premillennialism
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˌpriːˌmɪl.əˈnɛl.ɪ.zəm/
- Specialized
- Premillennialism is the belief that Jesus will return to earth before establishing a thousand years of peace.
- dispensational premillennialism
Examples
-
Kaufman and McFague, carrying on the heritage of an older Protestant liberalism, consider themselves at quite the opposite end of the spectrum from right-wing premillennialism.
Academic text (1994) -
" But the real reason was that his articulate defense of historic Reformed doctrine against the dispensational premillennialism of his department chair was supposed to be sapping the evangelistic zeal of his students.
Academic text (1993) -
She points to the advertisement from John McCain's 2008 presidential campaign that tried to prime premillennialist fears in its viewers by suggesting that Obama was the Antichrist, as an example of how premillennialism can be used in American politics.
Blog text (26) -
Premillennialism is embraced by many Christians, who expect a future period of harmony following Christ's return.
-
The doctrine of premillennialism insists that the second coming of Christ will occur before the millennium.
Surface Forms
Morphology
premillennialism = premillennial (semi-transparent) = pre + millennium + al + ism
The noun is transparently built from the adjective 'premillennial' plus '-ism', but the resulting doctrinal term is specialized.
Etymology
Premillennialism starts with the part pre- meaning 'before' and uses millennial from millennium, which means 'thousand years'. So premillennialism is the 'belief' that Christ will come 'before' a thousand-year period of peace, and that is why the word names this religious view.