Apocalypticism

[There is a shift in perspective between the two articles below; read them in the context of their time.]

1953 Article

Historical Overview

Chiliasm, the doctrine of a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth following His second coming for His saints. The term comes from the Greek word for "thousand" and the chief New Testament passage upon which the view is based is Revelation 20:1-10. Modern chiliasts base much of their teaching, however, upon a literal interpretation and application of Old Testament prophecies regarding the Jewish kingdom. The views of the Jewish apocalyptic books on the glory of the Messianic days also exerted some influence on the chiliasts of the second century Christian Church. Papias, for instance, quoted from Baruch 29 to show how fruitful the earth would be during the millennial reign of Christ.

In modern times the term "millennialism" or "premillennialism" is more commonly used instead of "chiliasm." The "pre" refers to the second coming of Christ as being "before" the establishment of the earthly kingdom. Postmillennialism holds that Christ will return after the kingdom of God had been realized spiritually. Amillennialism (also called nonmillennialism) holds that there will be no earthly kingdom at all and that there will be no golden age spiritually before the second coming of Christ.

Among the early (2nd-5th centuries) adherents of chiliasm may be mentioned: Papias, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Tertullian, Commodianus, Victorinus, and Lactantius. On the other hand, there is no trace of it in Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Tatian, Athenagoras, or Theophilus; and it is specifically opposed by Clement of Alexandria, Origen, Jerome, and Augustine. Typical of the chiliasm of A.D. 200 is Irenaeus: the world is to last 6,000 years, comparable to the six creative days, and then shall come the millennial "day" of 1,000 years, God's Sabbath. Near the end of the sixth day Antichrist will appear. At the end of the sixth day Christ will appear in glory and triumph over His enemies, and then reign on earth for one thousand years. During this time Jerusalem will be rebuilt and the earth will become very fruitful. Peace and righteousness will prevail. At the end of this millennium Christ will hold the judgment and effect the new creation. (For Irenaeus Christ's millennial reign did not have a Jewish character; it was not modern dispensationalism.)

Of the 40 early Church Fathers (not counting schismatics) who left writings, about eight held to chiliasm. By the fourth century the view was almost dead and remained so for a thousand years. All the leading reformers rejected chiliasm, as did the historic creeds of Christendom. Except for Melchior Hoffman, only a few fringe figures of the Anabaptist movement were chiliastic; all the major leaders held to views which would now be called amillennial (nonmillennial). Menno Simons explicitly rejected chiliasm (summary of relevant quotations in Ira D. Landis, The Faith of Our Fathers on Eschatology, Chap. I). There is no trace of chiliasm in any of the older Mennonite confessions of faith: Schleitheim (1527), Twisck (ca. 1617), the Dutch Mennonite deposition of 1626, Olive Branch (1627), Jan Cents (1630), Dordrecht (1632), or Prussian (1660, 1678).

The four major sources of chiliasm in the modern Protestant Church are (1) Pietism, of which a good representative is the mild chiliast Johann A. Bengel (d. 1752); (2) the Plymouth Brethren, who originated in England under the leadership of J. N. Darby (1800-1882) about 1830; (3) the Adventist bodies, whose chief founder was William Miller (1782-1849) about 1845; and (4) the Reference Bible of C. I. Scofield (1853-1921), first published in 1909. Both the Plymouth Brethren and Scofield held to a modern form of chiliasm known as dispensationalism. According to this neo-chiliasm, redemptive history is to be divided into seven dispensations in each of which God deals with man on different terms, and each of which ends in human failure and divine judgment. The church, say dispensationalists, is not in Old Testament prophecy, and Christians are not bound to keep "kingdom ethics" including the Sermon on the Mount; Jesus first offered the kingdom to the Jews but was rejected, upon which this Jewish kingdom was "postponed" to the millennial age; the Jews will be converted en masse at the sight of Christ at His "revelation" seven years after the "rapture" of the church; during the millennium the Jews will lead the nations, the Gentiles will keep the Old Testament Jewish feasts, Jewish sacrifices and temple worship will be reinstituted, and the Jewish Sabbath will be observed. The church is thus a sort of parenthesis between the Jewish rejection of Christ as their King, and the Jewish kingdom of Christ which will obtain in the millennium. This dispensationalism gained considerable acceptance in Bible schools and institutes, through prophecy journals and magazines, prophetic conferences, etc., in modern American Protestantism in the first half of the 20th century, less in England and continental Europe.

