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3 - Introduction to the Book of Revelation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 February 2020

By
Ian Paul
Edited by
Colin McAllister
Colin McAllister
Affiliation:
University of Colorado, Colorado Springs
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Summary

The Book of Revelation sits in a distinctive place in the canon of the New Testament, with its relentless succession of apocalyptic imagery—but also sits in a distinctive place within apocalyptic literature as a whole. Making theological sense of it demands both discipline and imagination on the part of the reader, but also mastery of some technical issues (numerology, structure, and its use of imagery) which put it at a cultural distance from the contemporary reader.

Keywords

numerologystructuremetaphorhistory
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Companion to Apocalyptic Literature , pp. 36 - 58
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

Selected Further Reading

Allen, Garrick, Paul, Ian, and Woodman, Simon, eds. The Book of Revelation: Currents in British Research on the Apocalypse. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2.411. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Aune, David E. Apocalypticism, Prophecy, and Magic in Early Christianity: Collected Essays. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2008.Google Scholar
Aune, David E. Revelation 1–5. Word Biblical Commentary 52. Dallas, TX: Word, 1997.Google Scholar
Bauckham, Richard. The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993.Google Scholar
Beale, G. K. Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text. New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999.Google Scholar
Friesen, Steven J. Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John: Reading Revelation in the Ruins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Howard-Brook, Wes, and Gwyther, Anthony. Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1999.Google Scholar
Koester, Craig R. Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2014.Google Scholar
Leithart, Peter J. Revelation 1–11. International Theological Commentary. New York: Bloomsbury, 2018.Google Scholar
O’Hear, Natasha, and O’Hear, Anthony. Picturing the Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation in the Arts over Two Millennia. New York: Oxford, 2015.Google Scholar
Paul, Ian. Revelation: An Introduction and Commentary. Tyndale New Testament Commentaries. London: InterVarsity Press, 2018.Google Scholar

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