January-February 1999
Apocalypse 1500 - Visions of the End
by Keith W. Stump
Famines... plagues... natural disasters... religious deception... wars in Europe and the Middle East... horrible new weapons of mass destruction.
The signs of Jesus' imminent return are unmistakable! Never before in human history have these prophetic portents come together in such a dramatic way.
Even now, the hoofbeats of the dreaded Four Horsemen are being heard across the land! The End is fast approaching! The fearsome prophecies of the Apocalypse are rushing toward fulfillment-in our day!
Century's End
The above views were common among Christians in Europe during the second half of the 15th century (A.D. 1450-1500).
The ends of centuries have always been associated with fear of looming catastrophes, expectations of disasters, rampant paranoia about the end of the world.
| Perhaps printing's most significant contribution to the apocalyptic fervor of the late 15th century was the publishing of religious artwork with prophetic themes. |
As the world neared the year 1500, warnings about the imminent end of the age were particularly prevalent. From the Atlantic to the Urals, fear of the end gripped entire populations.
People were consumed with religious foreboding-scared to death about the future! Many felt that great cataclysms were about to engulf the world. They believed that the return of Jesus Christ would soon come to pass.
Sound familiar?
Then, as now, many Christians were preoccupied with prophetic speculations and calendrical omens. They were looking for signs of the end-and thought they had found them.
Let's take a look at the factors that fueled end-time speculations among Christians 500 years ago. Then we'll see how the media of the day amplified and propagated those fears across wide areas-a questionable role that continues as we near the "ominous" year 2000.
Time of Troubles
The 15th century was an era seething with unrest and confusion, calamity and adversity. Many Christians came to believe that persons, trends and events in the contemporary world could be identified in the imagery of the book of Revelation. Among them:
·Plagues. Plagues of various types ravaged the European continent throughout the 15th century. One among many was a devastating syphilis epidemic that began in Naples in 1495 and spread (by French soldiers) all over Europe.
·Famines. Adverse weather conditions and poor harvests bred famines in wide areas. The entire decade of the 1490s, for example, was a period of severe famine throughout Germany.
·National Upheavals. In England, the anarchy of the Wars of the Roses (1455-1485) had devastated the countryside. Sporadic uprisings persisted through the end of the century.
Across the Channel, France was still reeling from the Hundred Years' War (1337-1453) with England. The country had been laid waste and reduced to anarchy. The French peasantry had suffered terribly, and recovery was painfully slow.
In Germany-a muddle of duchies, archduchies, baronies, margravates, counties and free cities-rampant civil disorder kept the land in constant turmoil.
The Italian peninsula fared no better. Divided into a jumble of separate and often warring city-states, it also became the battleground on which rival nations fought out their quarrels. In 1494, the French invaded Italy. Spain and the German-led Holy Roman Empire reacted quickly. The result: foreign armies ravaged the already beleaguered peninsula.
·Social Unrest. The harsh lives of average people tended to increase the general sense of apprehension. Weary of civil strife and burdened with tithes and taxes, peasants rose against their lords, demanding greater freedom and better living conditions.
·External Threats. In 1453, the Ottoman Turks captured the Christian stronghold of Byzantium (Constantinople), ending the Eastern Roman Empire. The "godless hordes" of Islam now threatened the continent of Europe itself! Muslims were already in control of the Holy Land-an ominous sign to many.
·New Weapons. Gunpowder was coming into general use, completely changing the way wars were fought. Cannon and firearms were displacing longbows and crossbows. These "engines of the devil" escalated battle casualties to unprecedented levels.
·Religious Anarchy. Contempt for the leadership of the church was becoming increasingly widespread. Many popes, cardinals, bishops and priests led corrupt and immoral lives, neglecting affairs of the church in pursuit of pleasures. Some onlookers even dared suggest that "Antichrist" had usurped the papal throne. People were beginning to reexamine the whole fabric of their religious beliefs. The air was rife with religious anarchy.
·Satanic Activity. Fear of witchcraft and Satan worship created widespread hysteria throughout Europe. A bull of Pope Innocent VIII in 1484 declared Germany to be "full of witches."
These and other factors contributed to a sense of the nearness of divine judgment. But their impact on the popular mind would not have been nearly so profound had it not been for an epoch-making innovation that elevated the general unease and foreboding to unprecedented levels: the advent of printing.
Mass Propaganda
About the year 1450, Johann Gutenberg began using a system of movable type in his printing shop in Germany. During the next few decades, printers appeared in virtually every country in Europe.
Printing cut the cost of bookmaking by nearly 80 percent. By 1500, Europe possessed an estimated 9 million books, compared to fewer than 100,000 handwritten manuscripts a half-century earlier.