The nondispensational type of chiliasm was also held by a number of German religious writers and theologians of the 19th century: Jung-Stilling, Auberlen, Hahn, Stier, Ross, Oetinger, Rothe, Lange, Hofmann, Delitzsch, and Meyer. Most of the writers on systematic theology rejected chiliasm, while a number of leading exegetes accepted classic chiliasm but not dispensationalism.

As was mentioned above there is no trace of chiliasm in the first generation of the main line of the Anabaptists, whether Swiss, Dutch, or German, represented by such men as Conrad Grebel, Michael Sattler, Hans Langenmantel, Pilgram Marpeck, Thomas von Imbroich, Obbe Philips, Menno Simons, Dirk Philips, Leenaert Bouwens, and the Hutterites Jakob Hutter and Peter Riedemann. From many of these leaders we have tracts, books, or letters, which more or less clearly delineate their doctrinal position, and none of these leaders exhibits chiliastic views. For that one must go to such persons as Melchior Hoffman (Strasbourg, Emden, Holland), Hans Hut (Augsburg, Bavaria), and the revolutionary Münsterite movement (a degenerate form of Melchiorism). Hut (d. 1527) expected Christ to return about 1530 and to set up a spiritual, though not a physical, kingdom. So far as is now known the chiliasm of Hut never was accepted by his fellow leaders and had no later influence. Melchior Hoffman (d. 1543), who became an Anabaptist of a unique type in 1530, was an ardent chiliast, and though he had no influence on the Swiss and was expressly repudiated by the Swiss Brethren who took part in the Bern disputation of 1538, he had considerable influence in Northwest Germany (Emden, 1530) and Holland (1530-1533) and is responsible for the chiliasm which appeared there in the early years (up to 1540). His chiliasm finally found an outlet in the violent Münsterite movement (1534-1535), though he himself never advocated violence.

The Philips brothers and Menno Simons succeeded in purging the Obbenite-Mennonite brotherhood (1533-1544) of all Münsterism and chiliastic tendencies, and as a result of Münster the later Anabaptists and Mennonites became very careful in this matter. There seems to be no further trace of chiliasm among the Dutch, German, or Swiss Mennonites until at least two centuries later.

The question therefore arises as to time and circumstances of the entrance of chiliasm (premillennialism) into the modern Mennonite Church. This took place in the latter part of the 19th or early part of the 20th century, depending on which country was involved. Russia came first, South Germany, America, and Switzerland following in that order, but none interdependent. Modern Dutch Mennonites manifested no interest in chiliasm at all. The writings of Johann Heinrich Jung (pen name: Stilling, 1740-1817) were of some influence in leading some of the Russian Mennonites to adopt millennial views. Plymouth Brethren influence came from England to Russia, mediated in part through Germany. Claas Epp adopted chiliastic views and in 1880 led a group of his followers into central Asia to escape the Antichrist and to wait for the Lord. He set the date for the Lord's return at 8 March 1889, later postponed by two years. Epp (d. 1913) became increasingly unbalanced and fanatical and finally alienated most of his deluded followers.

