The Book of Revelation Apocalypse and Empire

by Thompson, Leonard L.

• ISBN13: 9780195115802
• ISBN10: 0195115805
• Edition: Reprint
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1997-02-13
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

About seventy years after the death of Jesus, John of Patmos sent visionary messages to Christians in seven cities of western Asia Minor. These messages would eventually become part of the New Testament canon, as The Book of Revelation. What was John's message? What was its literary form? Did he write to a persecuted minority or to Christians enjoying the social and material benefits of the Roman Empire? In search of answers to these penetrating questions, Thompson critically examines the language, literature, history, and social setting of the Book of the Apocalypse. Following a discussion of the importance of the genre apocalypse, he closely analyzes the form and structure of the Revelation, its narrative and metaphoric unity, the world created through John's visions, and the social conditions of the empire in which John wrote. He offers an unprecedented interpretation of the role of boundaries in Revelation, a reassessment of the reign of the Emperor Domitian, and a view of tribulation that integrates the literary vision of Revelation with the reality of the lives of ordinary people in a Roman province. Throughout his study, Thompson argues that the language of Revelation joins the ordinary to the extra-ordinary, earth to heaven, and local conditions to supra-human processes.

Table of Contents

Chronology	xi
Introduction	1	(10)
Part I Orientation	11	(26)
1 Historical Setting and Genre	11	(14)
2 The Social Setting of Apocalypses	25	(12)
Part II The Script: Wholeness and the Language of the Book of Revelation	37	(58)
3 The Linguistic Unity of Revelation	37	(16)
4 Unity through the Language of Worship	53	(21)
5 The Seer's Vision of an Unbroken World	74	(21)
Part III The Stage: Roman Society and the Province of Asia	95	(76)
6 Domitian's Reign: History and Rhetoric	95	(21)
7 Christians in the Province of Asia	116	(17)
8 Jews in the Province of Asia	133	(13)
9 Urban Life in the Province of Asia	146	(25)
Part IV The Play: The Apocalypse and the Empire	171	(31)
10 The Book of Revelation in Asian Society	171	(15)
11 The Social Location of the Book of Revelation	186	(12)
12 Postscript: Religious Language and the Social Order	198	(4)
Appendix: Recent Theories about the Social Setting of the Book of Revelation	202	(9)
Abbreviations	211	(2)
Notes	213	(28)
Works Cited	241	(10)
Additional Sources	251	(4)
Subject Index	255	(8)
Index of Ancient Sources	263	(2)
Index of Modern Authors	265