charles Taze Russell, founder of the movement, had
predicted Christ's invisible return in 1874, followed by his Second Coming in
1914, which would mark the end of "the time of the Gentiles." In 1884 he
founded the Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society, which produced books and
pamphlets explaining his system. In 1931, the Society would change its name to
the Jehovah's Witnesses.
|
|
| |
| 1917 | The
Balfour Declaration expresses the British government's support in
principle for establishing a Jewish homeland in Palestine. This strikes many as
a sure sign that the Temple will be rebuilt and the prophecies of Revelation
will soon be fulfilled.
|
|
| |
| 1929 | Italian
dictator Benito Mussolini signs a concordat with the Pope, convincing
many that he is the prophesied leader of a restored Roman Empire in league with
the Antichrist.
|
|
| |
| 1933 |
National Socialist leader Adolf Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany, within
months establishing single-party rule and turning the country into a police
state. His twisted millennial vision of a Third Reich, while not overtly
religious, borrows heavily from the religious apocalyptic tradition. The most
obvious parallel is the Nazi's demonization of the Jews, which would mark a new
low in the long history of antisemitism.
|
|
| |
| 1939-1945 |
The
Second World War outpaces the first, making it the most destructive
event the world has ever known. In 1945, the world enters the Atomic Age
with the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Suddenly, the second epistle
of Peter didn't sound so far-fetched: "But the day of the Lord will come as a
thief in the night ... the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the
elements shall melt with a fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are
therein shall be burned up." (2 Pet. 3:10 KJV) The fact that man now clearly
possessed the means of his own destruction would reawaken apocalyptic fears
among believers and non-believers alike.
|
|
| |
| 1948 |
The Jewish State of Israel is established in Palestine, igniting a veritable
frenzy among prophecy believers, who had been looking for Jews to regain
control of the Holy Land since the late 19th century.
|
|
| |
| 1967 |
The Israelis capture Jerusalem in what comes to be known as the Six Day
War. Christian prophecy believers would see this as an important sign that
the End Times were approaching.
|
|
| |
| 1970 |
Hal Lindsey publishes Late Great Planet Earth, which becomes so popular
the New York Times has called him the best selling author of the 1970s.
Espousing a basic premillennialist vision, the former Campus Crusade for Christ
recruiter pitches his argument to young people, cleverly demonstrating how
current events could best be viewed in light of prophecy. In 1977, Orson Welles
would narrate a movie version of Late Great Planet Earth.
Lindsey's success spawns a host of imitators, whose books, films, videos, web
sites and other products are a multi-million dollar business today.
|
|
| |
| 1975 | William
Luther Pierce writes The Turner Diaries, a fictional
account of a "Great Revolution" by Aryan Christians in the 1990s. In the book,
Aryans, who have become second-class citizens, fight back against Jews,
African-Americans and Hispanics. Earl Turner, the protagonist, dies in a
kamikaze attack on the Pentagon. The book remains popular and influential today
among right-wing extremists.
|
|
| |
| 1978 | The
world is shocked by the mass suicide at the Jonestown community in
Guyana. The Reverend Jim Jones had established branches of his People's Temple
up and down California in the late 1960s, appealing to the urban poor,
especially African Americans, with his curious blend of religious and
socialistic messianism. By 1976 he had accumulated enough influence and
political power in San Francisco that he was named to the city's Housing
Commission. But beginning in July 1977, exposes of his group's outlandish
practices forced Jones to flee permanently to the colony he had begun building
in Guyana a few years before, which he saw as "a revolutionary challenge to a
corrupt world." The mass suicide was ordered by Jones after members of the
Temple had murdered Congressman Leo Ryan and four others as they prepared to
depart Guyana after an investigation. Before the grisly end came, Jones had
been preparing the group for a possible relocation to Russia, which he had been
slated to be the next "heaven on earth," an interesting departure from the
anti-communism of most American Christian millennial sects.
|
|
| |
| 1980 | With
strong support from the growing Christian fundamentalist movement, Ronald
Reagan is elected President of the United States.
A Gallup poll this year reports that 40 percent of Americans regard the Bible
as "the actual Word of God."
|
|
| |
| 1981 | James
Watt, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of the Interior and a prominent
Pentecostal, publicly states that we need not worry too much about exploiting
our natural resources because "I don't know how many future generations we can
count on until the Lord returns."
The following year, Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger would remark,
"I have read the Book of Revelation and yes, I believe the world is going to
end--by an act of God, I hope--but every day I think time is running out ..."
|
|
| |
| 1983 | President
Reagan makes his infamous "Evil Empire" speech in which he calls the
Soviet Union "the focus of evil in the modern world." It's no coincidence that
his use of apocalyptic rhetoric came in an address to the National Association
of Evangelicals.
|
|
| |
| 1989 | Televangelist
Pat Robertson founds the Christian Coalition "to give Christians
a voice in their government again and to reverse the moral decay that threatens
our nation by training Christians for effective political action," through
local politics, particularly school boards. By 1998 the CC has over 400,000
members spread through 900 branches in all fifty states. Robertson claims to
have spoken in tongues and even to have altered the path of hurricanes.
Although a confirmed premillennialist, Robertson, who ran for President in
1988, recently has embraced aspects of Dominion Theology, which
emphasizes political activism toward creating a postmillennial kingdom on
earth. This may be part of a more general shift among fundamentalists toward a
more activist, postmillennial eschatology in keeping with their increased
involvement in politics.
|
|
| |
| April
19, 1993
|
|
 | |
Fire at the Davidian Compound
| | |
A standoff in Waco, Texas between federal agents and an apocalyptic
Christian sect known as the Branch Davidians ends in disaster;
fire kills some 80 Branch Davidians in their compound. They were led by the
messianic David Koresh, and the Davidians are direct descendants of the
19th century Millerites, through the Seventh Day Adventist movement. The F.B.I.
and Department of Justice receive harsh criticism for their handling of the
situation, during which they showed little understanding of the Christian
apocalyptic tradition of which Koresh and his followers were clearly a part.
More on Koresh's apocalyptic faith.
|
|
| |
| April
19, 1995
| The
bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City kills
169, making it the bloodiest act of terrorism in American history to date.
Perpetrators Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, members of the loosely
organized American militia movement, claimed they wanted "revenge" for the
actions of the Federal agents at Waco two years earlier.
|
|
| |
| March,
1997
| 39
members of messianic guru Marshall Applewhite's Heaven's Gate cult
commit suicide, capturing the nation's attention. With its strange amalgam of
New Age, science fiction, and Christian beliefs, the group is a great example
of what historian Michael Barkun calls a new "improvisational style" of
apocalypticism, in which small groups pluck religious and secular elements out
of the great cultural "millennial stew" and fashion their own unique systems.
|
|
| |
| 1998
- 1999
|
As the end of the millennium draws near, the impending "Y2K" computer
crisis receives more and more attention. Y2K hits two classic apocalyptic
nerves--fear of technology and global interconnectedness--while also possessing
the classic feature of a hard and fast date, which fosters increasing panic as
"the End" approaches.
|
|
