Editing Lactantius (section)

===Prophetic exegesis===
[[File:Lactantius, Divinarum institutionum ... liber primus, manuscript, Florence 1420-1430 ca.jpg|thumb|Beginning of Lactantius' ''Divinae institutiones'' in a Renaissance manuscript written in [[Florence]] ca. 1420–1430 by Guglielmino Tanaglia]]

Like many writers in the first few centuries of the early church, Lactantius took a [[Premillennialism|premillennialist]] view, holding that the second coming of Christ will precede a millennium or a thousand-year reign of Christ on earth. According to Charles E. Hill, "With Lactantius in the early fourth century we see a determined attempt to revive a more 'genuine' form of chiliasm."<ref>[http://www.mountainretreatorg.net/eschatology/why_the_early_church_finally_rejected_premillennialism.shtml Hill, Charles E., "Why the Early Church Finally Rejected Premillennialism", ''Modern Reformation'', Jan/Feb 1996, p. 16]</ref> Lactantius quoted the [[Sibyl]]s extensively (although the [[Sibylline Oracles]] are now considered to be [[pseudepigrapha]]). Book VII of ''The Divine Institutes'' indicates a familiarity with Jewish, Christian, Egyptian and Iranian apocalyptic material.<ref name=McGinn>[https://books.google.com/books?id=ZoNNVZ7MG5cC&dq=Lactantius+Prophetic+exegesis&pg=PA25 McGinn, Bernard. ''Visions of the End'', Columbia University Press, 1998] {{ISBN|9780231112574}}</ref>

Attempts to determine the time of the End were viewed as in contradiction to Acts 1:7: "It is not for you to know the times or seasons that the Father has established by his own authority,"<ref name=McGinn/> and Mark 13:32: "But of that day or hour, no one knows, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father."