1.
Puritans
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Puritanism in this sense was founded as an activist movement within the Church of England. The founders, clergy exiled under Mary I, returned to England shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, Puritanism played a significant role in English history during the first half of the 17th century. One of the most effective stokers of anti-Catholic feeling was John Pym, Puritans were blocked from changing the established church from within and were severely restricted in England by laws controlling the practice of religion. They took on distinctive beliefs about clerical dress and in opposition to the episcopal system and they largely adopted Sabbatarianism in the 17th century, and were influenced by millennialism. Consequently, they became a political force in England and came to power as a result of the First English Civil War. Almost all Puritan clergy left the Church of England after the Restoration of 1660, the nature of the movement in England changed radically, although it retained its character for a much longer period in New England. Puritans by definition were dissatisfied with the extent of the English Reformation. They formed and identified with various groups advocating greater purity of worship and doctrine, as well as personal. Puritans adopted a Reformed theology and, in sense, were Calvinists. In church polity, some advocated separation from all other established Christian denominations in favor of autonomous gathered churches. The Puritans were never a formally defined sect or religious division within Protestantism, the Congregationalist tradition, widely considered to be a part of the Reformed tradition, claims descent from the Puritans. Historically, the word Puritan was considered a term that characterized Protestant groups as extremists. According to Thomas Fuller in his Church History, the dates to 1564. Archbishop Matthew Parker of that used it and precisian with the sense of the modern stickler. In modern times, the word puritan is often used to mean against pleasure, in this sense, the term Puritan was coined in the 1560s, when it first appeared as a term of abuse for those who found the Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559 inadequate. The term Puritan, therefore, was not intended to refer to strict morality, a common modern misunderstanding, the word Puritan was applied unevenly to a number of Protestant churches from the late 16th century onwards. Puritans did not originally use the term for themselves, the practitioners knew themselves as members of particular churches or movements, and not by a single term. Precise men and Precisians were other early derogatory terms for Puritans, seventeenth century English Puritan preacher Thomas Watson used the godly to describe Puritans in the title of one of his more famous works The Godly Mans Picture
2.
English Civil War
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The English Civil War was a series of armed conflicts and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists over, principally, the manner of Englands government. The war ended with the Parliamentarian victory at the Battle of Worcester on 3 September 1651, the monopoly of the Church of England on Christian worship in England ended with the victors consolidating the established Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. The term English Civil War appears most often in the singular form, the war in all these countries are known as the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. Unlike other civil wars in England, which focused on who should rule, this war was more concerned with the manner in which the kingdoms of England, Scotland, the two sides had their geographical strongholds, such that minority elements were silenced or fled. The strongholds of the royalty included the countryside, the shires, on the other hand, all the cathedral cities sided with Parliament. All the industrial centers, the ports, and the advanced regions of southern and eastern England typically were parliamentary strongholds. Lacey Baldwin Smith says, the words populist, rich, at times there would be two groups of three lines allowing one group to reload while the other group arranged themselves and fired. Mixed in among the musketeers were pikemen carrying pikes that were between 12 feet and 18 feet long, whose purpose was to protect the musketeers from cavalry charges. The Royalist cavaliers skill and speed on horseback led to early victories. While the Parliamentarian cavalry were slower than the cavaliers, they were better disciplined. The Royalists had a tendency to chase down individual targets after the initial charge leaving their forces scattered and tired, Cromwells cavalry, on the other hand, trained to operate as a single unit, which led to many decisive victories. The English Civil War broke out fewer than forty years after the death of Queen Elizabeth I in 1603, in spite of this, James personal extravagance meant he was perennially short of money and had to resort to extra-Parliamentary sources of income. Charles hoped to unite the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland into a new single kingdom, many English Parliamentarians had suspicions regarding such a move because they feared that setting up a new kingdom might destroy the old English traditions which had bound the English monarchy. As Charles shared his fathers position on the power of the crown, at the time, the Parliament of England did not have a large permanent role in the English system of government. Instead, Parliament functioned as an advisory committee and was summoned only if. Once summoned, a continued existence was at the kings pleasure. Yet in spite of this role, Parliament had, over the preceding centuries. Without question, for a monarch, Parliaments most indispensable power was its ability to tax revenues far in excess of all other sources of revenue at the Crowns disposal
3.
