Belief in a coming fundamental transformation of society
This article is about the belief in a coming major transformation of society, as upheld by religious, social, or political groups. For a specific type of Christian millenarianism, see Millennialism. For the teachings of William Miller, see Millerism.
Millenarianismormillenarism (from Latinmillenarius 'containing a thousand', and -ism) is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed".[1] Millenarianism exists in various cultures and religions worldwide, with various interpretations of what constitutes a transformation.[2]
These movements believe in radical changes to society after a major cataclysm or transformative event.[3]
Millenarianist movements can be secular (not espousing a particular religion) or religious in nature,[4] and are therefore not necessarily linked to millennialist movements in Christianity.[3]
Both "millennialism" and "millenarianism" refer to "one thousand". They both derive from the Christian tradition. Neither term strictly refers to "one thousand" in modern [1963] academic usage.[5] Millennialism often refers to a specific type of Christian millenarianism, and is sometimes referred to as Chiliasm from the New Testament use of the Greek chilia (thousand).
The terms "millennialism" and "millenarianism" are sometimes used interchangeably, as in The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism.[6]Stephen Jay Gould has argued that this usage is incorrect, stating:
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 only one "n".[7]
The application of an apocalyptic timetable to the changing of the world has happened in many cultures and religions, continues to this day, and is not relegated to the sects of major world religions,[8] both Abrahamic and non-Abrahamic.[9] Increasingly in the study of apocalyptic new religious movements, millenarianism is used to refer to a more cataclysmic and destructive arrival of a utopian period as compared to millennialism which is often used to denote a more peaceful arrival and is more closely associated with a one thousand year utopia.[10]
Many if not most millenarian groups claim that the current society and its rulers are corrupt, unjust, or otherwise wrong, and that they will soon be destroyed by a powerful force. The harmful nature of the status quo is considered intractable without the anticipated dramatic change.[12]Henri Desroche observed that millenarian movements often envisioned three periods in which change might occur. First, the elect members of the movement will be increasingly oppressed, leading to the second period in which the movement resists the oppression. The third period brings about a new utopian age, liberating the members of the movement.[13]
In the modern world, economic rules, perceived immorality 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.[4]
While many millenarian groups are pacifistic, millenarian beliefs have been claimed as causes for people to ignore conventional rules of behaviour, which can result in violence directed inwards (such as the Jonestown mass murder) or outwards (such as the Aum Shinrikyoterrorist 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.[14] This is also known as world-rejection.
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, especially the 'intrinsically perverse' political form of a secular messianism.
^Baumgartner, Frederic J. 1999. Longing for the End: A History of Millennialism in Western Civilization, New York: Palgrave, pp 1-6
^Gould, Stephen Jay. 1997. Questioning the millennium: a rationalist's guide to a precisely arbitrary countdown. New York: Harmony Books, p. 112 (note)
^ abMillenarianismArchived 2021-04-26 at the Wayback Machine. In James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart (eds.) Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. 2021
^ abcGordon Marshall, "millenarianism", The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Sociology (1994), p. 333.
^Mayer, Jean-François (June 2016). Lewis, James R; Tøllefsen, Inga (eds.). "Millennialism: New Religious Movements and the Quest for a New Age". The Oxford Handbook of New Religious Movements. II. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190466176.013.30.
^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
^Worsley, Peter. 1957. The trumpet shall sound; a study of "cargo" cults in Melanesia. London: MacGibbon & Kee.
^Desroche, Henri (1969). Dieux d'hommes. Dictionnaire des messianismes et millénarismes de l'ère chrétienne. Paris: Berg International. pp. 31–32.
^Wessinger, Catherine. Millennialism, Persecution, and Violence: Historical Cases. Syracuse, N.Y: Syracuse University Press, 2000. Print.
Burridge, Kenelm. "New Heaven, New Earth: A Study of Millenarian Activities" (Basil Blackwell. Original printing 1969, three reprints 1972, 1980, 1986) ISBN0-631-11950-7 pb. ISBN0-8052-3175-7 hb.
CenSAMM. "MillenarianismArchived 2021-04-26 at the Wayback Machine." In James Crossley and Alastair Lockhart (eds.) Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements. 2021
Cohn, Norman. The Pursuit of the Millennium: Revolutionary Millenarians and Mystical Anarchists of the Middle Ages, revised and expanded (New York: Oxford University Press, [1957] 1970). (revised and expanded 1990) ISBN0-19-500456-6
Gray, John. Black Mass: Apocalyptic Religion and the Death of Utopia (London: Penguin Books, [2007] 2008) ISBN978-0-14-102598-8
Hotson, Howard. Paradise Postponed: Johann Heinrich Alsted and the Birth of Calvinist Millenarianism, (Springer, 2000).
Jue, Jeffrey K. Heaven Upon Earth: Joseph Mede and the Legacy of Mllenarianism, (Springer, 2006).
Kaplan, Jeffrey. Radical Religion in America: Millenarian Movements from the Far Right to the Children of Noah (Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 1997). ISBN0-8156-2687-8ISBN0-8156-0396-7
Katz, David S. and Popkin, Richard H. Messianic Revolution: Radical Religious Politics to the End of the Second Millennium. (New York: Hill and Wang, 1999) ISBN0-8090-6885-0.Review on H-Net
Landes, Richard. Heaven on Earth: The Varieties of Millennial Experiences, (Oxford University Press, 2011).
Lerner, Robert E. The Feast of Saint Abraham: Medieval Millenarians and the Jews, (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2000).
Millenarianism and Messianism in Early Modern Culture (4 voll.), Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Vol. 1: Goldish, Matt and Popkin, Richard H. (eds.). Jewish Messianism in the Early Modern World, 2001
Vol. 2: Kottmnan, Karl (eds.). Catholic Milleniarism: From Savonarola to the Abbè Grégoire, 2001
Vol. 3: Force, James E. and Popkin, Richard H. (eds.). The Millenarian Turn: Millenarian Contexts of Science, Politics and Everyday Anglo-American Life in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, 2001
Vol. 4: Laursen, John Christian and Popkin, Richard H. (eds.). Continental Millenarians: Protestants, Catholics, Heretics, 2001
Schwartz, Hillel. The French Prophets: The History of a Millenarian Group in Eighteenth-Century England. Berkeley: University of California, 1980.
Voegelin, Eric. The New Science of Politics. University of Chicago Press (October 12, 2012).
Wessinger, Catherine. (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Millennialism, New York: Oxford University Press 2011.
Wright, Ben and Dresser, Zachary W. (eds.) Apocalypse and the Millennium in the American Civil War Era. Baton Rouge, LA: Louisiana State University Press, 2013.
