Church Fathers Millennial Views?

[thistle93]

Hi! Would you say from your studies that the primary millennial view for the early church fathers was amillennialism or historical premillennialism?
Do you know any good books that deal with this subject?
Which church Fathers were amillennial & which were historical premillennial?
I personally waver between the two and see both positives and negatives Biblically to both. Thank you!

For His Glory-
Matthew

 

[TheInquirer]

Check out this thread - https://puritanboard.com/threads/is-it-true-that-the-early-church-is-pre-millennial.98401/

Along with the book Regnum Caelorum: Patterns of Millenial Thought in Early Christianity by Charles Hill which was recommended in that thread as well. I bought a copy but have yet to read it. Looks very well researched with an abundance of footnotes and a Select Bibliography that is 25 pages long.

 

[arapahoepark]

I had used this for a paper awhile back, I was a dispensationalist at the time scouring for anything and this was helpful. Of course it is not by a Dispensational at all yet it is very informative.
https://www.amazon.com/Hope-Early-Church-Patristic-Eschatology/dp/0801045975

 

[RamistThomist]

The millennial category wasn't one they were really interested in. They were more concerned with eschatological questions about the nature of the soul, what exactly did Origen teach, etc. You see Augustine (over)react to some chiliast speculation and so he posits something like a recognizable amillennialism. Even then, while that became standard, it just wasn't developed because it wasn't the most pressing eschatological category.

 

[ZackF]

You see Augustine (over)react to some chiliast speculation and so he posits something like a recognizable amillennialism.

So Augustine just needed to chill?

 

[RamistThomist]

So Augustine just needed to chill?

Yeah. After him everyone had the tendency to lump all serious exegesis on Revelation 20 from a premil perspective into "just another chiliast heretic," which put Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in a tight spot.