Around the turn of the present century Mennonites in many lands, Switzerland, France, Germany, and America, began to experience their first contact with millennialism in their own ranks. Young men attended Bible schools where premillennialism was taught, and returned home with "keys" to the interpretation of Daniel and Revelation, both of which are books containing much figurative and symbolical material which had not been much studied or taught by Mennonites, even by the ministers, before that time. (There were exceptions of course: P. J. Twisck, 1565-1636, had written an exposition of Revelation 20, and Jakob Denner, 1659-1746, had included a sermon on this passage in his book of sermons entitled Betrachtungen, 1730. Heinrich Funck [d. 1760], a Mennonite bishop in the Franconia Conference, had also written an exposition of the law and its fulfillment in Christ, entitled Eine Restitution oder Erklärung einiger Hauptpunkte des Gesetzes, which was published in 1763 in Philadelphia.)

In the 1890s a number of American Mennonite (MC) young men studied at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago and became teachers of the premillennial view in their branch. Among them were A. D. Wenger (1867-1935), Aaron Loucks (1864-1945), E. J. Berkey (1874-1954), S. F. Coffman (1872-1954), and A. I. Yoder (1866-1932). A. D. Wenger was the first to teach premillennialism in his branch of the Mennonite brotherhood (MC), according to his own claim, apparently at a Bible conference held at Johnstown, PA, 27 December 1897-7 January 1898. Of Wenger's lectures the venerable John S. Coffman wrote (with restraint and charity): "A. D. Wenger, of Millersville, Pa., gave a connected lecture on Unfulfilled Prophecies. The prophecies more especially noticed are those by the Old Testament prophets, and of Christ as given in the New Testament, relative to the second coming of the Lord, the resurrection of the saints, the millennium, the loosing of Satan, and the last judgment. The manner in which this was treated was somewhat new, and is by no means the generally accepted view of the Mennonite people. The Scriptures do teach to a certainty that Christ is coming again; and it is certainly profitable to study that fact so as to be ready when He does come. There are, however, uncertainties concerning the literal application of the few passages relative to the millennium that make it unsafe to go into speculation concerning it as many speakers and writers have done." In addition to A. D. Wenger, the following influential premillenarians of the Mennonite Church (MC) should be mentioned: J. A. Ressler (1867-1936), J. B. Smith (1870-1951), George R. Brunk (1871-1938), John Thut (1879-1950), and John H. Mosemann (1877-1938). Among the leaders in the same period who held the amillennial view in the Mennonite Church were John F. Funk (1835-1930), John M. Brenneman (1816-1895), John S. Coffman (1848-1899), Daniel Kauffman (1865-1944), John Horsch (1867-1941), Andrew S. Mack (1836-1917), Abner G. Yoder (1879-1942), and E. L. Frey (1856-1942). The premillennial view made rapid progress in the (Old) Mennonite group only after World War I. In the 1950s probably nearly half of the (Old) Mennonites (MC) held this view. By the mid-20th century premillennialism was receding somewhat. The church never officially recognized or adopted premillennialism, except in two district conferences, whereas two district conferences prohibited this teaching directly. Dispensationalism never secured a hold in the group.

The more conservative groups of Mennonites, who have had little contact with modern theological influences, such as the Old Order Mennonites, Old Order Amish, Conservative Amish, Church of God in Christ, Mennonite, and the conservative Manitoba groups, remained relatively untouched by modern chiliasm.

The General Conference Mennonite Church, because of the variety of groups of differing origin constituting its membership, was somewhat less uniform in its teaching. In the statement of faith adopted in 1941, it is stated, "We believe in .. . His personal triumphant return." There is no further elaboration on this statement as to the nature of Christ's rule. Premillennialism has never been officially recognized as the position of the church, but the teaching of premillennial Bible schools and periodicals has had considerable influence upon the preaching of some ministers, and there are numerous premillennialists, including some outspoken dispensationalists. The Grace Bible Institute (now Grace University), founded in 1945 at Omaha, Nebraska, largely General Conference, though actually inter-Mennonite in control, espoused premillennialism. There was considerable tension over the issue in some quarters.

Only two American Mennonite bodies were officially committed to premillennialism in their adopted confessions of faith: the Evangelical Mennonite Church (formerly Defenseless Mennonites), and the United Missionary Church (formerly Mennonite Brethren in Christ). The Mennonite Brethren Church, the Evangelical Mennonite Church, and the Krimmer Mennonite Brethren were almost solidly premillennial, though not officially committed.

