Is there a name for the idea that the seven churches of Revelation represent periods in church history? How common is this belief in Protestantism?

Abeka 's textbook *Book of the Revelation* teaches that the seven churches of Revelation prophetically represent different periods of church history, and that we are in the Laodicean church today. | Church | Approximate dates | Meaning of name | Description | |--------|-------|-----------------|-------------| | Ephesus | A.D. 30-100 | "desirable" | "Apostolic church" | | Smyrna | 100-300 | "crushed" | "Persecuted church" under Rome | | Pergamos | 300-500 | "married" | "Worldly, imperial church"; Early Roman church, "married" to government beginning under Constantine | | Thyatira | 500-1500 | "continual sacrifice" | "Pagan, papal church"; medieval Catholic church; "continual sacrifice" refers to transubstantiation | | Sardis | 1500-1700 | "remnant" | "Reformation church" | | Philadelphia | 1700-1900 | "brotherly love" | "Revival, missionary church"; includes Great Awakening | | Laodicea | 1900-present | "rights or rule of the people" | "Lukewarm, tolerant, ecumenical church" | In the rightmost column, the parts in quotes are from a table printed both on page 5 and on the back cover of the book, while the parts not in quotes are my notes based on the content. > [T]here is only one key that really fits the mystery of the seven churches. That **key** is to *put the events of church history alongside the seven church letters and observe how they parallel a prophetic history of the church*. Thus the mystery of the seven letters to the seven churches is solved, for the key has been found. > > All seven churches existed in John's day and continue to exist in every period of church history, yet there is a dominant church description in each period. Each church description parallels a time period in church history (or the church age). For example, the church at *Ephesus*, the first of the seven churches, *parallels* the average, *typical first-century church*. Though all seven churches existed in the first century, the church at Ephesus describes the typical church of the first century. > > All seven churches addressed in Chapters 2 and 3 have existed throughout church history, yet the church in each time period manifests particular characteristics that parallel each letter. > > The church's *name* reveals the *character* or *conduct* which provides identification for the sequential period of church history. Even the sequence in which each church is addressed reveals divine inspiration. To reverse their order or to change their order in ant way destroys the description of that church period. (from *Book of the Revelation*, Abeka, pp. 5-6, emphasis in original) The idea is that there have, for the entirety of church history, been churches like Ephesus, churches like Smyrna, churches like Pergamos, and so on, but from 30 to 100, most churches were like Ephesus; from 100 to 300, most were like Smyrna, and so on. As we are, according to the book, currently living in the Laodicean period, most churches today are like the church of Laodicea, although there are churches like each of the seven today. How common is the belief that the seven churches represent periods of history? Is there a word for this belief? Wikipedia calls this a historicist interpretation of the seven churches , but this term is not ideal because historicism can refer to any prophecy, so it is vague exactly what a "historicist" believes, and it is also not obvious that the letters are intended to be prophetic, so the concept of historicism may be irrelevant. The linked Wikipedia article indicates that the earliest form of this theory originated with Thomas Brightman , a sixteenth-century Puritan. He believed that his time was in the Laodicean period, while it falls within the period of Sardis according to Abeka's interpretation.