Revelation

by Ben Witherington, III

• ISBN13: 9780521000680
• ISBN10: 0521000688
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-09-15
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is the first of its kind: an innovative socio-rhetorical commentary on the Book of Revelation. Without sacrificing scholarly perspective or academic rigor, it is written to be accessible for a wide audience - including pastors, scholars, teachers, seminarians, and interested lay people. A 'Suggested Reading List' - a feature of all volumes in the New Cambridge Bible Commentary - will serve as point of entry for the new student of Revelation and as a helpful annotated bibliography for all readers. Frequent 'Closer-Look' sections examine key elements of the Roman-Greco world that bear on the text's meaning while 'Bridging the Horizons' sub-chapters connect this world with the cultural, political, and religious environments of today. The entire NRSV translation is provided throughout the text. Award-winning author Ben Witherington, III brings a New Testament-scholar's insight and successful clergyman's lucidity to the often opaque passages of the last book of the New Testament.

Table of Contents

Part I. Introduction: 1. Authorship, date and audience of the apocalypse

2. The resources, rhetoric and restructuring of Revelation

3. Revelation in its social setting in West Asia Minor

4. The christology of Revelation

5. The genre of Revelation

6. A brief tour of the Book of Revelation

Part II. Suggested Reading on Revelation: 1. The genre of Revelation

2. Commentaries

3. Rhetorical studies

4. Sociological and anthropological approaches

5. Classical and archeological resources

6. History of interpretation

7. Theology

8. Important monographs

9. Articles of interest

Part III. Commentary: 1. Rev. 1.1-3: Visionary material: handle carefully

2. Rev. 1.4-1.20: The Heavenly Son of Man

3. Rev. 2-3: postcards from the edge

4. Rev. 4-5: the throne room vision

5. Rev. 6.1-8.5: The Seven Seals

6. Rev. 8.5-11: The Seven Trumpets

7. Rev. 12: The woman and the dragon

8. Rev. 13.1-14.5: 666 and his spokesman

9. Rev. 14.6-14.20: Three angelic messengers

10. Rev. 15.1-16.21: The seven eschatological plagues

11. Rev. 17.1-19.10: Babylon the Harlot

12. Rev. 19.11-21.8: The rider on the white horse, redemptive-judgment and the messianic millennium

13. Rev. 21.9-22.5: The tour of the New Jerusalem

14. Rev. 22.6-22.21: The epilogue

Part IV. Appendix: A Millennial Problem

Index.