Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on February 9, 2008
Here is an overview of the Danish writings on Revelation; I have described most of them in separate entries.
Theses and related works
Dr.theol. Georg S. Adamsen (b. 1963) seems to be the first Danish exegete who wrote a doctoral thesis on Revelation. His thesis (in English) provides the first full-scale analysis of the parousia motif in the Book of Revelation as a whole.
In 1998 Adamsen wrote an essay in which he argues that the millennium is future, but truly a-millennial, i.e. atemporal. He contributed a new 12 page article on Revelation to Lohses Store Bibelleksikon, a Danish translation and revision of The New Bible Dictionary, 3rd ed.
A 300 page commentary by Georg S. Adamsen is forthcoming in the series Credo Kommentaren.
See here for a comprehensive list of Adamsen’s Danish and English writings.
Major scholarly commentaries
Professor Peder Madsen (d. 1911) who studied with, among others, professor Hofmann, in Erlangen, was professor of systematic theology, but he also lectured extensively in New Testament. In 1885-1887 (2nd ed. 1894-1896), he wrote an almost 750 page Revelation commentary, including a lengthy history of interpretation and research.
Professor Holger Mosbech (d. 1953), who studied with professor Bousset in Tübingen, wrote three volumes on Revelation. Like Peder Madsen, he wrote about the history of interpretation and research (1934), undoubtedly as a preparation for the commentary proper (1943). A linguistic commentary completed his “trilogy” (1944).
Academic articles
Although other Danish theologians have also made contributions to the study of Revelation, lecturer Geert Hallbäck (b. 1948), University of Copenhagen, is the one that must be mentioned. Hallbäck has published several articles on Revelation and “apocalyptic” since 1984 (e.g., this one and the dictionary entry on Revelation, “Johannes’ Åbenbaring,” in the 1998-edition of Gads Bibel Leksikon [vol. 1, pp. 384-385]), but as yet no major work or commentary.
See also Hallbäck’s “Johannes’ apokalyptik: Aktuelle tendenser i apokalypse-forskningen.” Præsteforeningens Blad 77 (1987): 50-8 and Jesper Høgenhaven, Aspekter i Åbenbaringsbogen, both of which deal with recent history of research at that time.
Hallbäck’s colleague at the University of Aarhus, Johannes Nissen, has published “Menighed i trængsel: Johannes’ Åbenbaring – historie og teologi.” [approx.: A suffering church: History and theolog in the Book of Revelation]. Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift 58 (1995): 27-39.
See also Jan Stolt: “Om dateringen” [on the dating of Revelation]. In the same year, A. Greve published ” ‘Mine to Vidner’: Et forsøg på at identificere de to jerusalemitiske vidner (Apok. 11,3-13).” Dansk Teologisk Tidsskrift 40 (1977): 128-38. Greve makes an attempt to identify the two witnesses in Revelation 11.
Commentaries
Nineteenth century
The Grundtvigian theologian and pastor Otto Møller published a 348 page church-historical commentary on Revelation in 1889.
A 160 page critical commentary was published by A. C. Larsen in 1899.
A very small, premillennial commentary by Adam Bülow, a pastor associated with the Inner Mission, was published posthumously in 1906, but very likely written in the nineteenth century.
The first half of the twentieth century
Just after the First World War, another small commentary, by Johannes Loft, was published in Copenhagen (Synerne fra Patmos [The Patmos Visions], 1919), but the lectures were delivered during the early years of the war. This was also the case with another book that consists of six talks on the main visions of Revelation (Hovedsynerne i Johannes’ Aabenbaring. 1919). The author was a (Grundtvigian) rural dean and a doctor of theology, his speciality being exegesis: Anders Andersen (1846-1919 [?]). Erik Thaning, an author, also published a popular reading of Revelation, Rytteren paa den hvide Hest [The Rider on the White Horse] which he originally delivered in Messiaskirken in Copenhagen in the early 1919. Thaning mostly follows the commentary by Peder Madsen.
Also during the war, in 1917, another author associated with the Inner Mission, L. Bostrup, issued a small commentary (Johannes’s Aabenbaring) that argued that the narrative of Revelation is historically progressive and that the current time was described in Revelation 8-9. Bostrup suggested that the millennium was obscure and future, but its actual length symbolic (cf. 2 Pet 3:8). Bostrup refers to the signs of the recent times (p. 3), i.e. the war.
