Heaven upon earth [electronic resource] / edited by Jeffrey K. Jue.

1 - JOSEPH MEDE IN CONTEXT -- Biography -- Crypto-Papists, Anti-Calvinists and the Antichrist -- Joseph Mede and the Cambridge Platonists -- Protestant Irenicism and the Millennium: Mede and the 65 Hartlib Circle -- 2 - THE ROOTS OF MEDE'S APOCALYPTIC THOUGHT -- The Origins of the Clavis Apocalyptica: A Millenarian Conversion -- Millenarians, The Church Fathers and Jewish Rabbis -- 3 - THE LEGACY OF JOSEPH MEDE -- An English Millenarian Legacy -- Colonial North America: The Puritan Errand Revised -- The Continental Millenarian Tradition -- Conclusion: Revising British Millenarianism.

This book contributes to the ongoing revision of early modern British history by examining the apocalyptic tradition through the life and writings of Joseph Mede (1586-1638). The history of the British apocalyptic tradition has yet to undergo a thorough revision. Past studies followed a historiographical paradigm which associated millenarianism with a revolutionary agenda. A careful study of Joseph Mede, one of the key individuals responsible for the rebirth of millenarianism in England, suggests a different picture of seventeenth-century apocalypticism. The roots of Mede's apocalyptic thought are not found in extreme activism, but in the detailed study of the Apocalypse with the aid of ancient Christian and Jewish sources. Mede's legacy illustrates the geographical prevalence and long-term sustainability of his interpretations. This volume shows that the continual discussion of millenarian ideas reveals a vibrant tradition that cannot be reconstructed to fit within one simple historiographical narrative.