Paradise Postponed: Johann Heinrich Alsted and the Birth of Calvinist MillenarianismThis book provides a uniquely detailed case study of the origins of millenarianism within the vast opera of one of its earliest and most influential Calvinist exponents: the Herborn encyclopedist Johann Heinrich Alsted (1588-1638). The young Alsted, it emerges, looked forward not to the millennium of Apocalypse 20 but to a brief, final period of enhanced illumination described in a poorly understood central European tradition of astrological, alchemical, spiritualist, and generally `occult' prophetic speculation. It was the disasters following the Bohemian Revolt of 1618 which forced Alsted to recast these expectations as the more exclusively scriptural expectation of a literal millennium; and the material for this revision was found in a protracted dispute over the millennium between senior theologians in Herborn and Heidelberg and a little-known work on the conversion of the Jews by one of the figures most probably behind the composition of the Rosicrucian manifestos. Based on study of the full range of Alsted's works, his diverse sources, and widely dispersed manuscript material, the result is the first English book on 17th-century continental millenarianism and the first monograph in any language exclusively devoted to the origins of the doctrine within mainstream Protestantism. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Volumen historicum seu experimentalis encyclopedic chronology | 33 |
Volumen coelestis sive astrologicum astrological history | 41 |
Volumen biblicus seu propheticus prophetic numerology | 85 |
The Thirty Years War and Alsteds eschatological crisis | 109 |
The Sources of the Diatribe de mille annis apocalypticis | 121 |
Conclusions | 154 |
Two Sources of the Diatribe de mille annis apocalypticis | 175 |
Select Bibliography | 203 |
219 | |
Other editions - View all
Paradise Postponed: Johann Heinrich Alsted and the Birth of Calvinist ... H. Hotson Limited preview - 2013 |
Paradise Postponed: Johann Heinrich Alsted and the Birth of Calvinist ... H. Hotson No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
Alsted Alsted's Alsted's millenarianism anno Antichrist Apoc apocalyptic apocalyptic tradition apocalyptica astrological Beloved City Besold Besold's marginal note biblical chapter Chiliasmus Chiliastic Christi Church circle Clavis Comenius Conjectanea conjunction cùm Cursus Daniel David Pareus Diatribe de mille Dobricius doctrine Domini Ecclesiae edition Ency Encyclopaedia eschatology etiam finem four monarchies Frankfurt am Main gentes Graserus Hanau Herborn hermetic Heurnius Hotson illa illis illos interpretation ISBN Johann Heinrich Alsted Johannes Piscator Joseph Mede Judaei Judaeorum Leiden libri London Martinius martyrum Mede Mede's Meditatio mille annorum millenarianism millennium Nuncius propheticus omnes Opera Pannonius Paracelsus Pareus passage period Piscator's commentary Prodromus prophecy prophetic Protestant quae quatuor quia quibus quod Reformed resurrectio resurrectionem Revelation Rosicrucian Rosicrucian manifestos scriptural sive sunt tempore tempus Theologia prophetica theological Thesaurus chronologiae 1624 Thomas Brightman translation Trifolium propheticum Tycho Brahe usque vers vols Zeiterinner Zürich