In another minor commentary, Johannes’ Aabenbaring from 1918, pastor Peter Ivertsen of the Danish folk church, interpreted Revelation church-historically. He rejects that Revelation is chronologically progressive (p. 9f) and prefers the recapitulationist view (p. 10).
In 1934, the Danish Bible Society of Copenhagen published a small commentary by Harald Wellejus (Johannes’s Åbenbaring). Wellejus preferred the eschatological approach (p. 13f).
During the Second World War, professor Frederik Torm published a popular commentary that was, in part, based on his academic own lectures on Revelation. Pastor Aage Krohn based his commentary, The Fifth Gospel, on others’ research, but was much more direct in his application of the message of Revelation to his own time and church. Bishop Carl Skovgaard-Petersen of Copenhagen also published a popular commentary in 1942.
The second half of the twentieth century
Popular, minor commentaries were published by pastor Christian Bartholdy, the chairman of the Danish Inner Mission (1955), and by pastor Flemming Frøkjær-Jensen, a long-time board member of the Inner Mission (1993). Both commentaries were part of a series published by the Inner MissionIn 1947 the organisation Ordet og Israel [The Word and Israel] published Bibelstudier over Åbenbaringsbogen [Bible studies of The Book of Revelation], written by K. M. Schmidt (1892-????). The author of this 151 page interpretation refers to Joseph A. Seiss’s The Apocalypse as the best interpretation known to him. The book consists of a series of articles from the Magazine, Budskabet [The Message], published by the mission society Danish Lutheran Mission, which is also an inner mission society closely associated with the legacy of the Swedish Carl Oluf Rosenius. The premillennial, pre-tribulational view is very popular, at least in the Ordet og Israel (cf. also Ole Andersen, the present secretary general), but others are post-tribulational (see here).
Harald Rich (d. 1983), the founder of the present Danish Pentecostal Bible College, published a small dispensational commentary in 1978.
An entry level commentary by the former pastor Andreas Davidsen was published in 1988.
Professor (”docent,” i.e. Reader) Anna Marie Aagaard (b. 1935) is a systematic theologian. Unlike Peder Madsen she did not lecture in New Testament. She has published several articles on eschatology and apocalyptic theology. Aagaard’s commentary from 1999 has a liberation-theological emphasis.
The late professor Ebbe Thestrup Pedersen’s commentary was published posthumously. One gets the impression that it was written perhaps even decades ago. It is, however, a decent introduction for lay people and, e.g., students of education.
The twenty-first century
Inspired by Frøkjær-Jensen, another author, Gunni Bjørsted, pastor in Det danske Missionsforbund, adapted a primarily symbolic approach to Revelation. Bjørsted’s volume is not a traditional commentary, but verbal “images and messages from the Book of Revelation.” More on this volume later.
See also Adamsen’s forthcoming commentary mentioned above.
Updated: July 7th, 2008
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on February 4, 2008
Loft, Johannes. Synerne fra Patmos: En gennemgang af Johannes Aabenbaring. Aarhus: De Unges Forlag, 1919. 112 pp.
Immediately after the war, Johannes Loft, theologian, translator, author and lecturer (at a teacher-training college?) published The Patmos Visions (Synerne fra Patmos) at the publishing company of the Danish YMCA and YWCA (1919). The commentary is brief, but communicates contemporary scholarship. Loft emphasises that Revelation proclaims Christ’s coming, not in grace, but for judgment (pp. 9f). He rejects the church-historical approach. He prefers to interpret chs. 6-19 symbolically about “principles and forces,” while chs. 20-22 depicts the Second Advent of Christ.
Loft exercises restraint throughout the commentary, not least in his interpretation of Rev 20:1-10: “here it is God and the Devil that meet in the last conflict. It must be enough for us to know that the conflict ends in the judgement and eternal punishment of the Devil” (p. 106). Unlike those of Revelation 11-18, the principles of the millennium are unknown to us (ibid.).
