Blessed Are Those Who Read The Words of This Prophecy The Book of Revelation Scripture Summer School 2018

The Sequence Genre – What Are We Reading! Christ – (1:1-20) The Churches – (2-3) What in Heaven- (4-5) Beasts and Dragons (11-13) The New Jerusalem (21-22)

A Difficult Book “Either finds you mad or leaves you that way” Troubled History in the Canon - Irenaeus ascribed apostolic authorship - Later doubts due to divergences between this and John’s Gospel and use by heterodox groups. - Jerome and Augustine accepted it but concerned about “millenarianism” (literal readings of the thousand year reign of Christ (20:4) Luther: “There is nothing of Christ in it” Calvin: The only book of the Bible on which he did not write a commentary!

Background Reading! The Apocalyptic Imagination J.J Collins, Crossroad 1989 The Apocalypse Adela Yarbro Collins, Veritas 1979 The Apocalypse of John Sean Kealy, Glazier 1987 Breaking the Code Bruce Metzger, Abingdon 2013 Revelation Craig Koester, Anchor Bible 2015 The Spirtual Adventure of the Apocalypse, William Riley, Dominican Publications 1997

Genre –What are we reading? Apocalypse (1:1) Prophecy (1:3, 22:18) Letter (1:4, 22:21)

Apocalypse Αποκάλυψις Uncovering A literary genre found between 200BC – 200AD existing in both Jewish and Christian circles A literature of hope and defiance in the context of oppression It is focussed on the eschatological victory of God over the forces of evil. Probably had its roots in biblical prophecy

JJ Collins (1979) 'Apocalypse' is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an other worldly being to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality which is both temporal, insofar as it envisages eschatological salvation, and spatial, insofar as it involves another, supernatural world.

Important Apocalypses Ezekiel and Zechariah 1-6 (6th century BC) Daniel 7-12 1 Enoch, 2 Enoch 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch, 3 Baruch Apocalypse of Abraham, Testament of Levi 2-5 Apocalypse of Zephaniah. NT Apocalypse, Hermas, Apocalypse of Peter, Apocalypse of Adam 2 Apocalypse of James

Types of Apocalypse (a) The historical type (e.g. Daniel) in which revelation is most often conveyed in symbolic visions an presents an over view of history culminating in a crisis.   (b) The otherworldly journeys (of which the earliest example is found in the Book of Watchers, 1 Enoch 1-36), which are more mystical in interpretation. Aspects of both are found in the Apocalypse of John John is brought on a heavenly journey where God’s plan or will for the world is revealed through a series of visions. Confusion arises when the adjective “apocalyptic” is used without reference to a literary genre but simply to describe a situation of dire distress that refers to the end time!

Prophecy A Word from the Lord! The Biblical Prophets do not predict the future, they speak God’s word to the people, they are interpreters of history. Jesus is a prophet John is a prophet and describes his book as prophecy. He makes much reference to prophecy and the role of the prophet: 11:6-10, 22:6-19.

Letter (read aloud in a liturgical context) The Apocalypse of John is unusual in that it is presented in the form of a letter similar in form (greeting and conclusion) to other letters in the New Testament. This is not just about the seven letters to the seven Churches (2-3) – the whole document is seen as a letter to be read aloud, probably in the context of a liturgical assembly! Notice the presence of the hymns of Praise: 4:8,11, 5:9-10, 12-13, 7:10-12, 11:16-18, 19:1-2, 4-8.

Letter Apocalypse Prophecy LITURGICAL ASSEMBLY Reading Revelation