Book of Daniel
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The Book of Daniel is a biblical apocalypse, combining a prophecy of history with an eschatology which is both cosmic in scope and political in its focus. In more mundane language, it is an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, in the Hebrew Bible it is found in the Ketuvim, while in Christian Bibles it is grouped with the Major Prophets. Its message is that just as the God of Israel saved Daniel and his friends from their enemies, the book divides into two parts, a set of six court tales in chapters 1–6 followed by four apocalyptic visions in chapters 7–12. The literary structure of the book of Daniel is marked by three prominent features, the most fundamental is a genre division between the court tales of chapters 1–6 and the apocalyptic visions of 7–12. The second is a division between the Hebrew of chapters 1 and 8–12, and the Aramaic of chapters 2–7. This language division is reinforced by the arrangement of the Aramaic chapters. Various suggestions have been made by scholars to explain the fact that the division does not coincide with the other two. It should also be noted that the settings of chapters 1–6 show a progression from Babylonian to Median times. Among them are Daniel and his three companions, who refuse to touch the food and wine for fear of defilement. They are allowed to continue to refrain from eating the kings food, in the second year of his reign Nebuchadnezzar has a dream. When he wakes up, he realizes that he forgot the content of the dream and he then demands that his wise men tell him its content. When the wise men protest that this is beyond the power of any man, he sentences all, including Daniel and his friends, to death. Daniel explains the dream to the king, the statue symbolized four successive kingdoms, starting with Nebuchadnezzar, all of which would be crushed by Gods kingdom, which would endure forever. Nebuchadnezzar acknowledges the supremacy of Daniels god, raises him over all his wise men, Daniels companions Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow to King Nebuchadnezzars golden statue and are thrown into a fiery furnace. Nebuchadnezzar is astonished to see a figure in the furnace with the three, one with the appearance like a son of the gods. So the king called the three to come out of the fire, and blessed the God of Israel, and decreed that any who blasphemed against him should be torn limb from limb. Nebuchadnezzar recounts a dream of a tree that is suddenly cut down at the command of a heavenly messenger. Daniel is summoned and interprets the dream, the tree is Nebuchadnezzar himself, who for seven years will lose his mind and live like a wild beast
4.
Four kingdoms of Daniel
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The four kingdoms of Daniel are four kingdoms which, according to the Book of Daniel, precede the end-time and the Kingdom of God. The four kingdoms theme appears explicitly in Daniel 2 and Daniel 7, in chapter 2, Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue made of four different materials, identified as four kingdoms, Head of gold, explicitly identified as King Nebuchadnezzar. Identified as a kingdom to follow Nebuchadnezzar. A third kingdom which rule over all the earth. Legs of iron with feet of mingled iron and clay Interpreted as a kingdom, strong as iron. This is explained as a kingdom, different from all the other kingdoms, it will devour the whole earth, trampling it down. The ten horns are ten kings who will come from this kingdom, a further horn then appears and uproots three of the previous horns, this is explained as a future king. In chapter 8 Daniel sees a ram with two destroyed by a he-goat with a single horn, the horn breaks and four horns appear. From the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century, some continued to defend its use in universal history in the early 18th century, but the periodization w ], based on the distinctive nature of medieval Latin. The modern historicist interpretations and eschatological views of the Book of Daniel with the Book of Revelation closely resemble, there are references in classical literature and arts that apparently predate the use of the succession of kingdoms in the Book of Daniel. One appears in Aemilius Sura, an author quoted by Velleius Paterculus and this gives Assyria, Media, Persia and Macedonia as the imperial powers. The fifth empire became identified with the Romans and they built on a three-kingdom sequence, already mentioned by Herodotus and by Ctesias. Mendels contests this dating and origin, placing it later in the century, jewish Reconstructionists and Full Preterists believe that Daniel is completely fulfilled, and that the believers are now working to establish the Kingdom of God on earth. Two main schools of thought on the four kingdoms of Daniel, are, the Maccabean thesis, a view that supports the separation of the Medes from the Persians and identifies the last kingdom as the Seleucid Empire. Within this framework there are numerous variations, Christian interpreters typically read the Book of Daniel along with the New Testaments Book of Revelation. The Church Fathers interpreted the beast in Revelation 13 as the empire of Rome, the majority of modern scholarly commentators understand the city on seven hills in Revelation as a reference to Rome. Jerome specifically identified the four kingdoms of Daniel 2 in this way, the four monarchies theory existed alongside the Six Ages and the Three Eras, as general historical structures, in the work of Augustine of Hippo, a contemporary of Jerome. The alternative view which sees the ending with Greece and the Diadochi
5.
