International Symposium Investigates the Apocalyptic Beliefs of Major World Religions

Sep 08, 2010

The Trinity Millennialism Project recently hosted an international, interdisciplinary symposium entitled The Future of Millennial Studies which marks the culmination of a series of international colloquia held in Dublin, Oxford, Manchester and Liverpool over the past eight years.  These symposia, and their research initiatives, have resulted in the publication of a number of volumes that investigate the intellectual history of protestant millennial belief, in particular the history of the ‘dispensational premillennialism’, an evangelical end of world view, that emerged in circles associated with Trinity College in the early nineteenth century.

The symposium’s keynote lecture was delivered by Dr Timothy Stunt of Wooster School, Connecticut, who in his paper, Trinity College, John Darby and the Powerscourt Milieu, attempts to place John Darby and the first formulations of dispensationalism in the broader context of the apocalyptic thinking derived by some of his contemporaries at TCD and the participants at Powerscourt.  He argues that early 19th century Trinity thinkers constructed the narrative of eschatological pessimism which today threatens to reinforce destabilising tensions in the Middle East.  John Darby was a TCD graduate and the principal architect of ‘dispensational premillennialism’ to which an estimated 100 million Americans subscribe.

Edward Hicks, Peaceable Kingdom.

The discipline of millennial studies investigates the end-times hope and fears of major world religions.  This series of events, co-sponsored by Trinity College Dublin, Liverpool Hope University and the University of Manchester, has produced works that have succeeded in drawing attention to the significance of the "apocalyptic times" in which we live by defining both the war on terror and the agency of global jihad in terms which resonate with eschatological concern.  Further information on the symposium and the speakers can be found online.

The Trinity Millennialism Project operates under the auspices of the Centre for Irish-Scottish and Comparative Studies at Trinity College Dublin.