A historical perspective can help to understand the various millennial views.
Premillennialism was the predominant view of the early church.
Amillennialism became the majority view following the merging of the church and state at the time of Constantine. The Reformers (Luther, Calvin, and others) rejected much of the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church but continued to hold to amillennialism.
Postmillennialism grew popular at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th century as the world seemed to becoming more like God’s kingdom, but it was nearly wiped out with the evil atrocities of World War I.
Dispensational premillennialism has been on the rise since the late 1800s and is the majority view of evangelical churches in the US today.
Historic premillennialism may be on the rise today, in part due to some poor presentation and misconceptions about dispensationalism.
All of these views have been held by leading figures in the church at one point or another. Here are a few adherents of each major view.
Dispensational Premillennialism: C. I. Scofield, Dallas Seminary, Hal Lindsey, John MacArthur, J. M. Boice, Tim LaHaye
Historic Premillennialism: George Ladd, John Piper, Wayne Grudem
Postmillennialism: B. B. Warfield, Charles Hodge, R. C. Sproul
Amillennialism: Augustine, Martin Luther, John Calvin, J. I. Packer
Since I’ve only defined three millennial views to this point, but have listed four above, I will devote the next post to explaining the difference between dispensational premillennialism and historic premillennialism.
Thanks Todd. I just finished teaching through Revelation to our high schoolers and college students. These posts on the millennium are good not only for my head, but for my soul too!