Jesus
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In Christology, the Person of Christ refers to the study of the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ as they co-exist within one person. There is no discussion in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of the Person of Christ as both divine and human. Hence, since the days of Christianity theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures. In the period following the Apostolic Age, specific beliefs such as Arianism and Docetism were criticized. On the other end of the spectrum, Docetism argued that Jesus physical body was an illusion, docetic teachings were attacked by St. Ignatius of Antioch and were eventually abandoned by proto-orthodox Christians. However, after the First Council of Nicaea in 325 the Logos, historically in the Alexandrian school of christology, Jesus Christ is the eternal Logos paradoxically humanized in history, a divine Person who became enfleshed, uniting himself to the human nature. The views of these schools can be summarized as follows, Alexandria, Antioch, Logos assumes a specific human being The First Council of Ephesus in 431 debated a number of views regarding the Person of Christ. At the same gathering the council debated the doctrines of monophysitism or miaphysitism. The council rejected Nestorianism and adopted the term hypostatic union, referring to divine, the language used in the 431 declaration was further refined at the 451 Council of Chalcedon. However, the Chalcedon creed was not accepted by all Christians, because Saint Augustine died in 430 he did not participate in the Council of Ephesus in 431 or Chalcedon in 451, but his ideas had some impact on both councils. On the other hand, the major theological figure of the Middle Ages. The Third Council of Constantinople in 680 held that both divine and human wills exist in Jesus, with the divine will having precedence, leading and guiding the human will. John Calvin maintained that there was no element in the Person of Christ which could be separated from the person of The Word. Calvin also emphasized the importance of the Work of Christ in any attempt at understanding the Person of Christ, the study of the Person of Christ continued into the 20th century, with modern theologians such as Karl Rahner and Hans von Balthasar. Balthasar argued that the union of the human and divine natures of Christ was achieved not by the absorption of human attributes, thus in his view the divine nature of Christ was not affected by the human attributes and remained forever divine
6.
Number of the Beast
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The Number of the Beast is a term in the Book of Revelation, of the New Testament, that is associated with the Beast of Revelation in chapter 13. In most manuscripts of the New Testament and in English translations of the Bible, in critical editions of the Greek text, such as the Novum Testamentum Graece, it is noted that 616 is a variant. In the oldest preserved manuscript as of 2017, as well as ancient sources like Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus. The Number of the beast is described in the passage of Revelation 13, the actual number is only mentioned once, in verse 18. Possible translations include not only to count, to reckon but also to vote or to decide, in the Textus Receptus, derived from Byzantine text-type manuscripts, the number 666 is represented by the final 3 letters χξϛ. 17καὶ ἵνα μή τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἢ πωλῆσαι εἰ μὴ ὁ ἔχων τὸ χάραγμα, 18Ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων τὸν νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου· ἀριθμὸς γὰρ ἀνθρώπου ἐστί· καὶ ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτοῦ χξϛʹ. The last letter of the Greek alphabet is not the equivalent of the English letter Z, the Greek letter stigma ligature represents the number 6. 18ὧδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν· ὁ ἔχων νοῦν ψηφισάτω τὸν ἀριθμὸν τοῦ θηρίου, irenaeus knew about the 616 reading, but did not adopt it. In the 380s, correcting the existing Latin-language version of the New Testament, around 2005, a fragment from Papyrus 115, taken from the Oxyrhynchus site, was discovered at the Oxford Universitys Ashmolean Museum. It gave the number as 616 χιϛʹ. This fragment is the oldest manuscript of Revelation 13 found as of 2017, the age of a manuscript is not an indicator of the date of its writing but refers to how old the physical material is. All original biblical manuscripts are non-existent today, as they were held and copied onto new materials, eventually the originals fell