Loft gives a series of short retrospects, dealing with geography, people, the dead, nature, and demonic forces (pp. 89-96).
Loft’s commentary is not interesting for the history of interpretation, but if Loft was a lecturer at a teacher-training college, then it may perhaps inform us as to what the future teachers of his time had learned.
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on February 1, 2008
Thestrup Pedersen, Ebbe. Johannes’ Åbenbaring: Kommenteret og fortolket [The Book of Revelation: Commentary and Interpretation]. Valby: Forlaget Aros, 1999. 183 pp.
Professor Ebbe Thestrup Pedersen (1914-1998) was a Danish theologian and professor of education. This volume was published posthumously. Pedersen asserts that serious readers of Revelation must learn from the scholarly, historical-critical interpretation (p. 9).
Pedersen provides a synopsis of Revelation (pp. 11-15), a summary (pp. 154-159), a discussion of its message for us (pp. 159-166), and a short history of the reception of Revelation (pp. 166-173). He also offers a brief overview of the use and abuse of Revelation (pp. 15-17), and he outlines six unsolved problems: order and unity of composition, authorship, visionary genuineness, the interpretive approaches, and a lot of concrete passages (p. 17-19).
Revelation is a prophetic-apocalyptic book with genuine visions (pp. 19-22). The author was not the apostle John, but another John, unknown to us (pp. 22-25). Pedersen rejects Irenaeus’ testimony as to the authorship, but not as to dating (p. 26).
The main purpose of Revelation was “a blazing protest against the imperial cult in the Roman empire,” expressed in obscure imagery (p. 25f).
Pedersen discusses the various scholarly approaches, described by Holger Mosbech in his monograph on the history of intepretation. He emphasises the views of Luther (p. 30f), Grundtvig (p. 63-67) and criticises Holger Mosbech for his one-sided contemporary-historical approach. Pedersen airs some sympathy with Ernst Lohmeyer’s idealistic approach (pp. 27f). Pedersen seems to favour a combination of the eschatological and the contemporary-historical approaches.
One cannot avoid the impression that Pedersen’s introduction ignores what has happened by and large since the Second World War. In the commentary proper, Pedersen often quotes Eduard Lohse’s commentary from 1971.
In his commentary proper, Pedersen states that “All the chapters of the book deal with the sole, great theme of the coming of the Lord in order to strengthen the perseverance of the congregations in the coming events of distress before the fulfilment of the promise,” i.e. of Christ’s parousia (p. 34f). However, Pedersen also quotes Mommsen with approval: “The entire Apocalypse is a polemical treatise against the worship of the Roman Emperor as God” (p. 36; perhaps cited from Bousset’s commentary p. 386; see p. 114). Pedersen also mentions that the visions of the Apocalypse are mighty images illustrating the prayers and the Amen of the Lord’s Prayer (p. 130; cf. pp. 151f and 155f).
The “angels” are probably bishops, and the many texts in Revelation 2-3 that use words for ‘coming,’ are interpreted sometimes about the parousia (e.g., 3:3, 20), sometimes about immediately preceding events (e.g., 3:10), sometimes about other events (e.g., 2:5).
Pedersen prefers the recapitulationist view on the structure of Revelation (p. 78), and he asserts that the plagues are warnings of the coming Last Judgement and calls for repentance (p. 79).
This volume is a decent communication of the problems involved in the interpretation of Revelation. Pedersen’s emphasis on its lasting eschatological message is valuable.
Students of education will benefit from this work.
Dansk
Ebbe Thestrup Pedersens kommentar blev hans sidste bog. Kommentaren rummer mange gode observationer og tolkninger, og den fører ind i mange af problemstillingerne, som man må forholde sig til i tolkningen. En del steder er Pedersen noget tilbageholdende med at konkludere, hvordan et afsnit skal forstås.
Særligt i indledningen kan det ikke nægtes, at kommentaren virker til at være blevet til for mange år siden. Mange af de vigtigste samtalepartnere i kommentaren var mere fremtrædende under og efter Anden Verdenskrig, hvor Pedersen holdt nogle forelæsninger om Åb, end de er nu om dage. Pedersen har tilsyneladende kun i begrænset omfang konsulteret nyere forskning. Stort set citerer Pedersen af nyere litteratur kun Lohses kommentar fra 1971.
