What is Millenarian Thinking and Why is it Important for RE Teachers?

CenSAMM stands for the “Centre for the Critical Study of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements”. It works to promote research into apocalyptic and millenarian movements, and to support public understanding of this area of life and thought.

One of our major projects is CDAMM, the “Critical Dictionary of Apocalyptic and Millenarian Movements”, which is an encyclopaedia with entries written by leading academics and aimed at a wide readership – including teachers. The term ‘millenarian’ derives from the Latin for “thousand” (think, ‘millennium’) and historically links to the idea of a thousand-year reign of Christ at the end of history. An article explaining ‘millenarianism’ is one of the resources given below.

The term millennialism is often used to refer to the idea of a long period of idyllic civilization or a “Golden Age” when all injustice will be put right. It is connected to the idea of ‘Apocalypse’ – which is probably a more familiar term to many – which comes from the Greek word for “revelation” (hence, the final book of the New Testament is known as the book of Revelation). Nowadays, thinking around apocalypse is often associated with ideas about global cataclysm or the collapse of a civilization. An article about apocalypse is given as a resource below.

The most prominent form of Christian millenarianism is those who believe Jesus will return and instigate a thousand years of divine rule, followed by the judgement of sinners and restoration of earthly perfection. A group who accept this belief are the Plymouth Brethren Church. Another Christian millenarian view is the expectation of a thousand years of peace, arising from the efforts of living Christians, after which Jesus will return and judgement will occur; an example of this is Christian Reconstructionism – a movement within conservative evangelicalism in the USA. A third form of Christian millenarianism is more figurative and symbolic: that there will not necessarily be a literal period of divine earthly rule.

Millenarianism is not limited to Christian or religious movements. A third resource given below is about the expectation that technology will bring in an era of perfection and elevation of human civilization.

There is no clear explanation for why millenarian thinking occurs; it can be understood as an expression of the basic human need to strive for and imagine a better world. We encounter that in all areas of human thinking, religious and non-religious. As an approach, it can lead to creative political and social thinking about the kind of society we should work for, it can inspire people to think about what things are of real fundamental importance, and it can help to articulate challenges to injustice. However, of course, not everyone agrees about what the real problems or the right solutions are, and some millenarian movements are highly politicised, and their views can be regarded as controversial.

Maybe, one of the really valuable things about the study of millenarianism is the way it helps us understand that ideas are ambiguous and overlap with other beliefs. Millennial thinking challenges our established categories. In addition to the importance of millenarianism in many influential worldviews, such as religious movements, millennial thinking is present in political and popular culture. This suggests that this area of study should have more attention. However, we are beginning to see increasing interest in trying to understand these ideas in a more critical and analytic way – across mainstream culture and in education and academia.

Have a look at the Dictionary and main website here:

CenSAMM:
CDAMM
Go to Resource of the Month to access articles about apocalyptic and millenarian thinking.