In Europe premillennialism never entered the North German or West Prussian churches, and very little in any other area. Some few ministers among the leaders in the German Badischer Verband, and in the Swiss, Alsatian, and French churches adopted it, but by no means the majority. Some chiliastic influence has been mediated through the Bible schools attended by Mennonites in Germany and Switzerland.

In Russia chiliasm found entrance only late in the 19th century and then almost exclusively in the Mennonite Brethren group. Isaak Peters, an elder in Russia before he came to America in 1874, where he was co-founder of the Evangelical Mennonite Brethren Church, and who was rated by P. M. Friesen (Brüderschaft) as an authority in the old Mennonite literature and traditions, particularly in Russia, was quoted as writing in 1910 (Brüderschaft, 264) as follows: "Menno Simons never believed in the millennium, and whoever believes in it is no Mennonite." Friesen, himself an Allianz-Mennonite, described the situation among the Mennonites in Russia regarding chiliasm as follows: "That chiliasm is contrary to old-Mennonite teaching is certain . . . . We pass over the question of the Biblical justification of this teaching; only we have asked ourselves hundreds of times, What benefit has the manner in which this teaching has been promoted among us in the last half century and particularly in the last eight years, brought us in connection with our sanctification (Unsere Heili gang durch and durch) and our greater effectiveness in being the salt of the earth and light of the world? . . . We ourselves have no positive answer to give." Heinrich Dirks (1842-1915), an influential elder of Gnadenfeld (1881-1915), first Russian Mennonite missionary (1869-81), not an Mennonite Brethren, apparently held to a mild form of chiliasm. For the history and present status of chiliasm in the Mennonite Brethren group see the account immediately below. -- JCW

Chiliasm as accepted and taught in the Mennonite Brethren Church

This doctrine entered the Mennonite Brethren Church in Russia for the first time when a number of preachers from England, Switzerland, and other countries visited Mennonite Brethren churches and began to preach on that subject. Among them were Broadband and Baedecker from England, Stroeter from Germany, whose powerful preaching had great influence, and also a certain Widmer from Switzerland. This was the first time that this doctrine had been taught among the Mennonites of Russia, and quite a few of the leading brethren accepted it.

Jakob W. Reimer, preacher of Rückenau, Russia, became a leading advocate of chiliasm. As an evangelist and Bible expositor of great fame among the Mennonites in Russia, he engaged himself in a thorough study of Daniel and Revelation. His booklet Der wundervolle Ratschluss Gottes mit der Menschheit (The Wonderful Plan of Salvation of God with Men), already in its fifth edition, may be taken as typical of the Mennonite Brethren position. A few quotations from it follow:

"A Beautiful Picture of the Future: God will make a new covenant with His people. The citizens of the coming Messianic Kingdom will receive forgiveness of sins, a new heart, and the spirit of their God. God will make such people of them as will walk in His ways. They shall all know the Lord. As the water covers the sea, the land shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord. Jerusalem shall be again the place of the manifestation of God.

"The heathen will also partake of the blessings of the new City of God. This will extend over the whole earth. The nations will come to Jerusalem to worship the King, the ruler of the world, and to be instructed in His ways.

"The godless will be destroyed out of the land. For the righteous, death will be abolished forever. All nations will live in peace. Everyone will dwell under his own vine and fig tree, without fear. The whole creation will experience an amazing change.

"The Millennium. Christ will be the King on earth, and will reign with His saints over all the nations. The times of refreshing' have come. Peace reigns over all.

"But even though the reign of the King Jesus Christ will be glorious, not all the inhabitants of the earth will be truly loyal. . . . Also in the millennium there will be not a few who will love the darkness more than light. In their heart many will scorn the government of the incomparable King, Jesus Christ."

