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18 FALL 2020 resurrections, premillennialism is characterized by Christ's thousand-year reign over all the earth where peace and righteousness finally prevail and nature conforms to its original innocent state (Isa. 11:8–9, 65:25). Numerous teachers in the early church promoted the premillennial interpretation, most notably Papias (70–163), Justin Martyr (100–165), and Irenaeus (130–202). The second major approach is known as amillennialism. The word itself literally means "no millennium" because its proponents interpret Revelation 20:1–6 symbolically rather than understanding it as a literal thousand-year reign of Christ. One group of amillennialists believes that these verses refer to a specific era of history where the church will hold sway over all the earth. A second group argues that they refer to the departed saints who rule with Christ in the heavenly realms prior to His return. Others advocate that the thousand years simply refers to the Church Age—the time from Jesus' ascension to His parousia. Regardless of these various nuances, all amillennialists agree that the second coming of Christ marks the end of human history and the beginning of the eternal state in a new heaven and a new earth. Historically, and to the surprise of many contemporary American evangelicals, amillennialism has been the dominant view of the church since the early fifth century. In fact, the two greatest theologians of the church from AD 400 to 1500, Augustine of Hippo (354–430) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), both espoused amillennial views on the return of Christ along with numerous other teachers and leaders over the past sixteen centuries. SyYates/iStock tomertu/iStock …all amillennialists agree that the second coming of Christ marks the end of human history and the beginning of the eternal state in a new heaven and a new earth.