Der er i øvrigt alt for mange trykfejl og brydningsfejl.
Ovenstående kritik skal bestemt ikke afholde f.eks. lærerstuderende og “interesserede læsere” fra at bruge Thestrup Pedersens kommentar. Der er meget at hente.
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on January 31, 2008
Davidsen, Andreas. Johannes’ Åbenbaring: Kommentar med tillæg [Revelation: a Commentary with appendices]. København: Gyldendal, 1988. 170 pp.
The Danish theologian, pastor and former lecturer at a college of education, Andreas Davidsen (b. 1928) has published an entry level commentary. In his introduction (pp. 11-41), Davidsen describes “apocalyptic” and discusses the common introductory questions, including its relation to the rest of the New Testament, the three standard approaches as well as some newer ones. Davidsen’s understanding of the outline of Revelation is rendered artistically by Vibeke Fonnesberg (see the front cover). A similar chart and an accompanying synopsis of Revelation concludes the introduction.
Apart from a general index, this volumes also features a number of appendices with study questions on themes such as “apocalyptic,” persecutions, the question of authorship and a number of illustrations and and texts that may throw light on various parts of Revelation (pp. 121-148).
The appendices also include a collection of illustrations with a brief introduction to “Revelation in the history of art” (pp. 149-161) and a collection of modern texts (pp. 162-1686).
The last appendix presents a proposal for a service in which the reading of most of Revelation alternates with the singing of hymns from the Danish Hymnal (Den Danske Salmebog) (pp. 167-169).
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on
Krohn, Aage. Det femte Evangelium: Johannes’ Aabenbaring udlagt for vor Tid [The Fifth Gospel. The Book of Revelation Interpreted for Our Time]. København: Schønbergske Forlag, 1942. 222 pp.
This Danish commentary was one of several written in times of war (see more on Torm, Johannes’ Åbenbaring). Drawing on scholarly research, Krohn interprets Revelation as a writing highly relevant to the crisis, warfare, totalitarianism, and cultural breakdown of his own time. This commentary is especially interesting from a historical and cultural point of view rather.
Krohn, a Lutheran pastor in the Danish folk church, applies the message of the Book of Revelation to his time. He asserts that Revelation is relevant to churches and congregations that are in a situation similar to that of the first-century church. Thus, he uses Revelation not only as a religious writing of hope and consolation, but probably also as a tool of opposition to the Nazi occupation and totalitarianism.
According to Krohn, the visions are genuine, like the visionary material in other Biblical Scriptures (p. 22). Although Krohn accepts Irenaeus’ s Domitianic dating, he does not seem to accept apostolic authorship. Krohn only says that John is a “prophet” (p. 21).
Revelation is written for the church of God as a book of consolation in difficult times. To understand the meaning of life and history one must know the outcome of life and history. John saw the triumph of evil, but also the victory of good, Christ’s victory (pp. 20f). Krohn, however, emphasises the resurrection of Christ and the Christians (p. 16), which is relevant to all who live in a time of persecution and martyrdom (cf. p. 26f).
Hermeneutically, Revelation must be interpreted according to the proclamation of Christ and the other apostles (p. 22f) and from the perspective of the first Christians: persecution and martyrdom because of the Christians’ refusal to worship the emperor (pp. 23-25) and the risk of syncretism (p. 26) . “The state was no longer God’s servant, but wanted to be God itself” (p. 25). The people needs a religion, so the state invents a religion suitable for itself. The creed of this religion reads: “There is only one God, and the emperor is his prophet.” Christianity and Anti-Christianity is in confrontation with each other (p. 25). In his memoirs from 1938, the Danish Orientalist Johannes Østrup had also criticised the domineering position of the Nazis at the German universities: “It sounds quite Mohammedan: There is only one Hitler, and all of us are his prophets” (cited from K. Møller, Vejen til Damaskus, 2008, p. 109).
Commenting on the fall of Babylon, Krohn laments the contemporary culture. It is godless and morally disintegrating, and it will perish because God will destroy it. The only way to escape humanity from such judgement of God is to submit to the will of (the triune) God and worship Him alone (p. 194).
