Historicism

This prophetic school of interpretation is also called the “continuous historical” approach.  Historicism mistakenly sees the prophetic drama in Revelation as providing a panorama of Church history from the apostolic era to the Second Coming.  Historical continuity is the main focus of this approach which forecasts future history.  Historicists deem Revelation an “almanac of church history.” They apply the numerous judgment scenes to various wars, revolutions, and socio-political and religious movements (e.g., the rising of Roman Catholicism, the outbreak of the Protestant Reformation, the French Revolution, World Wars I and II), as well as important historical persons (e.g., various Popes, Charlemagne, Napoleon, Hitler, and Stalin).  Generally historicists argue that the Letters to the Seven Churches provide an outline to the development of Church history (although dispensationalism often attempts to merge this Historicist approach with their otherwise system of futurism).