Millennium: Historical & Exegetical Debate - Softcover

Erdmann, Dr. Martin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0692626433 ISBN 13: 9780692626436

Publisher: Verax Vox Media, 2016

Synopsis

The belief in a literal millennium was an important aspect in the Christian eschatology of the ante-Nicene age. Most of the Asiatic Church Fathers derived their chiliastic convictions not only from the millennial passage of Revelation, but also from the Jewish concept of a Golden Age, as described by the Hebrew Prophets and further developed by Jewish apocalyptic writers. The chiliastic doctrine was challenged, on exegetical and philosophical grounds, by the Alexandrian school of theology in the third century. The Church's elevation to imperial favour by Constantine was followed by a further shift in the understanding of the millennium. The chiliastic hope of a future earthly reign of Christ was substituted with the view of a realized millennium constituting the secular dominion of the Roman Church. The factor which most contributed to this change was Augustine's spiritualized interpretation of the first resurrection. He understood it to mean a resurrection of those dead in sin, raised to spiritual life. In his book, De civitate dei, he advanced the opinion that the kingdom of God was already set up at Christ's first coming and nothing remained to be accomplished before the final judgment except the brief reign of the Antichrist. Thus the teaching of a literal millennium became discredited because it was perverted by some of its friends and misrepresented by its opponents.

About this title

About the Author:

Dr. Martin Erdmann studied theology in Columbia, SC (Master of Divinity), Basel, Switzerland and Aberdeen, Scotland (Master of Theology). In 1999, he was awarded a doctoral degree in modern Church History at Brunel University, Uxbridge, England. In 1996, he founded Online Communication Systems, inc. in Columbus, Ohio. For four years he headed up the NT department of the Staatsunabhängige Theologische Hochschule Basel (State-independent Theological Seminary), Switzerland. In his position as Senior Scientist at the University Hospital in Basel, he was involved in researching the ethical implications of Nanotechnology. He was also an Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies (distance education) at Patrick Henry College, Virginia. Currently, he is the Director of the Verax Institute. Dr. Erdmann is married to Joy and has two children, Estelle Chérie and Johannes Luc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Verax Vox Media
• Publication date: 2016
• ISBN 10: 0692626433
• ISBN 13: 9780692626436
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 266