Irish Millennialism: The Irish Prophetic Movement and the Origins of the Plymouth Brethren
Irish Millennialism: The Irish Prophetic Movement and the Origins of the Plymouth Brethren
While the English prophetic movement coalesced around Henry Drummond and Edward Irving, a similar outburst of millennial speculation occurred among Dublin’s influential, but unsettled, Evangelical community. As the prospect of Catholic Emancipation drew ever nearer, Ireland experienced a sense of political unease even greater than that occurring simultaneously in England. It was hardly surprising that millennialism, with its attempt to equate the Roman Catholic Church with the ‘man of sin’ in prophecy, should gain an especial foothold in Ireland. The expectation of imminent nationalistic Catholic rebellion drove many devout Protestants to an unusually close study of the ‘signs of the times’. In this unsettled atmosphere, a new religious party appeared on the scene, dedicated to restoring Christianity to its ‘apostolic’ purity and doctrinal orthodoxy. More than twenty English and Irish Evangelical clergy seceded into the Brethren during its formative years. The Brethren coalesced into a separate and identifiable religious movement (if not a denomination) functioning in three principal locations: Dublin, Bristol, and Plymouth.
Keywords: Ireland, prophetic movement, Brethren, millennialism, Protestants, Christianity, clergy, Dublin, Bristol, Plymouth
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