On March 21, 1844, the New England Baptist preacher William Miller had predicted the Second Coming. When the world had not ended the next day, he actually admitted an error in his calculations (a rare occurrence among eschatologists) and concluded that the apocalypse would take place on April 18.
When yet a third date failed - in what came to be called "The Great Disappointment" - the Millerites went on to form the Seventh Day Adventists in 1861.
3/21/2012
3/20/2012
March 20: Newton, Eschatological Eggs, and Aum Shinrikyo
Three dates to note for March 20:
In 1727, the alchemist, Treasury agent, and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton died. In a 1704 letter, reasoning from the Book of Daniel and from the passage of 1260 years since the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, he concluded the world should end around 2060.
In 1809, Mary Bateman of Leeds, England died. She had a magic chicken that laid eggs on which the message "Christ is Coming" was inscribed. The sensation created by this chicken ended suddenly, when Bateman was discovered forcing an egg up the hen's oviduct. On this date she was hanged for committing an unrelated poisoning.
In 1995, a cult named Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system, killing 11. The cult's leader, Shoko Asahara, believed the attack would help stimulate Armageddon by 1997.
In 1727, the alchemist, Treasury agent, and mathematician Sir Isaac Newton died. In a 1704 letter, reasoning from the Book of Daniel and from the passage of 1260 years since the foundation of the Holy Roman Empire, he concluded the world should end around 2060.
In 1809, Mary Bateman of Leeds, England died. She had a magic chicken that laid eggs on which the message "Christ is Coming" was inscribed. The sensation created by this chicken ended suddenly, when Bateman was discovered forcing an egg up the hen's oviduct. On this date she was hanged for committing an unrelated poisoning.
In 1995, a cult named Aum Shinrikyo released sarin gas in the Tokyo subway system, killing 11. The cult's leader, Shoko Asahara, believed the attack would help stimulate Armageddon by 1997.
3/16/2012
March 16: The Babylonian Captivity
On March 16, 597 BCE (2 Adar in the Hebrew calendar), the armies of Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem and deposed King Jehoiachin, beginning the Babylonian Captivity. For nearly 50 years, thousands of Judah's most prominent citizens and scholars would be held prisoner in Mesopotamia, until Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered the Babylonians in 538 and repatriated the captives to Israel.
The destruction of Solomon's temple on this date stimulated long-standing messianic hopes among the Jews for its reconstruction. In the minds of many later Christians, the reconstruction of the Temple also became a persistent focus of apocalyptic speculation.
The destruction of Solomon's temple on this date stimulated long-standing messianic hopes among the Jews for its reconstruction. In the minds of many later Christians, the reconstruction of the Temple also became a persistent focus of apocalyptic speculation.
3/14/2012
March 14: A Dissident Monk, and a Muggletonian
Two dates to note for March 14:
In 1298, "Spiritual Franciscan" Peter John Olivi died. Olivi's commentary on the Book of Revelation identified the Roman Church with the Babylon of Scripture, forecasting the Antichrist for the period 1300-1340. Nearly 20 years after his death, Olivi's work was condemned and burned, and his tomb was desecrated by a group of friars in 1318.
In 1697, Lodowicke Muggleton died. In the tumult of the English Civil War, and after years of seeing visions, Muggleton claimed along with his cousin (both of whom worked as tailors) to be the two "witnesses" from the Book of Revelation. Muggleton wrote two commentaries on Revelation for his growing group of followers, the Muggletonians. But in 1676 Muggleton was convicted of blasphemy. He was pilloried, his works burned, and in his late 80s he was released from Newgate Prison in a state of compromised health, dying early the next year. Apocalyptic speculations had run so high throughout the English Civil War that in the Restoration period, Second Coming prophecies were actually made illegal.
In 1298, "Spiritual Franciscan" Peter John Olivi died. Olivi's commentary on the Book of Revelation identified the Roman Church with the Babylon of Scripture, forecasting the Antichrist for the period 1300-1340. Nearly 20 years after his death, Olivi's work was condemned and burned, and his tomb was desecrated by a group of friars in 1318.
