Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on July 26, 2008
Logos is about to publish Lenski’s Commentary on the New Testament electronically. The commentary is on the way to replication.
If you want this very helpful exegetical commentary, you may order it for $199.95, but you have to do it immediately. Shortly, the price will change to $299.95.
Thorough as a student of Greek, R. C. H. Lenski interprets the books of the New Testament with meticulous exegetical research while providing an original, literal translation of the text. With his conservative Lutheran perspective, he is unwavering in his high view of Scriptural authority, probing deeply and passionately—arguing his conclusions masterfully.
Beyond exegesis, he provides linguistic and textual analysis, historical background such as information on the author, date, time of writings, authorial intent, chief themes, and much more. Often addressing difficult text, evading nothing, Lenski evaluates multiple interpretations before choosing one in particular. The Lenski Commentary, therefore, will introduce you to a range of interpretations and viewpoints, allowing you to see how other interpretations relate to one another, and will provide the context as to why he has settled on a particular viewpoint.
Richard Charles Henry Lenski, a distinguished Lutheran scholar and commentator, studied for the ministry at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. Upon earning his Doctor of Divinity, he became Dean of the seminary. He was a former professor at Capital Seminary (now Trinity Lutheran Seminary) in Columbus, Ohio, where he taught in the fields of exegesis, dogmatics, and homiletics. His numerous books and commentaries are written from a conservative perspective.
Here is more information: Lenski’s Commentary on the New Testament (12 Vols.)
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on July 11, 2008
Dr. Kenneth Gentry has provided an annotated and referenced overview of the preterist perspective at his KennethGentry.com. The title of the article is Back to the Future - The Preterist Perspective.
Gentry’s site is sometimes difficult to access, but the article may also be found at The Preterist Perspective, Dr. Gentry.
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on July 10, 2008
In 2009 Baker will publish a commentary by James L. Resseguie, the author of Revelation Unsealed and Narrative Criticism of the New Testament: An Introduction.
Unlike many recent commentaries, Resseguie’s The Revelation of John: A Narrative Commentary is neither very long (about 300 pages) nor very expensive (RRP $24.99, but you can order it now for only $19.99 at BakerBooks or $16.49 at Amazon).
In his commentary “James Resseguie applies the easily understandable tools introduced in his primer on narrative criticism to this challenging book. He shows how Revelation uses such features as rhetoric, setting, character, point of view, plot, symbolism, style, and repertoire to construct its meaning. This literary approach draws out the theological and homiletical message of the book and highlights its major unifying themes: the need to listen well, an overwhelmingly God-centered perspective, and the exodus to a new promised land. Here is a valuable aid for pastor and serious lay reader alike.”
James L. Resseguie (PhD, Fuller Theological Seminary) is the J. Russell Bucher Professor of New Testament at Winebrenner Theological Seminary in Findlay, Ohio. See more on Reseguie here.
More information at BakerBooks.
HT: Otto N.
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Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on July 8, 2008
Revelation Resources » » Forthcoming
This page features a list of forthcoming commentaries and other books on Revelation, as far as I am (made) aware of them.
You are welcome to give me a hint if you know of a work that should be included.
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on July 6, 2008
Theses and academic articles
Niels David Theodor Hellholm (b. 1941) is a Swede. Since 1984 Hellholm has served at Norwegian universities (see more in Norwegian here).
In his important contribution to the development of the problem of apocalyptic genre, Professor, dr.theol. David Hellholm, the author of, .e.g., Das Visionenbuch des Hermas als Apokalypse, analysed the Book of Revelation (see David Hellholm’s works). In another very technical article, Hellholm has analysed the prologue of Revelation (see David Hellholm, The Visions He Saw).
See also:
- “Apokalypse. I. Form und Gattung.” Pp. 585-8 in Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. 4th ed. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1998.
- “Apokalyptik. I. Begriffsdefinition als religionsgeschichtliches Problem.” Pp. 590-1 in Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart. 4th ed. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1998.
