Albury Conferences

Prophetic conferences were a manifestation for English-speaking Protestants of the 19th century of the interest in Biblical prophecy and its interpretation. Such conferences have been thought a likely source of some of the analytical terms now deployed in discussing interpretations, such as premillennialism/premillennarian, postmillennialism/postmillennarian and amillennialism, some time ahead of their appearance in the 1840s in print.

The context for the initial prophetic conferences was of multiple British groups with related interests, in the 1820s. The aftermath of the French Revolution was still being felt, and for evangelicals it might suggest a premillennial return of Christ.

Edward Irving based his prophetic views in part on a reading of Manuel Lacunza; another possible influence was William Cuninghame of Lainshaw, more particularly in published remarks from 1817. He preached to the Continental Society and London Missionary Society in 1825, making remarks against Catholic Emancipation. He also adopted ideas of James Hatley Frere on prophetic interpretation.

The Society for the Investigation of Prophecy was founded in 1826 by Frere, Irving and Lewis Way. Way was involved with the London Jews' Society, and in 1822 had written as "Basilicus" in its publication The Jewish Expositor on the Second Coming. His view on the personal reign of Christ at Jerusalem was contested by Henry Gauntlett, and a controversy resulted.Samuel Roffey Maitland, author of An Enquiry into the Grounds on which the Prophetic Period of Daniel and St. John has been supposed to consist of 1,260 Years (1826), contended against the prevailing interpretative conventions for prophecy of the 1820s.

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