In 1697, Lodowicke Muggleton died. In the tumult of the English Civil War, and after years of seeing visions, Muggleton claimed along with his cousin (both of whom worked as tailors) to be the two "witnesses" from the Book of Revelation. Muggleton wrote two commentaries on Revelation for his growing group of followers, the Muggletonians. But in 1676 Muggleton was convicted of blasphemy. He was pilloried, his works burned, and in his late 80s he was released from Newgate Prison in a state of compromised health, dying early the next year. Apocalyptic speculations had run so high throughout the English Civil War that in the Restoration period, Second Coming prophecies were actually made illegal.
3/13/2012
March 13: Herod the Great
In the year 4 BCE, possibly on this date of a partial lunar eclipse, the brutal Roman administrator over Judea named Herod the Great died. (Modern researchers believe Herod died of kidney failure, but his widespread illnesses included genital gangrene.) A brief period of chaos following his death led a number of Jewish Messianic claimants to rise up against Herod's son and successor Herod Archelaus.
One of these was a slave of Herod's named Simon of Peraea, who seized the diadem from his master's body, proclaimed himself king, and commenced a spree of looting and firestarting. He was quickly killed by the Romans. A robber-king of sorts named Judas, son of Hezekiah (the father was also a renowned criminal, earlier captured by Herod) stormed a palace armory and armed a band of fighters who were also soon put down by the Romans.
The most successful movement against the younger Herod was led by a former shepherd named Athronges, whose rebellion endured through two years of countryside guerilla attacks on imperial troops.
Of course, Herod the Great also plays a role in the story of another Messiah claimant, Jesus of Nazareth. In the Book of Matthew, Herod is said to have responded to the prophecy that a rival had been born to his official title "King of the Jews", by having all boys killed in Bethlehem who were under age 2. Contemporary scholarship casts doubt on this event, for which there is no other record: also, Jesus was almost certainly born well after Herod had died in 4 BCE.
One of these was a slave of Herod's named Simon of Peraea, who seized the diadem from his master's body, proclaimed himself king, and commenced a spree of looting and firestarting. He was quickly killed by the Romans. A robber-king of sorts named Judas, son of Hezekiah (the father was also a renowned criminal, earlier captured by Herod) stormed a palace armory and armed a band of fighters who were also soon put down by the Romans.
The most successful movement against the younger Herod was led by a former shepherd named Athronges, whose rebellion endured through two years of countryside guerilla attacks on imperial troops.
Of course, Herod the Great also plays a role in the story of another Messiah claimant, Jesus of Nazareth. In the Book of Matthew, Herod is said to have responded to the prophecy that a rival had been born to his official title "King of the Jews", by having all boys killed in Bethlehem who were under age 2. Contemporary scholarship casts doubt on this event, for which there is no other record: also, Jesus was almost certainly born well after Herod had died in 4 BCE.
3/12/2012
March 12: Conversion of England, Blasphemous Prophesying
Two dates to note for March 12:
In 604, Pope Gregory I, or "Gregory the Great", died. He launched a missionary movement to convert the British Isles to Christianity beginning in 596, urged by a need to prepare the world for Judgment Day.
In 1837, "Zion" John Ward died. He had been imprisoned for two years after an 1832 blasphemy trial in Derby. Ward preached on behalf of Joanna Southcott, a prophetess who had died in 1814 claiming to be carrying the Messiah (she was not pregnant). More generally, Ward insisted Jesus would be returning to earth in the first half of the 1830s.
In 604, Pope Gregory I, or "Gregory the Great", died. He launched a missionary movement to convert the British Isles to Christianity beginning in 596, urged by a need to prepare the world for Judgment Day.
In 1837, "Zion" John Ward died. He had been imprisoned for two years after an 1832 blasphemy trial in Derby. Ward preached on behalf of Joanna Southcott, a prophetess who had died in 1814 claiming to be carrying the Messiah (she was not pregnant). More generally, Ward insisted Jesus would be returning to earth in the first half of the 1830s.
3/11/2012
March 11: The Jupiter Effect
John Gribbin of Nature magazine and Stephen Plagemann of NASA Goddard warned of "The Jupiter Effect" - an alignment of planets on March 10, 1982 which would cause a gravitational tug on Earth triggering enormous catastrophes including earthquakes and vulcanism. When the day arrived, a net worldwide increase of high tide levels was measured of 40 micrometers.
