The Puritan Apocalypse

This book explores the ideological origins of the Puritan migration to and experience in America.

Puritanism was an intensely eschatological movement. From the beginnings of the movement, Puritan writers developed eschatological interests in distinct contexts and often for conflicting purposes. Their reformist agenda emphasized their eschatological hopes. In a series of readings of texts by John Foxe, James Usser, George Gillespie, John Rogers, John Milton and John Bunyan, this book provides an interdisciplinary exploration of Puritan thinking about the last things.

The study of the apocalyptical phenomenon in biblical prophecy is an area of current investigation in biblical studies. The present dissertation utilizes the sociology of knowledge to investigate the socio-economic-religio-political milieu of the English Puritans in their development of an apocalyptical hermeneutic. Medieval and Reformation backgrounds to the Puritan apocalyptic are traced from Wycliffe through Luther, Calvin, Knox, Bale, Bullinger and Foxe. The historic Protestant apocalyptic tradition was then adopted by the Marian exiles at Geneva and popularized through the extensive annotations of the various editions of the Geneva Bible. To these were added the speculations of such scholars as Napier, Ralegh, Brightman and Broughton. In time, the millennialism of Alsted and Mede captured the Puritan imagination and became the predominant viewpoint as the Puritans adopted a “realized apocalyptic” which placed them within the apocalypse itself. Believing that the Battle of Armageddon had already begun, they logically concluded that a righteous revolution of the saints was necessary to fulfill the purposes of God against the Antichrist. During the height of militant millenarianism the Puritans maintained a significant influence upon British politics through the Long Parliament and the subsequent Barebone’s Parliament. The Fifth Monarchists urged the Parliament to revolt against the monarchy, execute the King and establish Christ’s Kingdom on earth by force. However, at the height of their influence the Puritans became bitterly divided against themselves and their coalition fragmented into failure to impose their apocalyptic vision on the nation.

A collection of essays by several scholars, this book is an important study of the origins of post- and pre-millennialism in English theology. Initially, it is shown how the early Lutherans or reformers of the sixteenth century adopted the traditional Augustinian eschatology, a doctrine concerned with the end of the world or of humankind. It analyses how Luther paved the way for the interpretation of revelation not as heralding an apocalypse, but as an important historical and political event. For many Puritans this meant the collapse of the Papacy, the restoration of the Jews, and the dawn of a period of glory for the Church. This book traces the hopes and fears of Christians presented with the prophesised apocalypse, which was at this time felt to be imminent. It discusses the manner in which dogma was adapted to suit the interpretations of each religious sect, and the impact which historical events such as the thirty years war, exerted on these theologians. This is a clear discussion on the important elements of millennialism, and is particularly interesting set in the context of comparing these deeply religious views with our own modern thoughts upon entering a new millennium.