apart, leaving fragments for a period and then only the copies. So the oldest texts might actually be found among the newest copies, Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, known before the P115 finding but dating to after it, has 616 written in full, ἑξακόσιοι δέκα ἕξ, hexakosioi deka hex. Papyrus 115 and Ephraemi Rescriptus have led scholars to regard 616 as the original number of the beast. Associating the number of the beast as the duration of the beast’s reign Corresponding symbolism for the Antichrist, in Greek isopsephy and Hebrew gematria, every letter has a corresponding numeric value. Summing these numbers gives a value to a word or name. The use of isopsephy to calculate the number of the beast is used in many of the below interpretations, preterist theologians typically support the numerical interpretation that 666 is the equivalent of the name and title, Nero Caesar. A manner of speaking against the emperor without the Roman authorities knowing, also Nero Caesar in the Hebrew alphabet is נרון קסר NRON QSR, which when used as numbers represent 5020065010060200, which add to 666
7.
Nonconformist
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In English church history, a nonconformist was a Protestant Christian who did not conform to the governance and usages of the established Church of England. Broad use of the term was precipitated after the Restoration of the British monarchy in 1660, by the late 19th-century the term specifically included the Reformed Christians, plus the Baptists and Methodists. The English Dissenters such as the Puritans who violated the Act of Uniformity 1559 — typically by practising radical, sometimes separatist, in England and Wales in the late 19th century the new terms free churchman and Free Church started to replace dissenter or Nonconformist. One influential nonconformist minister is Matthew Henry, who beginning in 1710 published his multi-volume Commentary that is still used, issac Watts is an equally recognized nonconformist minister whose hymns are still sung by Christians worldwide. The Act of Uniformity of 1662 required churchmen to use all rites and ceremonies as prescribed in the Book of Common Prayer. Consequently, nearly 2,000 clergymen were ejected from the church for refusing to comply with the provisions of the act. The Great Ejection created an abiding public consciousness of non-conformity, thereafter, a Nonconformist was any English subject belonging to a non-Anglican church or a non-Christian religion. More broadly, any person who advocated religious liberty was typically called out as Nonconformist, culturally, in England and Wales, discrimination against Nonconformists endured even longer. Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, Calvinists, other reformed groups, following the act, other groups, including Methodists, Unitarians, Quakers, Plymouth Brethren, and the English Moravians were officially labelled as Nonconformists as they became established. A religious census in 1851 revealed Nonconformist comprised about half that of the people who attended services on Sundays. In the larger manufacturing areas, Nonconformists clearly outnumbered members of the Church of England, in Wales in 1850, Nonconformist chapel attendance significantly outnumbered Anglican church attendance. Historians distinguish two categories of Dissenters, or Nonconformists, in addition to the evangelicals or Low Church element in the Church of England, Old Dissenters, dating from the 16th and 17th centuries, included Baptists, Congregationalists, Quakers, Unitarians, and Presbyterians outside Scotland. New Dissenters emerged in the 18th century and were mainly Methodists, the Nonconformist Conscience was their moral sensibility which they tried to implement in British politics. The Nonconformist conscience of the Old group emphasized religious freedom and equality, pursuit of justice, and opposition to discrimination, compulsion, the New Dissenters stressed personal morality issues, including sexuality, temperance, family values, and Sabbath-keeping. Both factions were active, but until mid-19th century the Old group supported mostly Whigs and Liberals in politics. In the late 19th the New Dissenters mostly switched to the Liberal Party, the result was a merging of the two groups, strengthening their great weight as a political pressure group. The joined together on new issues especially regarding schools and temperance, by 1914 the linkage was weakening and by the 1920s it was virtually dead. Dissenters demanded removal of political and civil disabilities that applied to them, the Anglican establishment strongly resisted until 1828
