millenarianism

noun

mil·​le·​nar·​i·​an·​ism ˌmi-lə-ˈner-ē-ə-ˌni-zəm 

1

: belief in the millennium of Christian prophecy

2

: belief in a coming ideal society and especially one created by revolutionary action

Did you know?

Originally the millennium was not simply any thousand-year period, but instead the thousand years prophesied in the biblical Book of Revelation, when holiness will prevail on earth and Jesus Christ will preside over all. Later, millennium was extended to mean any period—always in the future—marked by universal happiness and human perfection. On several occasions over the centuries, members of Christian sects have become convinced that the biblical millennium was arriving and gathered together to await it. But nonreligious millenarians have also believed in a future society marked by human perfection. Even if they regard this future as certain, they've generally been willing to help it along by working for a political, social, or economic revolution. The millennium always seems to be approaching; to date, it hasn't arrived.

Examples of millenarianism in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

This laid the groundwork for the form of secular millenarianism that developed during and after the Enlightenment. —William Pfaff, Foreign Affairs, 1 Nov. 2010

Some of these new groups took turns toward religious conservatism, in ways that presaged the loose Christian millenarianism of the QAnon movement. —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker, 29 Aug. 2023

That the dominant strain of the climate narrative is, like Leninism, one of the countless varieties of millenarianism that have plagued us over the centuries is no coincidence. —Andrew Stuttaford, National Review, 2 June 2023

Often apocalypticism is then differentiated from both millenarianism and eschatology. —Michael Robbins, Harper’s Magazine , 9 Nov. 2022

The conflation of religious millenarianism and revolutionary politics is an understandable, if misleading, tendency. —Michael Robbins, Harper’s Magazine , 9 Nov. 2022

Historians have debated to what extent millenarianism — the belief in a coming 1,000-year reign of Christ on Earth — and other religious ideas influenced his thinking. —Zenger News, Forbes, 31 Dec. 2022

Wild forms of millenarianism flourished in Europe from the Middle Ages through the seventeenth century, as Norman Cohn and Christopher Hill have delightfully documented. —Michael Robbins, Harper’s Magazine , 9 Nov. 2022

Poe borrowed from evangelical millenarianism, the writings of Swedenborg and Mesmer—even, Tresch suggests, early translations of Hindu cosmologies. —Colin Dickey, The New Republic, 21 July 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1829, in the meaning defined at sense 1