Revelation Restored: The Apocalypse in Later Seventeenth-Century England

Revelation Restored is a study of apocalyptic thought in the later seventeenth century in England. It explores an under-examined aspect of early modern British history: despite the prominence of millenarian beliefs in historians’ explanations of the early modern English church and state up to 1660, little has been said about these convictions in the years following the Restoration. The examination of applications of prophetic language and interpretation to explain the events in England from 1660 to 1700 illustrates their continued capacity to comprehend ecclesiastical and political developments.

The book demonstrates that, far from having disappeared from the intellectual landscape, apocalyptic ideas still held the potential to animate opinions in the mainstream of political debate in the later seventeenth century. These responses were outlets both for demonstrations of dissent and for endorsements of authorised powers in response to crises in authority and efforts at religious settlement. In addition, this book contends that any strict periodization that segregates the concerns of early seventeenth-century England fromthose of the later seventeenth century has been too sharply drawn. Analysis of the nature of apocalyptic and millennial beliefs reveals that the concerns prominent in England in the early seventeenth century had not abated after1660.

WARREN JOHNSTON is an Assistant Professor at Algoma University in Ontario, Canada.