ABSTRACT
In Roman Catholic theological circles, millenarianism is an eschatology that for centuries has been outside the parameters of acceptable belief, at least in non-Protestant Churches. By contrast, the millenarianism was not merely a "tolerated" viewpoint among early Christians that it was held uniformly until a very specific point in the middle of the third century. Paula Fredriksen writes that millenarianism cohered effortlessly with the points and principles in proto-orthodox doctrine. In 2001, a book by Charles Hill was published under the title Regnum Coelorum. Hill emphasizes the idea that most chiliasts believed that disembodied souls occupied Hades as opposed to the witness of Revelation 6:9-11. Origen Adamantius, adopting an almost exclusively allegorical and spiritualized hermeneutic, was the first of the respected Patristic authors to reinterpret apocalyptic texts and imagery in an effort to debunk chiliasm. Origen's allegorical interpretations, including his views on Bible prophecy, gained wide acceptance in the Church of his day.