- “Apokalyptiken som religionshistoriskt och litterärt fenomen.” [Apocalyptic as a religio-historical and literary phenomenon]. Nordisk Teologisk Tidsskrift 98 (1997): 131-42.
Dr.theol. Jarl Henning Ulrichsen wrote his second thesis on Revelation: “Das eschatologische Zeitschema der Offenbarung des Johannes” in 1988, for which he was awarded the degree of dr.phil. by the University of Trondheim in 1988. He is currently professor at the University of Trondheim.
Related to this work:
- Ulrichsen, Jarl Henning. “Die sieben Häupter und die zehn Hörner: Zur Datierung der Offenbarung des Johannes.” Studia Theologia 39 (1985): 1-20.
- Ulrichsen, Jarl Henning. “Dyret i Åpenbaringen: En skisse til tidshistorisk forståelse av kapitlene 13 og 17” (The Beast in The Book of Revelation: Towards a Contemporary-Historcal Understanding of Chapters 13 and 17). Norsk Teologisk Tidsskrift 87 (1986): 167-77.
A significant part (pp. 354-509) of Aage Hauken’s doctoral thesis, “The Greek Vocabulary of the Roman Imperial Cult and the New Testament,” is devoted to Revelation. The thesis is available on-line in a pdf-file. It was submitted as a Dissertatio ad lauream [doctoral thesis] to the Pontificia Universitas S. Thomae de Urbe, [1986-1991]. Aage Hauken’s 278 page book, Roma og de første kristne: En bok om dyrets tall [Rome and the First Christians: A Book on the Number of the Beast] (Oslo: St. Olav forlag, 1998), may be seen as a popularisation of some aspects of his doctoral thesis, according to Hauken. Hauken argues that the contemporary-historical situation is the key to Revelation, namely the Domitianic imperial cult in Ephesus.
Professor Peder Borgen, well-known on account of especially his Philo research, has written at least two articles on the imperial cult and persecution with relevance for Revelation:
- “Emperor Worship and Persecution in Philo’s In Flaccum and De legatione ad Gaium and the Revelation of John.” Pages 493-509 in Frühes Christentum. Edited by Hubert Cancik, Hermann Lichtenberger, and Peter Schäfer. Tübingen: J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1996.
- “Moses, Jesus, and the Roman Emperor: Observations in Philo’s Writings and the Revelation of John.” Novum Testamentum 38 (1996): 145-59.
Sverre Bøe, assoc. professor at Fjellhaug Skoler, is the author of the thesis Gog and Magog (cf. Bruken).
Sigve Tonstad is the author of a doctoral thesis submitted to St. Andrews University, Scotland: Saving God’s Reputation: The Theologial Function of Pistis Iesou in the Cosmic Narratives of Revelation. Library of New Testament Studies, 337. London; New York: T & T Clark, 2006. [More to follow later]
Johan Lyder Brun, professor of the New Testament at the University of Oslo 1897-1940, argued that Revelation 13 and 17 must be interpreted contemporary-historically, in “Die Römischen Kaiser in Der Apokalypse.” Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 26 (1927): 128-51. A short biography is here.
Martin Synnes, former assoc. Professor at The Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology, made important contributions to the study of the Book of Revelation (cf. “Synnes, Tusenårsrike” and further below). He argues that the resurrection of the martyrs in Rev 20:4-6 primarily functions as a rehabilitation. Olav Hovdelien surveyed the millennial problem as well in his M.Theol.-thesis, Martyrenes belønning. Perhaps one should also mention: Jon Olav Ryen. “Herold og tolk: Englenes funksjon i Johannes’ Åpenbaring.” Tidsskrift for Teologi og Kirke 68 (1997): 25-35.
Major scholarly commentaries
I have found no major scholarly commentary on Revelation originally written in Norwegian. A major commentary by C. H. A. Burger (Karl Heinrich August von Burger) was translated from German and published in 1889. The original Die Offenbarung St. Johannis is 347 pages long.