Another paragraph follows, in which Reimer speaks about the Last Judgment, the "Great White Throne." "The 1,000-year Sabbath will come to an end, and God will put the whole world to another test. Satan will be released from his prison for a short period of time and will go out to seduce the nations. Many will follow his tempting voice and join him in his mad attempt to overthrow Christ, the King of Kings. . . . Then will come the final fulfillment of the glorious Plan of God's Salvation." This teaching has been unofficially accepted in the course of the years by the entire Mennonite Brethren Church. Today one would hardly find any congregation and very few individual members who would oppose the teaching on chiliasm as given above. The Conference of the Mennonite Brethren Church appointed a committee to revise its confession of faith. It is most probable that certain paragraphs will be added giving the chiliastic conception as to the coming of the Lord, the rapture of the church, the time of tribulation, the millennium, and the final events connected with the coming of the kingdom of God. -- HHJ

1989 Update

Apocalypticism is a stream of thought and a symbolic language, developed in Christianity from Jewish models, concerned to interpret the course of human history and to uncover (apokaluptein) the secrets of the end of history. From the beginning, Christians expected the early return of Christ in glory to judge the world. Christian apocalyptic literature, especially the book of Revelation, ensured the continuation of endtime expectation and unremitting attempts by virtually every generation to identify events of its time as those of the end. A central element in these speculations was the figure of the antichrist who was sometimes identified as a specific historical figure, sometimes serving as a corporate figure symbolizing all opposition to Christ. During the great struggle between pope and emperor beginning in the 11th century, both emperor and pope were identified as the antichrist, as also were the Saracens (Arabs) and the Turks. Since the 14th century, it became common in some circles to refer to the papacy as the antichrist.

Hence Martin Luther's use of the image was a standard component in an ongoing polemic against the corruptions of the papacy. Apocalyptic speculation and imagery in Reformation times was a continuation of earlier traditions. Thomas Müntzer, more than any other person, served as a transmitter of apocalyptic expectation and imagery to the Anabaptists. From him also come some of the more sensational elements, such as a sense of being an identifiable actor in the endtime scenario.

It was therefore to be expected that Anabaptists too would use this powerful medium to express their convictions about the tumultuous events of their time. Earlier Mennonite historians denied that apocalyptic expectations were an important part of Anabaptist life and thought. They played down its influences in the case of Hans Hut, and simply rejected it as non-Anabaptist in the case of Münster. Extensive study of endtime expectation in Reformation Europe yields a different picture, namely, that apocalyptic thought was a standard feature of the 16th century theological furniture. Of the major Protestant leaders, only Ulrich Zwingli and Andreas Karlstadt did not use it.

It has often been observed that apocalyptic thought forms make their appearance in times of crisis, when they provide language and images commensurate with the magnitude of the emergency. For the first six decades of its life, Anabaptism was threatened with extinction. Fierce persecution was, according to Jesus' words, a sign of the nearness of the end. The renewal which had begun with Martin Luther was understood to be the preaching of the gospel of the kingdom which was to come just before the end. These were the times of restitution of all that God had promised by his prophets. These sentiments were not incidental to the Anabaptist vision of discipleship. They were fundamental to their self-perception and to their readiness for martyrdom.

All Anabaptists were united in their conviction that the return of Christ was near, and that their overriding concern was to remain faithful to the end and thus survive the judgment. In that judgment justice would be irreversibly rendered. All the powerful, persecuting enemies of God would stand to the left, and all the faithful martyrs on the right. (Matthew 25:31 ff.) The judgment would confirm that God had always been on the side of the little, despised, persecuted, faithful flock. The anticipation of that grand reversal steeled the resolve and fueled the ecstasy of many a martyr in those years.

