Ranters, Fifth Monarchists and Sectarian Exegesis: Imagined Apocalypses

Both Ranters and Fifth Monarchists emerged as sectarian groups during the English Revolution, believing in an imminent apocalypse and the need for a total spiritual and social overhaul in England. Yet, their unique eschatologies resulted in dramatically different plans to overhaul the political and spiritual authorities in England. This article seeks to reassert the importance of scriptural citations in historical studies by arguing that the basis for these groups’ differences can be identified in the hermeneutical underpinnings of their millenarianism, and how their reading practices in turn informed their understanding of the apocalypse and their own political participation during the end times.