Editing Christian mythology (section)

====Millennialism and amillennialism====
When Christianity was a new and persecuted religion, many Christians believed the end times were imminent.<ref>Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 67</ref> Scholars debate whether Jesus was an apocalyptic preacher;<ref>McGinn, p. 35</ref> however, his early followers, "the group of Jews who accepted him as messiah in the years immediately after his death, understood him in primarily apocalyptic terms".<ref>McGinn, p. 36</ref> Prevalent in the early church and especially during periods of persecution,<ref>Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 67; McGinn, p. 60</ref> this Christian belief in an imminent end is called "[[millennialism]]". (It takes its name from the thousand-year ("millennial") reign of Christ that, according to the Book of Revelation, will precede the final world renovation; similar beliefs in a coming paradise are found in other religions, and these phenomena are often also called "millennialism")<ref>"millennialism"; Eliade, p. 67-72</ref>

Millennialism comforted Christians during times of persecution, for it predicted an imminent deliverance from suffering.<ref>"millennialism"; Eliade, p. 67</ref> From the perspective of millennialism, human action has little significance: millennialism is comforting precisely because it predicts that happiness is coming no matter what humans do: "The seeming triumph of Evil made up the apocalyptic syndrome which was to precede Christ's return and the millennium."<ref>Eliade, p. 67</ref>

However, as time went on, millennialism lost its appeal.<ref>According to Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 67: "After becoming the official religion of the Roman Empire, Christianity condemned millennialism as heretical, although illustrious Fathers had professed it in the past. [...] The ''eschaton'' was no longer the imminent event that it had been during the persecutions." According to ReligiousTolerance.org, the specific variant of millennialism condemned was "Historical Premillennialism", which many Christians believed in during the first three centuries C.E.; the Roman Church's official anti-millennial stance is called "Amillennialism", and was largely established by [[Augustine of Hippo]] (Robinson). Even some of the Church Fathers who accepted historical premillennialism doubted the imminence of the End, as Christ's coming seemed less and less likely to be immediate. According to McGinn, p. 62: "Like both Irenaeus and Hippolytus, Tertullian thought (at least for most of his career) that the end was not near."</ref> Christ had not returned immediately, as earlier Christians had predicted. Moreover, many Christians no longer needed the comfort that millennialism provided, for they were no longer persecuted: "With the triumph of the Church, the Kingdom of Heaven was already present on earth, and in a certain sense the old world had already been destroyed."<ref name = "bfvqcq">Eliade, ''Myth and Reality'', p. 68</ref> (Millennialism has revived during periods of historical stress,<ref name = "bfvqcq"/> and is currently popular among Evangelical Christians.)<ref name = "vaqsrr">Robinson</ref>

In the Roman Church's condemnation of millennialism, Eliade sees "the first manifestation of the doctrine of [human] progress" in Christianity.<ref name = "bfvqcq"/> According to the amillennial view, Christ will indeed come again, ushering in a perfect Kingdom of Heaven on earth, but "the Kingdom of God is [already] present in the world today through the presence of the heavenly reign of Christ, the Bible, the Holy Spirit and Christianity".<ref name = "vaqsrr"/> Amillennialists do not feel "the eschatological tension" that persecution inspires; therefore, they interpret their eschatological myths either figuratively or as descriptions of far-off events rather than imminent ones.<ref>According to ReligiousTolerance.org, Amillennialists interpret the myth of Christ's [[Second Coming]] literally, although they do not expect Christ to come soon, and they often interpret the [[Antichrist]] figuratively.Robinson</ref> Thus, after taking the amillennial position, the Church not only waited for God to renovate the world (as millennialists had) but also believed itself to be improving the world through human action.<ref name = "bfvqcq"/>