Premillennialism

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /pɹiːmɪˈlÉ›nɪəlɪz(É™)m/

Origin

From premillennial + -ism.

Full definition of premillennialism

Noun

1. A concept in Christian eschatology that the second coming will happen before the millennium.
• 2009, Diarmaid MacCulloch, A History of Christianity, Penguin 2010, p. 912:Premillennialism stressed division and separation within society, to gather in the elect, and its frostiness to Enlightenment projects of social reform contributed to that peculiar process by which ‘liberal’ has become a word of abuse in the United States, in sharp contrast to its esteem in European society.

Related terms

• amillennialism
• postmillennialism
• premillennialist