The Book of Revelation Apocalypse and Empire

by Thompson, Leonard L.

• ISBN13: 9780195055511
• ISBN10: 0195055519
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1990-03-22
• 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

Preface
Chronology
Introduction	p. 1
Historical Setting and Genre	p. 11
The Social Setting of Apocalypses	p. 25
The Linguistic Unity of the Book of Revelation	p. 37
Unity Through the Language of Worship	p. 53
The Seer's Vision of an Unbroken World	p. 74
Domitian's Reign: History and Rhetoric	p. 95
Christians in the Province of Asia	p. 116
Jews in the Province of Asia	p. 133
Urban Life in the Province of Asia	p. 146
The Book of Revelation in Asian Society	p. 171
The Social Location of the Book of Revelation	p. 186
Postscript: Religious Language and the Social Order	p. 198
Appendix: Recent Theories About the Social Setting of the Book of Revelation	p. 202
Abbreviations	p. 211
Notes	p. 213
Works Cited	p. 241
Additional Sources	p. 251
Subject Index	p. 255
Index of Ancient Sources	p. 263
Index of Modern Authors	p. 265
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