THE FIRST RIDER: A RESPONSE TO MICHAEL BACHMANN

Abstract

In a recent article in this journal, Michael Bachmann argued several points concerning Rev 6.1–8. I list both the important points he argues, as well as one of his major presuppositions, since I will respond to both: (1) the first horseman is to be understood in a positive sense, ‘als Hypostasierung des Erscheinens Gottes’; (2) he is strongly identified with Christ in Rev 19; and (3) the remaining horsemen are manifestly negative figures. The first point is correct, but I have reservations about the other two. Since the third point is actually not a thesis that Bachmann tries to win, but rather one that he presupposes in arguing the first two points, I am in the strange position of sometimes showing that Bachmann reaches a partially correct position ([1], not [2]) by a manifestly incorrect argument (i.e. separating the first horseman from the other three).