Certain themes characterized apocalyptic expectation among Anabaptists. The first of these was the conviction of living in the "times of restitution" which were especially associated with a renewed outpouring of the Holy Spirit and with it of the restoration of the purity of the gospel. In the early days of the movement there was therefore frequent appeal to the direct guidance of the Holy Spirit. Thomas Müntzer, Hans Hut, and Melchior Hoffman all proclaimed that in this last age an ordinary uneducated believer to whom God had given the Spirit was a more reliable guide to truth than the educated clergy and sacramentally ordained priests. As in the early chapters of Acts of the Apostles, so now, the outpouring of the Spirit led to aggressive missionary work. Both Hut and Hoffman believed themselves to be actors in the endtime events and took their baptizing to be the sealing of the 144,000, the faithful, pure church of the last times. As could be expected, these two men also produced timetables for the succession of the final events of history. The age of the Spirit was also conceived of as a time when many of the older practices and conventions of the church were suspended. People who believed themselves guided by the Spirit (but virtually always constrained by the biblical text) found it easy to break with the venerable sacramental teachings of the church, especially since they were sure that there was little time left.

A second theme was that, while they lived in the age of the Spirit, they were also at the same time living in the age of the antichrist. At no time in Christian history had the work of the antichrist been so clearly in evidence. While Martin Luther saw in the papal antichrist primarily the perverter of pure doctrine, Anabaptists saw his work primarily in the destruction of the two sacraments instituted by Christ. By destroying the true baptism of confessing believers, the antichrist had subjected everyone to the tyranny of the priests, who told Christians what to believe and do, and who would allow no infringement of their absolute authority. The restoration of baptism meant the liberation from clerical tutelage. The destruction of the true Lord's Supper consisted of the Catholic claim that the bread itself was the Lord. The doctrine of the real presence was the erecting of the "abomination of desolation" in the holy place. The adoration of the eucharistic bread was therefore idolatry.

Christ and antichrist were locked in the final struggle, the truth was struggling against the lie, but the outcome was never in doubt. Antichrist might kill the faithful witnesses of Christ, but, provided they remained pure and faithful, they would eventually reign with Christ after the antichrist had been finally destroyed.

Generally the antichrist was regarded as the total of everything that opposed Christ. Occasionally, as the great cosmic struggle became personal, the persecutors themselves were called antichrist. Apart from a few instances in which the antichrist was identified with the Turks, the antichrist was not directly identified with an individual human actor.

The third theme was the call to perfection, or the striving to present the church as a bride without spot or wrinkle to the returning bridegroom Christ. It intersected with the strongly ethically oriented discipleship motif which characterized all segments of Anabaptism and which was rooted in the New Testament writings. But this linkage between eschatology and ethics is characteristic of the biblical materials also; hence it was not accidental in Anabaptism. The call to holiness in personal life and in the life of the church, and the emphasis on church discipline to retain that purity in view of the approaching end is clearly visible in the Schleitheim Articles, and in Anabaptist writings everywhere in the first generation. It was especially strong in the writings of Melchior Hoffman, and of his immediate progeny, the Münsterites and the Mennonites. It has often been pointed out that the docetic Christology of Hoffman and Menno Simons, with its insistence that Christ had no blemish of terrestrial materiality, meshed flawlessly with the doctrine of the church as the bride without spot or wrinkle.

The recognition of the vital part endtime expectation played in Anabaptism has in the past been obscured by the Mennonite abhorrence of the "excesses" of apocalyptic expectation. These manifestations are found in all segments of Anabaptism and cannot be seen as an aberration but as indicators of the intensity of the longing for vindication of the faithful witnesses and of retribution upon the godless. Followers of Hut and Hoffman believed themselves to be the executors of God's vengeance as described in Psalms 149. When the end did not come as expected and the fury of the persecution continued, Anabaptists adopted a stance of separation from all defilement, waiting quietly for the salvation of the Lord.