Other commentaries
A 85 page commentary by J. H. H. Brochmann, providing an a-historical interpretation, was issued in 1917 by the Publishing Company of the Norwegian Luther Foundation (Lutherstiftelsens Forlag).
Apparently no commentary was written in Norwegian between 1917 and 1960 when professor Olaf Moe published his 275 page commentary: Bibelens siste bok [The Last Book of the Bible]. Unlike the Swedish translation that was reprinted twice, it was apparently only printed once.
No commentaries being available for a long time, Lars Eritsland (b. 1913), a lecturer at the Bible School of the Inner Mission Society in Oslo, Norway, was persuaded to write a new commentary. This 231 page volume came out in 1978. It has been reprinted at least twice (1979 and 1990). Eritsland’s commentary is premillennial, but otherwise quite traditional. Eritsland often quotes Madsen, Torm and Moe.
Finally, professor of philosophy Egil A. Wyller (b. 1925) has published a volume, featuring a translation, an introduction and some essays (1986). A second edition was included in the author’s henological series in 1997.
In 1996 Martin Synnes (see above) published a very useful commentary on Revelation 2–3 (cf. Synnes, Sju profetiske budskap).
Translations
Translations include professor Frederik Torm’s Danish Johannes’ Aabenbaring (1942) and dr. David Hedegård’s Uppenbarelsebokens budskap till nutiden (1944) as well as von Burger’s commentary mentioned above. “Katolsk sokneprestembete, Arendal” published an exposition of the prophecies of Daniel and the Book of Revelation (”Forklaring av Daniels profetier og Johannes’ åpenbaring”), written by the Dutch J. van den Burg, a dr.theol. This 162 page book came out in Norwegian in 1965 (repr. 1967).
Updated: July 9th, 2008
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on July 5, 2008
Hellholm, David. “The Visions He Saw or: To Encode the Future in Writing: An Analysis of the Prologue of John’s Apocalyptic Letter.” In Text and Logos: The Humanistic Interpretation of the New Testament. (Festschrift Hendrikus W. Boers.) Edited by Theodore W. Jennings, Jr. Scholars Press Homage Series, 14. Atlanta, Georgia: Scholars Press, 1990, 109-46.
More to follow later.
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on July 3, 2008
Drobner, Hubertus R. Lehrbuch der Patrologie. 2nd revised and expaned ed. Frankfurt am Main; New York: P. Lang, 2004. 532 pp.
Drobner, Hubertus R. The Fathers of the Church: A Comprehensive Introduction: With Bibliographies Updated and Expanded for the English Edition by William Harmless, and Hubertus R. Drobner. Translated by Siegfried S. Schatzmann. English ed. ed. Originally published as Lehrbuch der Patrologie. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder, 1994. Repr. Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007. lvi + 632 pp.
Drobner’s textbook is not a comprehensive dictionary, perhaps not even a comprensive introduction. It is a textbook as the German title indicates. Drobner provides very helpful introductions to the first eight centuries and to the most important Church fathers. A number of those who have written on Revelation are not included, however, e.g., Victorinus of Petovio and Caesarius of Arles.
The English edition is more than a translation, as the subtitle states. A helpful review by Vilhelm Pratscher (pdf) is published by Review of Biblical Literature. The Table of Contents of the English edition is provided by the Library of Congress.
In his amazon.com review, Dr. William Varner, the author of The Way of the Didache: The First Christian Handbook, questions whether it is really “a comprehensive introduction,” as most entries on the church fathers are covered in only one or two pages.
Nevertheless, Varner concludes:
This volume will become THE source to be consulted for “further reading” about the Fathers. But if the reader is looking for an introduction to the thought of the fathers, he can be better served by the old classic, Patrology by Johannes Quasten, or even better by the recent two volume work by Moreschini and Norelli, Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature.
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