Ship of Fools: The purpose of Revelation

Thread: The purpose of Revelation Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Richard M (# 16447) on :

Dear all,

Apologies if this has already been asked, I did have a search, but couldn't find much...

I'm writing an essay on John's purpose in writing Revelation and I wondered if anyone has any books they might recommend on the subject. I've read quite a few of the commentaries - Charles, Aune, Boring, Beasley-Murray, Harrington, Morris, Court and Rowland and I've read a bit of Woodman, Schussler Fiorenza and Bauckham. Is there anything else which might be worthwhile?

Many thanks,

R

Posted by Jengie Jon (# 273) on :

given that you say "which may be worthwhile" then you might care to look at a shipmates offering and a another book I am aware of. I have not read either of them. Actually if you look at the years 1999, 2000 and 2001 you will find a lot of books including quite a bit of serious scholarship.

Jengie

[ 08. December 2013, 10:56: Message edited by: Jengie Jon ]

Posted by Nigel M (# 11256) on :

One other commentary that might be worth looking at, Richard, is G. K. Beale's The Book of Revelation from the New International Greek Testament Commentary series, and published in 1999. It can offer a good partner to Aune's set of presentations.

I have to admit, however, that I have struggled to find anything enlightening out there on the actual purpose of the book – as in the intention the author had in writing – from the commentaries that are usually offered on Revelation. If that is the topic of your essay then you too might struggle to find something worthwhile to engage with.

We do rather lack analyses of authorial intention on the book of Revelation. Semantic and structural analyses have started to come out from the SIL stable in the recent decade or two, but they haven't reach as far as the ultimate book of the bible.

Authors betray their intentions by the words they use in the way they use them – even if they don't state overtly the reason for taking up their stylus. The high-level question: “Why is that there?” at the book level can be answered by asking that same question of the smaller sections, and so on down to smallest particle, but commentators of this book have been rather informed by particular philosophical worldviews that have dictated their approach to the book in ignorance of the contextual setting of the author's own worldview and mindset.

I would guess, though, that you are working to a tight timetable and would not have the resource to take the book as it is, working through it and its background context, to see how the author so reveals his intention. As with apocalypse, so with essays: the end comes soon.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

Okay, this is maybe me being an idiot, but isn't the purpose of Revelation to give people (okay, Christians) hope? To tell them that whatever levels of suckitude life descends to, God still rules everything, sees everything, and will sort it in the end?

Posted by Jammy Dodger (# 17872) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Lamb Chopped:
Okay, this is maybe me being an idiot, but isn't the purpose of Revelation to give people (okay, Christians) hope? To tell them that whatever levels of suckitude life descends to, God still rules everything, sees everything, and will sort it in the end?

Spot on LC! Trouble is that doesn't make for a very long essay.... [Big Grin]

[ 08. December 2013, 21:10: Message edited by: Jammy Dodger ]

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

Michael Wilcock's book on Revelation had an interesting take. He compared it to a picture-book, presenting the material found elsewhere in the Bible, in a different form.

In our Bible study group we used to joke that the answers were at the back of the book.

Moo

Posted by LutheranChik (# 9826) on :

Great book on the topic: Revelation and the End of All Things by Craig Koester.

According to everything I've read/been taught, Revelation was meant to encourage the persecuted early Church by offering the hope that, in the end, the Lamb of God prevails over oppression by the Empire, by the "powers and principalities," over evil.

Posted by South Coast Kevin (# 16130) on :

Get with the program, all of you. Revelation is clearly a message for 21st century Christians, with each country, creature and event in the Book precisely mapping on to features of the present day and unerringly (for those who have eyes to see) pointing to the fact that the Rapture is very near. And here is a handy tool to help us keep track of just how near...

Posted by TheAlethiophile (# 16870) on :

One obvious omission from those mentioned so far: Tom Wright's Revelation for Everyone.

Posted by Nigel M (# 11256) on :

RE: Revelation as a message of HOPE

Just about to hit the road until weekend, but offer following challenge for thoughts...

Certainly when I was studying theology way-back-when the preferred slant on John's purpose (using 'John' to stand for the author for the purpose of this post) for writing was to dispense hope – a pastoral letter for a beleaguered audience facing persecution. This reading was presented as an alternative to the strand of interpretation found in Christianity down the ages that understood the purpose to be the provision of coded data from which one could triangulate the time of the return of Jesus.

Which was fine in one way, but these days I think it misleading. After reading Revelation a number of times over the years I think 'hope' as a theme is at best secondary. In fact, the word for 'hope' (in nominal and verbal forms: ἐλπίς & ἐλπίζω) does not occur in Revelation at all; 'judgement' crops up repeatedly.