There were to be periodic revivals of the certainty of the nearness of the end with the accompanying concern for the purity of the church. The 19th century in particular provides both specific cases of apocalyptic belief and action as well as an upsurge of apocalyptic consciousness in general. The French Revolution and its aftermath (1789-1815) were interpreted by German Pietists as the beginning of the rule of the antichrist. This interpretation profoundly influenced Mennonites in Russia through the preaching of Eduard Wüst and contributed to the emergence of the Mennonite Brethren. A few decades later, under the influence of the writings of Jung-Stilling and S. G. C. Clöter, a group of Mennonites from the Trakt (Am Trakt) and Molotschna settlements left under the leadership of Claas Epp for Central Asia (Asiatic Russia), there to await the second coming of Christ. Radical separation from the world and the determination to keep God's little flock pure were fundamental features of these events. Similar influences prompted some Mennonites to join the Templer movement which was related to the place of the Jews and their homeland in the endtime events.

North American Mennonites too were caught up in the excitement of apocalyptic expectation which, primarily in the form of premillennialism (Dispensationalism), was part of the Fundamentalist reaction to the optimistic liberalism of the turn of the 20th century. Mennonite support for popular radio and television preachers beginning in the 1950s produced a Mennonite literary response setting forth a restrained and sober form of endtime expectation. It is possible that the deliberate revival and enforcement of plain dress and the prayer veil in the Mennonite Church (MC) in the early 1900s were evidence that the original Anabaptist tradition of the call to perfection to be ready for the returning Bridegroom was alive and well.

Wherever apocalyptic expectations were articulated within Anabaptist and Mennonite history, the book of Revelation played a major part. Preoccupation with it is found in all of the three major Anabaptist groupings but with both literal and symbolic interpretations. In the 19th and 20th centuries more literalistic interpretations were prominent, reflecting the prevailing Pietist and Fundamentalist uses of the book. Beginning with the 1960s, a strong swing to a position resembling earlier postmillennialism became noticeable among Mennonites as they were drawn into civil rights, antiwar, and social justice causes. -- WKl

See also Biblical Interpretation; Ordinances; Prophecy

Bibliography

"Apokalyptik " in Die Religion in Geschichte and Gegenwart, 3rd ed. (Tübingen: Mohr, 1957) 1: 46372.

Bartsch, Fran. Unser Auszug nach Mittelasien. North Kildonan, Man.: Echo Verlag, 1948.

Belk, Fred B. The Great Trek of the Russian Mennonites to Central Asia 1880-1884. Scottdale, 1976.

Belk, Fred B. "The emergence of Millennialism among the Russian Mennonites." Mennonite Quarterly Review 49 (1975): 217-225.

Coffman, J. S. Outlines and Notes Used at the Bible Conference . . . Elkhart, IN, 1898: 4, 5.

Denner, Jakob. Christliche and erbauliche Betrachtungen. Philadelphia, 1860.

Deppermann, Klaus. Melchior Hoffman: Soziale Unruhen and apokalyptische Visionen im Zeitalter der Reformation. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1979; English trans. Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark, 1980.

Deppermann, Klaus. "Pennsylvanien als Asyl des frühen deutschen Pietismus" Pietismus and Neuzeit, 10 (1984): 190-212.

Doerksen, Victor G.  "Mennonite Templars in Russia." Journal of Mennonite studies 3 (1985):128-137.

Dueck, A. J. "Claus Epp and the Great Trakt Reconsidered." Journal of Mennonite studies 3 (1985): 139-47.

Erb, Paul. The Alpha and the Omega. Scottdale, 1955.

Erb, Paul. Bible Prophecy. Questions and Answers. Scottdale, 1978.

Ewert, David. And Then Comes the End. Scottdale, 1980.

Gingerich, Melvin. "Change and Uniformity in Mennonite Attire." Mennonite Quarterly Review 40 (1966): 243-59.

Hamilton, Floyd E. The Basis of Millennial Faith. Grand Rapids, 1942.

Händiges, Emil. "Chiliasmus." Mennonitisches Lexikon, eds. Hege, Christian and Christian Neff. Frankfurt & Weierhof: Hege; Karlsruhe: Schneider, 1913-1967: v. I, 342-347.

Janzen, Waldemar. "The Great Trakt: Episode or Paradigm." Mennonite Quarterly Review 51 (1977): 127-39.