3/08/2012
March 8: Class Epp, Jr. and Vincent Price
Two dates to note for March 8:
In 1889, the Russian Mennonite cult leader Claas Epp, Jr. predicted Christ would return to Earth. With some sixty families of followers, he had moved to the Russian hinterlands to await it. When the day came and went without evidence of a Second Coming, Epp claimed his calculations had been thrown off by a leaning clock, and that Jesus would appear in 1891. Epp later claimed that he was himself Jesus' son, but his following nonetheless dwindled until his death in 1913.
In 1964, the Vincent Price film The Last Man on Earth appeared. This was the first of four film adaptations that would be made of Richard Matheson's apocalyptic 1954 novel I am Legend.
In 1889, the Russian Mennonite cult leader Claas Epp, Jr. predicted Christ would return to Earth. With some sixty families of followers, he had moved to the Russian hinterlands to await it. When the day came and went without evidence of a Second Coming, Epp claimed his calculations had been thrown off by a leaning clock, and that Jesus would appear in 1891. Epp later claimed that he was himself Jesus' son, but his following nonetheless dwindled until his death in 1913.
In 1964, the Vincent Price film The Last Man on Earth appeared. This was the first of four film adaptations that would be made of Richard Matheson's apocalyptic 1954 novel I am Legend.
3/07/2012
March 7, pt. 2: Elaine Pagels' "Revelations"
The fantastic popular scholar Elaine Pagels is on NPR's "Fresh Air" today to talk about the book of Revelation.
(Her current book, Revelations, appeared after the main research was done on this project, but her earlier "The Origin of Satan" was in my reading list.)
Fresh Air: Elaine Pagels
(Her current book, Revelations, appeared after the main research was done on this project, but her earlier "The Origin of Satan" was in my reading list.)
Fresh Air: Elaine Pagels
3/05/2012
March 5: The Christian Movement to Establish a Modern Israel
On March 5, 1891, William Eugene Blackstone presented a petition to Congress and the President urging the United States to support the repatriation of the world's Jews to Palestine. A Christian Zionist motivated by hopes of stimulating the Apocalypse, Blackstone's manifesto "Jesus is Coming" was backed by the Stewart brothers (owners of the Union Oil company) who had 700,000 copies of his work distributed in the U.S.
3/04/2012
March 4: Saladin, FDR, and Jeff Kluttz
Three dates to note for March 4:
In 1193, Saladin died of a fever in Damascus after successfully defending Jerusalem from Richard I's Third Crusade. As a defender of the Muslim faith, Saladin was seen as the Antichrist by many. The famous eschatologist Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202) claimed Saladin was the sixth "head" of the red dragon of Revelation, and last predecessor to the Antichrist.
In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt assumed office. Eventually elected to four terms, Roosevelt profoundly changed the scale and structure of the United States government. With the Social Security program in particular, he instituted a national identification scheme repeatedly linked since to the Mark of the Beast in Revelation.
In 2009, Christian eschatologist Jeff Kluttz released the book "Return Of The King: A Prophetic Timeline Of End-Time Events".
In 1193, Saladin died of a fever in Damascus after successfully defending Jerusalem from Richard I's Third Crusade. As a defender of the Muslim faith, Saladin was seen as the Antichrist by many. The famous eschatologist Joachim of Fiore (1135-1202) claimed Saladin was the sixth "head" of the red dragon of Revelation, and last predecessor to the Antichrist.
In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt assumed office. Eventually elected to four terms, Roosevelt profoundly changed the scale and structure of the United States government. With the Social Security program in particular, he instituted a national identification scheme repeatedly linked since to the Mark of the Beast in Revelation.
In 2009, Christian eschatologist Jeff Kluttz released the book "Return Of The King: A Prophetic Timeline Of End-Time Events".
3/02/2012
March 2: Methodism, Dispensationalism
Two dates to note for March 2:
In 1791, John Wesley died. His populist and progressive (relative to Calvinism) ministry led to the development of Methodism from out of the Church of England. Wesley's denial of other apocalyptic predictions (see February 28) did not preclude Wesley's own belief that Christ would return in 1836.
In 1925, the noted Christian dispensationalist and Dean of Dallas Theological Seminary, Charles Caldwell Ryrie, was born. (More on dispensationalism to come!)
