THE APOCALYPSE-TO BE FEARED OR HOPED FOR?

Why the Apocalypse Hope Was Rejected

Since it is an irrefutable historic fact that many, if not most, of the early Christians hoped in the Millennial Reign of Christ over a paradise earth, how did it occur that such "chiliastic views" were "eventually rejected"? Some justifiable criticism came about because, as scholar Robert Mounce pointed out, "unfortunately, many chiliasts allowed their imaginations to run riot and read into the thousand-year period all manner of materialistic and sensuous extremes." But these extremist views could have been corrected without rejecting the true hope of the Millennium.

Surprising indeed were the means used to suppress millennialism by its adversaries. The Dictionnair de Theologie Catholique says of Roman churchman Caius (end of second century, beginning of third) that "in order to conquer millennialism, he unequivocally denied the authenticity of the Apocalypse [Revelation] and of the Gospel of St. John." This Dictionnaire further states that Dionysius, third century bishop of Alexandria, wrote a treatise against millennialism that "in order to prevent those who adhered to this opinion from basing their belief on the Apocalypse of Saint John, did not hesitate to deny its authenticity." Such virulent opposition to the hope of millennial blesings on earth evinces a subtle influence that was at work among theologians at that time.

In his book the Pursuit of the Millennium, Professor Norman Cohn writes: "The third century saw the first attempt to discredit millenarianism, when Origen, perhaps the most influential of all the theologians of the ancient Church, began to present the Kingdom as an event which would take place not in space or time but only in the souls of believers." Relying on Greek philosophy rather than on the Bible, Origen diluted the wonder hope of earthly blessings under the Messianic Kingdom into an incomprehensible "event . . . in the sould of believers." Catholic author Leon Gry wrote: "The predominant influence of Greek philosophy . . .gradually brought about the fall of Chiliastic ideas."

Next time: "The Church Has Lost Its Message of Hope"

Watchtower, 1999