Editing Millennialism (section)

=== Utopianism ===
{{See also|Three Eras}}
The early Christian concepts of millennialism had ramifications far beyond strictly religious concerns during the centuries to come, as various theorists blended and enhanced them with ideas of [[utopia]].

In the wake of early millennial thinking, the [[Three Eras|Three Ages]] philosophy developed. The Italian monk and [[Theology|theologian]] [[Joachim of Fiore]] (died 1202) saw all of human history as a succession of three ages:
# the Age of the [[God the Father|Father]] (the [[Old Testament]])
# the Age of the [[God the Son|Son]] (the [[New Testament]])
# the Age of the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] (the age begun when Christ ascended into heaven, leaving the [[Paraclete]], the third person of the Holy Trinity, to guide the faithful)

It was believed{{by whom|date=August 2020}} that the Age of the Holy Spirit would begin at {{circa|1260}}, and that from then on all believers would live as monks, mystically transfigured and full of praise for God, for a thousand years until [[Judgment Day]] would put an end to the history of our planet.

[[Joachim of Fiore]]'s divisions of historical time also highly influenced the [[New Age]] movement, which transformed the Three Ages philosophy into astrological terminology, relating the [[March equinox|Northern-hemisphere vernal equinox]] to different [[constellations of the zodiac]]. In this scenario the Age of the Father was recast{{by whom|date=August 2020}} as the Age of Aries, the Age of the Son became the Age of Pisces, and the Age of the Holy Spirit was called the Aquarian New Age. The current so-called "[[Age of Aquarius]]" will supposedly witness the development of a number of great changes for humankind,<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Bogdan
 | first1 = Henrik
 | chapter = Envisioning the Birth of a New Aeon: Dispensationalism and Millenarianism in the Thelemic Tradition
 | editor1-last = Bogdan
 | editor1-first = Henrik
 | editor2-last = Starr
 | editor2-first = Martin P.
 | title = Aleister Crowley and Western Esotericism
 | date = 5 September 2012
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=KpvqhORGQe4C
 | location = Oxford
 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]]
 | publication-date = 2012
 | isbn = 9780199996063
 | access-date = 30 August 2020
 | quote = The New Age was commonly also defined in astrological terms, with the Age of Pisces said to be supplanted by the Age of Aquarius. The consequent evolutionary leap in the development of humankind was often portrayed as heralding a fundamental change in the understanding of the relationship between human beings and the universe. Such thought culminated in the blossoming of the New Age movement of the 1960s and early 1970s, with its characterization of the Age of Aquarius as the embodiment of holistic principles [...]. [...] the New Age would be marked by peace and harmony.
 | via = [[Google Books]]
}}
</ref> reflecting the typical features of some manifestations of millennialism.<ref>
Compare:
{{cite book
 | last1 = Landes
 | first1 = Richard
 | author1-link = Richard Landes
 | chapter = Millenarianism and the Dynamics of Apocalyptic Time
 | editor1-last = Newport
 | editor1-first = Kenneth G. C.
 | editor2-last = Gribben
 | editor2-first = Crawford
 | title = Expecting the End: Millennialism in Social and Historical Context
 | year = 2006
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=h3lsZkm6qxcC
 | location = Waco, Texas
 | publisher = [[Baylor University Press]]
 | publication-date = 2006
 | page = 11
 | isbn = 9781932792386
 | access-date = 30 August 2020
 | quote = Transformational millennialism tends to foster programs of radical and often unrealistic social change [...]. [...] Currently, the most prominent form of transformational millennialism comes from the New Age movements set in motion by the millennial wave of the 1960s: environmentally harmonized communes.
 | via = [[Google Books]]
}}
</ref>