Millennialism

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Millennialism or Millenarianism. In the narrowest sense, the belief in a future millennium, or thousand-year reign of Christ. The main source of the belief is Revelation 20. Its adherents are pre- or post-millennialists, according to whether they conceive Christ's second coming (parousia) as coming before or after the millennium. Millenarian groups since the Reformation include Anabaptists, Bohemian and Moravian Brethren, early Independents, 17th–18th cent. Pietists, Catholic Apostolic Church, Plymouth Brethren, and Adventists.

In a more general sense, millenarian movements are those which envisage a coming age (usually imminent) in which a faithful group will be particularly rewarded on this earth. Such movements are extremely common. Some are derived from Christianity (e.g. some elements of Tʾai-ping, Adventists), but others have no such connection.

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