In 1791, John Wesley died. His populist and progressive (relative to Calvinism) ministry led to the development of Methodism from out of the Church of England. Wesley's denial of other apocalyptic predictions (see February 28) did not preclude Wesley's own belief that Christ would return in 1836.
In 1925, the noted Christian dispensationalist and Dean of Dallas Theological Seminary, Charles Caldwell Ryrie, was born. (More on dispensationalism to come!)
2/29/2012
February 29: Fourth-Century Christian "Traitors"
Tyconius was an early-fourth-century Donatist, a sect taking a hard line against Christians who had publicly recanted during the reign of Diocletian (Donatists coined the word "traitor", meaning "one who hands over", to describe Christians who gave up their copies of scripture to Roman authorities).
Tyconius' Commentary on the Apocalypse would influence his fellow north African St. Augustine (at least in the latter's views of the apocalypse - since Augustine was anti-Donatist). In the commentary, Tyconius urged what Augustine would later call a "spiritual" (figurative) reading of Daniel and Revelation. This included the denial of a "millennium" in which Christ will rule bodily on earth. In fact, the spiritual or amillennialist interpretation of Revelation tended to see its prophecies as already having come true - or as continually coming true, in the form of a perpetual allegory of the human spirit. Tyconius also described the Antichrist as being not a living man, but a principle, a sum of the opponents to Christianity in history.
Tyconius' Commentary on the Apocalypse would influence his fellow north African St. Augustine (at least in the latter's views of the apocalypse - since Augustine was anti-Donatist). In the commentary, Tyconius urged what Augustine would later call a "spiritual" (figurative) reading of Daniel and Revelation. This included the denial of a "millennium" in which Christ will rule bodily on earth. In fact, the spiritual or amillennialist interpretation of Revelation tended to see its prophecies as already having come true - or as continually coming true, in the form of a perpetual allegory of the human spirit. Tyconius also described the Antichrist as being not a living man, but a principle, a sum of the opponents to Christianity in history.
2/28/2012
February 28: John Wesley prefers one apocalypse to the other
February 28, 1763, is the date George Bell forecast for the descent of Jesus to Earth. Methodism founder John Wesley preached strenuously against this popular prediction, holding an all-night prayer vigil to help calm the public. (Wesley believed the world would end in 1836.)
2/26/2012
February 26: The Nation of Islam
Wallace Fard was born February 26, 1893. Appearing in Detroit after emigrating from Mecca in the 1920s (or possibly instead from California, if public records are to be believed - where, as Wallace Ford, he had completed a three-year drugs sentence in San Quentin), Fard founded the Temple of Islam in 1930. He preached that black Americans should abandon Christianity in preparation for an Armageddon in which their former white slave-masters would be overcome. Fard's successor, Elijah Muhammed, reshaped the organization into the Nation of Islam, which holds that we live at the end of a 6000-year reign of "white devils".
Fard vanished mysteriously in 1934.
Fard vanished mysteriously in 1934.
2/25/2012
February 25: Bicheno, the obese apocalypticist
On February 25, 1851, James Ebenezer Bicheno died. A writer and English colonial official who had devoted his private life to study of the esoteric, he determined that Louis the XIV had been the Beast of Revelation, and that the second coming of Christ would occur in 1864. An obese man, it was also said that three bushels of wheat could fit inside a pair of his trousers.
2/24/2012
February 24: Israel's Road Map to Peace
February 24, 1997, was the 1260th day after the signing of the "Road Map to Peace" by Yitzhak Rabin and Yasser Arafat in 1993. After Daniel 7:25 and 12:7, and a handful of passages in Revelation, 1260 days is the period expected to elapse between a significant event in Jerusalem, and the Tribulation. Thus this day became one of the many candidates for the apocalypse which Christian eschatologists have derived from events in the Middle East.
2/23/2012
February 23: The beginning of the world, per Sextus Julius Africanus
Sextus Julius Africanus' Chronographai - a history of the world in five volumes - set the date of creation at 5500 BCE. Later apocalypticists would work forward from this date in calculating the end of the world. (A common assumption among early Christian eschatologists was of the "hexameron" - a 6000-year plan of universal history, reflecting the week of creation described in Genesis. The seventh millennium would mark the Parousia, or Christ's second coming to earth.)
Sextus Julius Africanus died during the year 240.
Sextus Julius Africanus died during the year 240.
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