Preeminent among these books was the Bible. All across Europe, men and women began pouring over the pages of newly printed Bibles-most particularly, the book of Revelation. It awakened them to the study and contemplation of things religious.
In view of the traumatic geopolitical developments of the age, these studies often produced bizarre interpretations of Bible prophecy.
But it wasn't only the Bible that people were reading. Aided by the availability of cheap paper, printers embarked on the large-scale publication of other writings. In addition to books, their new presses turned out an enormous number of low-cost pamphlets and tracts.
These tracts were marvelous vehicles for propaganda of all kinds. They were especially influential in spreading predictions of tribulation and disaster. It marked the beginning of media's involvement in the lucrative business of promoting and selling prophetic speculations to undiscerning Christians.
Printing also made possible the widespread dissemination of calendars for the first time. The use of "A.D." dates had long been the standard scheme for timekeeping among scholars. Now-with calendars in hand-common people began to take more notice of the passage of days and years-especially the fast-approaching year A.D. 1500.
Disturbing Images
But perhaps printing's most significant contribution to the apocalyptic fervor of the late 15th century was the publishing of religious artwork with prophetic themes.
Late medieval art conveys the vividness and horror with which apocalyptic things were perceived. Visual representations of Revelation's imagery appeared frequently in the art of the time, when fear of the Last Judgment preyed on people's minds.
Perhaps the best example is the work of Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528), a German painter and engraver. In 1494, Dürer established a studio in Nuremberg. He quickly gained an eminent reputation-chiefly for his woodcuts and engravings depicting scenes from the Apocalypse or book of Revelation.
Dürer completed his series of apocalyptic engravings in 1498. They were quickly reproduced by the thousands.
Dürer shared with his contemporaries an obsession with the devil and the Day of Judgment, and the expectation that the end of the age was at hand. His mind was filled with the turmoil of his times, and his nights (by his own admission) were haunted by images of the last days. These disturbing dreams were transformed into works of exceptional power, echoing popular fears of "the end."
Most Christians through the centuries had regarded the mysterious images of the book of Revelation simply as metaphors, not meant to be taken literally.
But Dürer's artwork helped change that. His careful study of human and animal anatomy enabled him to draw with precision and realism. This rendered his images of Revelation all the more real and all the more fearful. They instilled in the popular psyche the notion that Revelation's symbols were meant to denote actual persons and events-persons and events even then emerging on the world scene!
Most famous among Dürer's apocalyptic drawings are "The Woman of Abomination," "St. Michael Fighting the Dragon," "The Opening of the Fifth and Sixth Seals," and "The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse."
The latter work (reproduced on page 46) is regarded by some historians as a major factor in the shift in the connotation of the word "apocalypse" from its original meaning of "revelation" or "unveiling" to one of "catastrophe" or "tribulation."
Dürer's striking illustrations testify to the popular preoccupation with the end and the fear that accompanied it. To many who saw them, they became an incentive to righteous living, as the pages of the calendar turned inexorably toward the dreaded year 1500.
Foolish Conjectures
In the end, what actually happened in 1500 was not at all what had been expected. Far from ushering in "the end," the 15th century had witnessed the great transition from the Middle Ages to modern times. Moreover, a whole New World had recently been discovered by Christopher Columbus. And a powerful religious vitality was generating a movement soon to be known as the Reformation.
History was far from over. And as Christians abandoned their obsession with prophecy, they went on to discover what Christianity was really all about -- with the help of Martin Luther and other Reformers.
The lessons of A.D. 1500 are important for us today. Christians have been crying "wolf" for nearly 2,000 years.
Yet, as the year 2000 draws near, we are again seeing apocalyptic zeal reaching fever pitch. The foolish prophetic conjectures of self-appointed prophets are again sidetracking Christians from the real commissioned task of Christianity -- preaching the gospel and living Christlike lives and making a difference now!
Lamentably, the absurd notion that God has a prophetic preference for round numbers and that he is in some way obligated to act according to a humanly devised calendar system is as effective in seducing Christians today as it was in the Middle Ages.
What is certain is that Christ will one day return and that there will be a judgment, followed by an eternity of glory and perfection with God. The precise chronological sequence of those events is not a part of the gospel.
"No one knows about that day or hour," Jesus declared (Matthew 24:36). And again, "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority" (Acts 1:7).
Empty speculations are no more helpful today than they were 500 years ago. Knowing when Jesus will return is not the issue. Knowing him is.
Keith Stump is a freelance writer living in Southern California.
Recommended Viewing:
Millennial Madness, Plain Truth Ministries, 1998. Call 1-800-309-4466.