Editing Christian eschatology (section)

===Postmillennialism===
{{Main|Postmillennialism}}
Postmillennialism is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the [[Book of Revelation]] which sees [[Christ]]'s [[second coming]] as occurring ''after'' the "[[millennialism|Millennium]]", a [[Messianic Age]] in which [[Christian ethics]] prosper.<ref>David T. Steineker, ''The Greatest Commandment: Matthew 22:37'' (Bloomington, Indiana: WestBow Press, 2010), p. 132.</ref> The term subsumes several similar views of the end times, and it stands in contrast to [[premillennialism]] and, to a lesser extent, [[amillennialism]].

Postmillennialism holds that Jesus Christ establishes his kingdom on earth through his preaching and redemptive work in the first century and that he equips his church with the gospel, empowers her by the Spirit, and charges her with the Great Commission (Matt 28:19) to disciple all nations. Postmillennialism expects that eventually the vast majority of people living will be saved. Increasing gospel success will gradually produce a time in history prior to Christ's return in which faith, righteousness, peace, and prosperity will prevail in the affairs of men and of nations. After an extensive era of such conditions Jesus Christ will return visibly, bodily, and gloriously, to end history with the general resurrection and the final judgment after which the eternal order follows.

Postmillennialism was a dominant theological belief among American Protestants who promoted reform movements in the 19th and 20th century such as abolitionism<ref>Randall M. Miller, ''Religion and the American Civil War'' (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1998), p. 115.</ref> and the [[Social Gospel]].<ref>Douglas M. Strong, ''Perfectionist Politics: Abolitionism and the Religious Tensions of American Democracy'' (Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2002), p. 30.</ref> Postmillennialism has become one of the key tenets of a movement known as [[Christian Reconstructionism]]. It has been criticized by 20th century religious conservatives as an attempt to [[immanentize the eschaton]].