Prophecy/fulfillment motifs, particularly in the books of Daniel and Revelation, have been characteristic of Jehovah’s Witnesses since the days of Russell. The groundwork for Witness theology was laid in the nineteenth century. It was largely through the influence of three Christian proponents of »dispensationalism—Edward Irving (1792–1834), John Nelson Darby (1800–1882), and William Miller (1782–1849; see »Millerite Movement)—who first expounded the millennialism so zealously taught by Russell.