Krohn is pessimistic and rejects the idea of progress. The only hope for humanity is the coming of Christ (p. 195). He does, however, emphasise that God will not destroy the earth for good. The earth will be renewed and purified (pp. 206f).
Krohn rejects any premillennial interpretation, “belief in a Mohammedan Paradise,” and asserts that only the martyrs will enjoy the millennium, “a long period of time, appointed by God,” here on the earth (pp. 203-206).
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on January 30, 2008
Torm, Frederik. Johannes’ Aabenbaring: En populær fortolkning [The Book of Revelation: A Popular Commentary]. København: G. E. C. Gads Forlag, 1941. 162 pp.
Norwegian translation (Johannes’ åpenbaring: En populær fortolkning) published by Lutherstiftelsens forlag, Oslo, 1942. 160 pp.
English
Frederik Torm (1870-1953), professor of New Testament at the University of Copenhagen (1909-1940), was a conservative, anti-liberal theologian. He was also a sharp critic of the anti-Semitism of the German Nazism.
The wars and the unrest during the inter-war period and the Second World War gave rise to a renewed interest in the Book of Revelation. Torm was one of at least four theologians who published on Revelation at that time (cf. Skovgaard-Petersen; Torm’s younger colleague, Holger Mosbech, and Aage Krohn, Det femte Evangelium). Torm’s commentary was reprinted already in the year of publication.
Professor Torm’s popular commentary was based on several academic courses and a series of popular lectures. He referred the readers to his introduction to the NT (Indledning til Det Nye Testamente. 3rd ed. 1940, 498 pp.) for more technical discussions.
According to Torm, Revelation is a prophetic rather than a apocalyptic book in the form of a letter and a book of revelation. The author was probably the apostle John who wrote from Patmos against the imperial cult and persecutions. The content was genuine visions that accurately describe both the heaven of God and the situation of the churches in Asia.
Torm rejected the church-historical approach and argues that one must combine the contemporary-historical and the eschatological approaches. However, Revelation is relevant for all times and places. John is not really interested in “time.”
The key theme is the announcement of the Second Advent of Christ and the emphasis on the eternity and omnipotence of God that will be revealed through the coming of Christ (p. 33). Torm seems to accept a premillennial interpretation of Rev 20:1-10, but refrains from giving details (p. 153).
Dansk
Under indtryk af krigstilstandene og uroen i mellemkrigstiden og under 2. verdenskrig blussede interessen for Johannes’ Åbenbaring op, således hos professor i NT ved Københavns Universitet, Frederik Torm. Torm var en konservativ, lærd og anti-liberal teolog og i øvrigt i stærk opposition til nazismen og dens antisemitisme.
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on January 25, 2008
Madsen, Peder. Johannes’ Aabenbaring: Indledet og fortolket [The Book of Revelation: Introduction and Commentary]. 1st ed. København: G. E. C. Gad, 1887. 2nd ed. 1896.
Both editions were published in two parts, the two first volumes in 1885 and 1894. The libraries disagree as to the number of pages. The first edition consists of either x + 730 pages or viii + 727/728 pages (the first 286 pages were published in 1885); the second of x + 731 pages (the first part being published in 1894).
Peder Madsen (1843-1911), a Danish theologian, was professor of systematic theology at the University of Copenhagen (1875-1909) and the Bishop of Zealand (1909-1911). As a postgraduate theologian, Professor Madsen studied with the professors Gottfried Thomasius, Johann Christian Konrad von Hofmann, Franz Hermann Reinhold Frank, and Gerhard von Zezschwitz in Erlangen, but he was no pupil of any theologian.
According to Frederik Torm, who as professor of New Testament was Peder Madsen’s colleague and later his biographer, Peder Madsen has written more thoroughly on the history of interpretation than any other (Biskop Peder Madsen [1936], p. 100f). Fifteen years later, Torm published his own - popular - commentary on Revelation.
Peder Madsen himself singled Th. Kliefoth out as the one he had learned very much from, although he was from time to time very critical of him. As the first interpreter (so Torm), Madsen discusses the fundamental interpretive questions of Revelation as a prerequisite for the interpretation of the many details.
More about this commentary later …