My theory(!) is that John is warning of judgment. His opening intention is quite overt: This is a message (revelation) about Jesus, given by God to John, for the purpose of warning the audience about something that is about to happen (1:1).

It is not about “the end” as such, neither is it primarily about sustaining motivation in a crisis, it is a third thing. It's not code for a rapture, neither is it hope – at least not as the main aim. Either of those readings would be by-products of the main purpose.

Something of a further clue – I think – follows from John's opening statement. Consciously or unconsciously he seems to be reflecting the approach taken by Amos in his prophecy collection, albeit in reverse. Whereas Amos starts his books of prophecy against the nations from the outside and then spirals in until he plants a firm stake in the homeland of Israel with his final warning, John starts with his stake planted firmly in the Christian communities, spiralling out from the nearest one to Patmos until he ends up incorporating the entire world in his warning.

Very brief this and I would love to have the time to go through Revelation in depth to see how this plays out in detail, but this is how it seems to me. The 'hope' theme is there for loyal Christians among John's audience, and no doubt they took heart from it – as have others down the years – but the red strand of judgment is there as a constant theme. It runs right through to the very end with the postscript warning people not to tinker or they might find themselves out on their ear. Trying to read John's revelation as only or primarily about hope results in a jarring inconsistency, what with those persistent warning notes twanging on all the way through. I think John is trying to alert his readers to a coming state persecution and that they all need to be on the ball with their faith, or they may find themselves on the wrong end of a scroll.

So there it is for chewing!

Posted by Ramarius (# 16551) on :

quote:
Originally posted by South Coast Kevin:
Get with the program, all of you. Revelation is clearly a message for 21st century Christians, with each country, creature and event in the Book precisely mapping on to features of the present day and unerringly (for those who have eyes to see) pointing to the fact that the Rapture is very near. And here is a handy tool to help us keep track of just how near...

Posted by Jammy Dodger (# 17872) on :

SCK: [Killing me]

Nigel M: awesome as ever. Let me know when you start your Nonstop Revelation thread in Keryg!

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Jammy Dodger:
Nigel M: awesome as ever. Let me know when you start your Nonstop Revelation thread in Keryg!

Right now we're on book four of the Bible. Revelation is number sixty-six.

Don't hold your breath. [Big Grin]

Moo

Posted by Latchkey Kid (# 12444) on :

But it's a good idea. I'd be in it.

Posted by The Silent Acolyte (# 1158) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Moo:

quote:
Originally posted by Jammy Dodger:
Nigel M: awesome as ever. Let me know when you start your Nonstop Revelation thread in Keryg!
Right now we're on book four of the Bible. Revelation is number sixty-six.

Don't hold your breath.

Moo

I hope this won't be seen as partisan sniping, but the Apocalypse can be numbered as sixty-sixth only in those abridged bibles favored by some.

Tradition isn't so rigid as to allow a definitive canon to be imposed.

Posted by Anselm (# 4499) on :

Essay has probably been finished, but I would suggest Graeme Goldsworthy's "Gospel and Revelation" (usually found now in a compilation called the 'Goldsworthy Trilogy').

For my two cents worth - I would suggest that the purpose of Revelation is to apply the gospel to the situations of the seven churches listed in the early chapters.

Posted by Prester John (# 5502) on :

Yay, Anslem is back! Welcome back!

Posted by Richard M (# 16447) on :

Thank-you all very much for your replies - there's a lot to mull over...

I think the conclusion will be that Rev. was written to Jewish Christians during a time of limited, sporadic repression (probably Domitian) to inspire them, 'fire them up' and remind them that God will judge their enemies. Essentially hope in salvation through judgement.

I'll need to pad it out to 5k words, but I think I've got enough...

Thanks especially to Nigel M, and to SCK for the rapture-o-meter which I fear will not make the final cut!

Posted by Matrix (# 3452) on :

This is probably too late but Eugene Peterson's "Reversed Thunder" is excellent at dealing with the intent behind revelation

Posted by ken (# 2460) on :

The languague used to talk about the bad guys seems to fit Nero better than Domitian.

Posted by Tortuf (# 3784) on :

My thought is that the Revelation is a message to those Christian Jews who might have been questioning Jesus. After all, the prophesies talked about someone who was going to change things in a radical way. Jesus of Nazareth flung his mortal self up against the Roman/Herodic establishment and ended up dead. Rome did not go away because of Jesus.

It did go away for a while and then Jerusalem went away in a sea of blood.*

So, there might have been questions. Like: Uh huh. So these guys whose reputations depend upon Jesus being divine saw him after he rose from the dead. How many other people saw him?

A book that talks about everything changing in the future and Jesus being a big part of that could be a way of calming down doubts.

___________
*Some contend the Revelation was written before the fall of Jerusalem.

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