ABSTRACT
Joachism was a highly influential medieval system of prophecy, based upon the interpretation of the Bible, which was devised by the Calabrian abbot Joachim of Fiore (c. 1135-1202). “Joachism” must also include numerous works falsely attributed to Joachim himself, as well as the writings of his followers and those he influenced, directly or indirectly, down to the time of Hegel, Marx, and beyond. The presupposition of Joachite prophecy is a providential Christian philosophy of history in which scripture, both Testaments brought into concordance with one another, allows the prophetexegete to project the biblical vision forward toward the divinely ordained millenarian future for mankind. If Joachim’s vision of the future is an ultimately optimistic, joyous one under the sway of contemplative Christians, in the foreground lies the imminent persecutions of Antichrist, bringing terrible afflictions of all kinds before that blissful future dawns.