Klaassen, Martin. Geschichte Wehrlosen Taufgesinnten Gemeinden. Danzig: Edwin Groening, 1873.

Klaassen, Walter. "Eschatological Themes in Early Dutch Anabaptism" in The Dutch Dissenters, ed. Irvin B. Horst (Leiden: Brill, 1986): 15-31.

Klaassen, Walter. "Visions of the End in Reformation Europe," in Visions and Realities, ed. Harry Loewen and Al Reimer. Winnipeg: Hyperion Press, 1985: 11-57.

Klaassen, Walter. "A Belated Review: Martin Klaassen's 'Geschichte der Wehrlosen Taufgesinnten Gemeinden' Published in 1873" Mennonite Quarterly Review, 49 (1975): 43-52.

Klaassen, Walter. "The Abomination of Desolation: Schwenckfeld's Christological Apocalyptic," in Schwenckfeld and Early Schwenkfeldianism, ed. Peter C Erb. Pennsburg: Schwenkfelder Library, 1986: 27-46.

Klaassen, Walter. "The Schleitheim Articles' and 'The New Transformation of Christian Living': two responses to the Reformation" Historical Reflections, 14 (1987): 95-111.

Landis, Ira. The Faith of Our Fathers on Eschatology. Lititz, Pa.: the author, 1946.

Lehman, C. K. The Fulfillment of Prophecy. Scottdale, PA, 1950.

Packull, Werner O. Mysticism and the Early South German-Austrian Anabaptist Movement 1525-1531. Scottdale, 1977, chapters 3, 4, 5.

Packull, Werner O. "'A Hutterite Book of Medieval Origin' revisited: an examination of the Hutterite commentaries on the Book of Revelation and their Anabaptist origin," Mennonite Quarterly Review 56 (1982): 147-68.

Packull, Werner O. "Anna Jans of Rotterdam: a historical investigation of an early Anabaptist heroine" Archiv für Reformation Geschichte 78 (1987): 147-73.

Packull, Werner O. "The Schwenkfeldian Commentary on the Apocalypse," Schwenckfeld and Early Schwenkfeldianism, ed. Peter C. Erb. Pennsburg Schwenkfelder Library, 1986: 47-86.

Prophecy Conference. Report of Conference Held at Elkhart, Ind., April 2-5, 1952. Scottdale, 1953.

Reimer, J. W. Der wundervolle Ratschluss Gottes . . . Hillsboro, KS, n.d.

Rutgers, W. H. Premillennialism in America. Goes, Holland, 1930.

Seebaß, Gottfried. "Apokalyptik: Reformation and Neuzeit," Theologische Realenzyklopadie, ed. Gerhard Krause and Gerhard Müller. Berlin De Gruyter, 1978, vol. 3: 280-289.

Smith, C. Henry. The Story of the Mennonites. Newton, KS, 1950: 456-462.

Twisck, P. J. The Peaceful Kingdom of Christ. Elkhart, 1913.

Wenger, J. C. The Doctrines of the Mennonites. Scottdale, 1950.

Wenger, J. C. Christ the Redeemer and Judge. Scottdale, 1942.

Yoder, John H. Peace Without Eschatology? Concern Reprint. Scottdale: MPH, 1959.

Author(s)	John C. Wenger
	Henry H. Janzen
	Walter Klaassen
Date Published	1989

Cite This Article

MLA style

Wenger, John C., Henry H. Janzen and Walter Klaassen. "Apocalypticism." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. 1989. Web. 27 Nov 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Apocalypticism&oldid=162480.

APA style

Wenger, John C., Henry H. Janzen and Walter Klaassen. (1989). Apocalypticism. Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 November 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=Apocalypticism&oldid=162480.

---

Adapted by permission of Herald Press, Harrisonburg, Virginia, from Mennonite Encyclopedia, Vol. 1, pp. 557-560; v. 5, pp. 28-30. All rights reserved.

©1996-2024 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved.