REALM OF RESEARCH: Landmarks in Prophetic Interpretation—No. 2

by Erich W. Bethmann

AUDIO IS CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE FOR THIS ARTICLE

 

Subscribe to the Ministry Magazine Podcast

II. Repudiation of Tichonius Positions Under Joachim

IN A former study we dealt particularly with Tichonius and his extraordinary influence upon expositors of prophecy during a period of nearly a thousand years. We noted his influence upon Augustine, and saw how he and his ideas, through the authority and fame of Augustine, became generally recognized in Western Christianity. Tichonius in his system had practically excluded all consideration of taking specific historical events as being of importance in interpreting prophetic symbols. He was not, however, a philosopher as was Augustine, who followed shortly after him, Augustine supplied the philosophical basis for the theology of Western Christianity.

For example, Augustine understood the life and sacrifice of Christ as a metaphysical reality, not merely as an historical event. That, of course, implies that the significance of the life of Christ stands outside of any historical continuity. Its exact time or place in history loses its importance because faith deals in the ultimate with the salvation of the individual and the life beyond. The life problem of each individual is, as it were, not put horizontally between past, present, and future, but vertically between heaven and hell. The individual's salvation, his acceptance of Christ, and his par taking in the blessings of grace are of supreme importance, whereas the events of history or those which are going to happen in the future are completely irrelevant.

The solemn task of the church, he therefore held, is to be a faithful steward and guardian over the sacraments which Christ has entrusted to her and which alone assure eternal life in the presence of God and guarantee the salvation of the soul from eternal destruction. In this concept of Christ and the church, which is based on metaphysical considerations, history has no particular place, and becomes meaningless. This concept of Augustine became the basic philosophical position of the Catholic Church during the Middle Ages, and is scarcely modified even at the present time. It remained unchallenged until the coming of Joachim of Flores.

We, of course, are in general more interested in the development of prophetic interpretation than in theological concept, but it is not possible to divorce one from the other. Basic theological and philosophical or shall we say theo-philo- sophical? ------concepts influence the position of men toward prophecy just as prophecy, without question, influences the basic concept of the ology.

Tichonius Molds for Centuries

It is interesting to trace the influence of Tichonius upon the main expositors of the Apocalypse during the centuries following. The accompanying chart will, perhaps more than many words, help to illustrate this development. It is evident that not all expositors of the Apocalypse could find a place on this chart, but those mentioned represent the outstanding figures and very well the general trend.

Primasius of Hadrumentum and the Vener able Bede of Britain were strongly under the influence of Tichonius. Ambrosius Autpertus, in the eighth century, was wholly dependent upon Primasius. And again from Autpertus, Alcuin, Hraban, Walafried Strabo, and Hainio of Halberstadt in the ninth century received their spiritual guidance in matters of prophetic interpretation. The School of Laon, a highly influential body, continuing for nearly two centuries, was also dominated by the same Tichonian concept.

Venturing Onto New Ground

Only with Rupert of Deutz and his commentary on the Apocalypse (ca. 1119) do we come to the first expositor who ventured upon new territory and expressed original thoughts. He dared to deviate from the well-trodden medieval path and began to consider the possibility that some of the pictures and symbols of the Apocalypse might refer to definite historical events. For instance, he believed that the trumpets point to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, the outcry of Israel against the Canaanites, their murmuring in the desert, and so forth.1 Whatever we may think about the in correctness of such an interpretation it was, nevertheless, the beginning of a school of thought which again gives to history or better, to historical facts a place in the scheme of interpretation.

Another figure, in whom this tendency of taking history into account makes its appearance, is Anselm of Havelberg (d. 1158). He described the church from Abel to Christ, and then took the Apocalypse and pointed to concrete facts as to where and when certain symbols had found their fulfillment in history. The seven seals were to him no longer qualitatively evaluated, but considered as historical epochs, following each other successively. He believed himself to be living in the beginning of the fifth epoch, and that two epochs were still in the future. During the coming sixth epoch the sun would be darkened. That would mean that the cult of the church would be destroyed; the heavens that  is, the apocalyptic book would be rolled together as a preparation for the seventh epoch, when truth would be revealed in all its eternal glory without the need of a cult or written revelation.2

These two men, however, were more fore runners of the man who by his brilliant and penetrating mind evolved a completely new system of theological thought, and who gave the start to new developments and pointed toward new goals. This man was Joachim of Flores, an abbot in Southern Italy. He was born about 1130 near Cosenza, and died in his own monastery, San Giovanni di Fiore, in I2O2.3 What were his ideas that were destined to exercise such a far-reaching influence upon the thinking of the generations following and to shake the very foundations of the medieval church? Strange to say, it was not his main concept which survived and passed the test of time. Rather, it was the by-products of his main theme that stirred the minds of men and brought revolutionary results to pass.

Joachim's Trilogy of Time

Joachim's basic idea is that of a trilogy of time, based upon the concept of the Trinity. The Trinity God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit is the great pattern for all that was, and is, and ever will be on this earth. Therefore time also, or what is occurring in time that is, historic time or history must be considered under this principle of the Trinity. Logically, he reasoned, there must be an age of the Father, an age of the Son, and an age of the Holy Spirit. Each age will have its initial period and its period of fructification or maturity.

These ages will not follow each other abruptly, nor will they dovetail perfectly, but will overlap. This means that the period of maturity of one age is, to a certain degree, already the initial period of the following age. Each age has its proper place in history and fulfills its specific purpose.4 At a certain point of time no other age could be in existence than that which has been preordained to exist. History, then, is not an accumulation of haphazard events, without rhyme and reason, but it is the progressive revelation of the spiritual purposes of God with mankind.

History thereby became of utmost importance, and an essential part of Joachim's theological thinking. Every event in history, especially in the history of the church, he reasoned, has a definite relationship to events or persons mentioned in the Holy Scripture. The church is the body of Christ, and all her sufferings, and all her joys in time, are Christ's sufferings and Christ's joys. In the Scriptures a number of statements are made about Christ that would remain utterly incomprehensible if they were not brought in relation to His body, that is, the "church in history." 5

The Three Ages Outlined

In order to explain his ideas he developed the following scheme: He saw the key to the historical understanding of the "Body of Christ on earth" in the frequently recurring figures of 42 months and 1260 days. These he considered as the God-given time limits; hence they are basic for all important computations. Each age, of his three ages, comprised 42 generations plus an initial period of 21 generations before the first age. These 21 generations and the 42 generations of the first age are of unknown length, whereas the 42 generations of the second age are computed as 30 years each hence, reaching- over a period of 1260 years. This was the first application of the principle of the day for a year for the longer time periods. The whole scheme looks as follows:

Initial period: 21 generations: from Adam to Abraham.

AGE OF THE FATHER : 42 generations: from Abraham to Zacharias. First period, from Abraham to Uzziah, 21 generations. Second period, period of fructification, at the same time initial period of the age of the Son, from Uzziah to Zacharias, 21 generations.

AGE OF THE SON: 42 generations: From Christ to 1200 (1260). First period from Christ to Ben edict of Nursia, founder of monasticism in Europe. Second period, period of fructification, from Benedict to 1200.

AGE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: 42 generations: From 1200 (1260)to day of Judgment.6

This whole scheme was not so much devised to bring some order into history but to help in visualizing the gradual and more complete rev elation of God and His character. During the age of the Father people lived in the servitude of slaves. Fear was the dominant characteristic, and their status in the sight of God was that of slaves. During the age of the Son people lived in the servitude of sons. Faith was the dominant characteristic, and their status was that of free men. During the age of the Spirit there will be no longer any kind of servitude; love will be the dominant characteristic, and their status will be that of friends.

He also said that during the first age people were living by the light of the stars in the night. During the second age they were living at the period of dawn. But in the third age they will be living in the brightness of the day. This is not to be understood as human reasoning and understanding reaching greater heights, but that the Holy Spirit will reveal Himself in all His fullness during this third historical period, so that the brightness of this period will make the preceding periods appear as having been in darkness or semidarkness.7

 

 

 

1 W. Kamlah, Appkalypse und Geschichtstheologie, in Historische Studien. Heft 285, pp. 93, 94.

2 A. Dempf, Sacrum Imperium, pp. 241-243,

3 For a sketch of his life, see L. E. Froom, Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. i, pp. 685-690.

4 Joachim, Liber Concordia Novi ac Veteris Testa- menti, fol. 8 v; see also H. Grtmdmann, Studien -uber Joachim von Floris, pp. 64, 65.

5 E. Benz, "Die Kategorien der religioesen Geschi- chtsdeutung Joachims," in Zeitschrift fuer Kircheng- eschichte, vol. 50 (1931), p. 30.

6 A. Dempf, op. cit., p. 274.

7 E. Benz, Kategorien der Geschichtsdeutung, p. 31. (Short title.)