In the centuries following the Reformation, Antichrist the biblical Beast, whose coming was to precede the end of the world and the coming of Christ s kingdom was an intensely real figure. The debate raged as to who this Antichrist, whose downfall was now at hand, might be. Was he the Pope? Bishops? A state church? The monarchy? Or was it just a term of abuse to be hurled at anybody one disliked?
Christopher Hill, one of Britain s most distinguished historians, here reconstructs the significance of Antichrist during the revolutionary crises of the early seventeenth century. Radical...