The English Protestant cleric

John Foxe John Foxe (1516/1517 – 18 April 1587), an English historian and martyrologist, was the author of '' Actes and Monuments'' (otherwise ''Foxe's Book of Martyrs''), telling of Christian martyrs throughout Western history, but particularly the su ...

of the 16th century, known primarily if somewhat misleadingly as a

martyrologist A martyrology is a catalogue or list of martyrs and other saints and beati arranged in the calendar order of their anniversaries or feasts. Local martyrologies record exclusively the custom of a particular Church. Local lists were enriched by na ...

on the basis of his major work '' Actes and Monuments'', wrote also on the interpretation of the

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...

, both at the beginning of his writing career in the 1550s, and right at the end of it, with his ''Eicasmi'' of 1587, the year of his death. JohnFoxe

Background

John Bale John Bale (21 November 1495 – November 1563) was an English churchman, historian and controversialist, and Bishop of Ossory in Ireland. He wrote the oldest known historical verse drama in English (on the subject of King John), and developed ...

writing in the 1540s had identified the Protestant Church of England as an actor in the historical struggle with the "false church" of Catholicism; and backed up his views with interpretation of the ''

Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament (and consequently the final book of the Christian Bible). Its title is derived from the first word of the Koine Greek text: , meaning "unveiling" or "revelation". The Book of R ...

''. The "English apocalyptic" was exceptional in the Protestant territories, with the concept of England as an "elect nation".

Orthodoxy

Foxe's views became quite orthodox in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

for a generation, and more: a war against

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form) 1 John ; . 2 John . ...

was being waged by the English people, but led by the ''Christian Emperor'' (echoing

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

) who was identified with

Elizabeth I of England Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

. They were then challenged within the Church of England, for example by

Thomas Brightman Thomas Brightman (1562–1607) was an English clergyman and biblical commentator. His exegesis of the Book of Revelation, published posthumously, proved influential. According to William M. Lamont, Brightman and Joseph Mede were the two most impor ...

, and from outside by

John Napier John Napier of Merchiston (; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston. His Latinized name was Ioann ...

in particular. Until the advent of

Laudianism Laudianism was an early seventeenth-century reform movement within the Church of England, promulgated by Archbishop William Laud and his supporters. It rejected the predestination upheld by the previously dominant Calvinism in favour of free will, ...

, the mixture of Foxe's historical support for the Church of England, including its bishops who were

Marian martyrs Protestants were executed in England under heresy laws during the reigns of Henry VIII (1509–1547) and Mary I (1553–1558). Radical Christians also were executed, though in much smaller numbers, during the reigns of Edward VI (1547–1553), ...

, and his opposition to persecution, remained in the mainstream.

Apocalyptic writings

Foxe's Latin drama ''Christus Triumphans'' (1556 in Basle, with a 1551 edition in London also recorded) presaged his later theory of the history of the Christian church. It was called a ''comœdia apocalyptica'', and after 29 scenes ends on a note of anticipation and implication. The final act, of a work unfinished by design, brings the dramatisation of Revelation to the

Protestant Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

, and allegorically to the England of the time.

Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (; 1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for ''The Faerie Queene'', an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of ...

may have drawn his own apocalyptic views and model from this work of Foxe. The later editions of ''Actes and Monuments'' contained tables, of the numerological significance of numbers connected to the

, and a timeline of persecution of the Church.

Foxe's amillennialism

Foxe was an "amillennial historicist"; which is not precisely the same as an

amillennialist Amillennialism or amillenarism is a chillegoristic eschatological position in Christianity which holds that there will be no millennial reign of the righteous on Earth. This view contrasts with both postmillennial and, especially, with premil ...

. The standard or initial position of the "English apocalyptic" was

postmillennialist In Christian eschatology (end-times theology), postmillennialism, or postmillenarianism, is an interpretation of chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation which sees Christ's second coming as occurring ''after'' (Latin ''post-'') the "Millennium", ...

. Typical Tudor interpretations of the Christian millennium place it in the past; and Foxe does so. He was in the mainstream in opposing the

premillennialist Premillennialism, in Christian eschatology, is the belief that Jesus will physically return to the Earth (the Second Coming) before the Millennium, a literal thousand-year golden age of peace. Premillennialism is based upon a literal interpret ...

interpretations, typified (somewhat later) by

Arthur Dent Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character and the hapless protagonist of the comic science fiction series ''The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'' by Douglas Adams. In the radio, LP and television versions of the story, Arthur is played by ...

, George Gifford and John Napier. This approach of the period is not equivalent to

idealism In philosophy, the term idealism identifies and describes metaphysical perspectives which assert that reality is indistinguishable and inseparable from perception and understanding; that reality is a mental construct closely connected to ide ...

, the essentially allegorical interpretation of the Apocalypse, as current usage of terminology might imply.

References

{{Reflist Apocalyptic literature Book of Revelation Christian eschatology History of the Church of England