ABSTRACT
Historians often use key dates and decisive historic events as markers of distinctive periods in a larger history. These markers bracket a somewhat arbitrary period of time, for the purpose of in-depth study, interpretation, and characterization (e.g., the Medieval Vision, the Age of Reason, the Modern Mind, the Postmodern Temper). The methods of marking time and history must always be qualified and used with intellectual caution. This philosophical essay (1) surveys available methods for the study of apocalyptic time, (2) qualifies the academic use of millennial history and apocalyptic calendars, (3) proposes a new and experimental method of marking millennial moments (MMM), and (4) applies this method to marking the end of the modern era.
