Historicism up to the Reformation
This broad form of Historicism held sway in Christianity from the 4th century until the
Reformation. Prefiguring the revolt that was about to come, the 10th century Catholic bishop
Arnulf of Orleans was the first to apply the
Man of Sin prophecy in
2Thessalonians 2:3-9 to the
papacy.
[11][12] The same interpretation was given by the Catholic abbot
Joachim of Floris in 1190
[11] and the archbishop
Eberhard II in 1240.
Out of the
Reformation and
Counter Reformation, Reformers and Catholics devised different schemes of interpretation, which they each used to claim that the other was the
apostate church. From the Reformers arose the
historicist paradigm. As such, the pro-Catholic positions took root when the
Jesuit Doctor of Theology,
Francisco Ribera[13] proposed
Futurism in 1590, as well as the Spanish Jesuit
Luis de Alcazar who proposed
Preterism.
[14][15][16][17]
Protestant historicist interpretations
The Protestant Reformation was born in reaction to the Catholic doctrines of works-only salvation and identifying the
papacy as the
Antichrist.
[18] Protestant historicists saw prophecy fulfilled down through the centuries and into the modern era. Rather than expecting a single Antichrist to rule the earth during a future
Tribulation period,
Martin Luther,
John Calvin and other
Protestant Reformers saw the Antichrist as a present feature in the world of their time, fulfilled in the papacy. They were unanimous in this interpretation lending emphasis to their reformation. It led them to protest against Rome and it became their rally and battle cry.
[19] Isaac Newton was a strong proponent of the historicist approach especially in the work published in 1733 after his death:
Observations upon the Prophesies of the Book of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John which has a similar stance toward the papacy of the reformers. He assiduously avoids the temptation to make any predictions based on prophetic literature, taking the view that prophesy when it has been shown to be fulfilled will be proof that God's providence has been imminently active in the world. Nevertheless,although not preterist, this work sees much of the prophesy being fulfilled in the first millennium of the Christian era.
Controversial features of the reformationist Historicist interpretations is the identification of the
Antichrist (1 and 2 John), the
Beasts of Revelation 13, the Man of Sin (or Man of Lawlessness) in 2 Thessalonians 2, the "Little horn" of
Daniel 7 and
8, and the
harlot of Babylon (Revelation 17) with the
Roman Catholic Church, the
Papacy and
Papal States, and each successive
Pope himself.
Modern historicism
The 19th century was a significant watershed in the history of prophetic thought. While the historicist paradigm, together with its pre- or
postmillennialism, the
day-year principle, and the view of the papal Antichrist, was dominant in English Protestant scholarship during much of the period from the Reformation to the middle of the nineteenth century (and continues to find expression in some groups today), it was not the only one on offer in the broader pre- or non-critical marketplace.
[20] Arising in Great Britain and Scotland,
William Kelly and other
Plymouth Brethren became the leading exponents of dispensationalist
premillennial eschatology.
[21] By 1826,
literalist interpretation of prophecy took hold and
dispensationalism saw the light of day.
[22] The dispensationalist interpretation derived from the historicist model of interpreting Daniel and Revelation and the theory that there was a gap in prophetic fulfillment of prophecy proposed by Futurism, but dispensationalism took a decidedly anti-Catholic position.
