My commentary

My 468 page Danish commentary was published by Credo Forlag yesterday, September 30th, 2010.

The commentary features a 100 page introduction which deals with the traditional questions of introduction as well as a lengthy summary of the theology of the Book of Revelation.

A new website, “Den sidste bog“, allows for interaction between readers and with the author. The website has more information on the commentary and the author. The author’s Danish translation of Revelation is available to registered users.

If you would like an explanation for the cover art, go to this (Danish) post: I trykken!

English Translation of Prigents Opus Magnum

Pierre Prigent’s French opus magnum, L’Apocalypse de Saint Jean. Rev. and exp. ed. (Commentaire du Nouveau Testament, 14). Genève: Labor et Fides, 2000. 507 pp. – mentioned in the comments on this post – may be inaccessible if you do not read French.

However, I just noticed in the recent commentary by Resseguie that there is an English translation. It is still in print. Here is the details:

Prigent, Pierre: Commentary on the Apocalypse of St. John. Translated from the French edition by Wendy Pradels. Study edition. Re-binding. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004. XIV + 717 pages. ISBN 978-3-16-148453-7. € 69.00. A few more details.

The cover is just as scholarly as the content!

Resseguie's Narrative Commentary

Professor James L. Resseguie is the author of Revelation Unsealed. Last year I mentioned that a commentary was in the making (see http://www.revelation-resources.com/2008/07/10/resseguie-revelation-a-narrative-commentary/. Today Resseguie’s commentary arrived. So far I have only had time to flip the pages, but it seems very interesting. From the outset I like Resseguie’s approach, as will be clear to those who have flipped the pages of my thesis.

Due to a very welcome grant, I will finally be able to complete the final revision of my own commentary by mid-September. Professor Resseguie’s commentary will be a very welcome preparation for that.

Professor Resseguie offers a 40+ page introduction to his narrative approach. I will post more about it shortly.

By the way, Resseguie’s commentary is less than 300 pages, 288 in total. And it is available for less that $15 in the US or £10 in Great Britain. ISBN: 978-0-8010-3213-4.

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 is $24.99).

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.

Seiss, Joseph Augustus. The Apocalypse: A Series of Special Lectures on the Revelation of Jesus Christ, with revised text. Repr. ed. s.l.: C. C. Cook, 1900. 536 pp.

The Apocalypse was reprinted many times and at various locations for decades. Most recently reprinted under the title The Apocalypse: Exposition of the Book of Revelation. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Kregel Publications, 1987. 536 pp. Repr. New York, Cosimo, 2007.

The commentary

Apart from being premillenial and a so-called partial pre-tribulationist (i.e. the entire church participates in the millennial reign, according to Seiss; see on Rev 4:1 and Rev 20:6; see more here and here) resurrected, which gave rise to controversy between Lutherans, Seiss argues from Revelation 1:1-3 that “is a book of which Christ is the great subject and centre, particularly in that period of his administrations and glory designated as the day of his uncovering, the day of his appearing” and it is “a book of the revelation of Christ, in his own person, offices, and future administrations, when he shall be seen coming from heaven, as he was once seen going into heaven” (on Rev 1:1). Indeed, Revelation is “an account of the revelation of Christ in his personal forthcoming from his present invisible estate, to receive his Bride, judge the wicked, and set up his eternal kingdom on the earth” (ibid.).

Seiss also argues that “the Lord’s day” refer to the eschatological Day of the Lord (on Rev 1:1). This is, according to Seiss, what the actual contents of the book are all about. In this respect, I agree with Seiss, but we do not agree as to what it means, as I reject the premillennial interpretation myself (cf. here).

Seiss argues that Revelation is very valuable and precious:

If we are interested in the story of the manger and the cross; if we can draw strength for our prayers and hopes by invoking Christ by the mystery of his incarnation, fasting, temptation, agony, and bloody sweat; if we find it such a precious treasure to our souls to come into undoubting sympathy with the scenes of his humiliation and grief; what should be our appreciation of this book, which treats of the fruits of those sufferings, and tells only of that wronged Saviour’s glory and triumphs, and shows us our Lord enthroned in majesty, riding prosperously, and scattering to his ransomed ones the crowns and regencies of empire which shall never perish, and celestial blessednesses without number and above all thought!

Seiss argues that the author is the apostle John (on Rev 1:1), but does apparently not date Revelation. His view on the book makes it unnecessary.

Seiss’s commentary is cited some 18 times in Gregg, Four Views. C. I. Scofield claimed that it was the best of more than fifty books that he has read about Revelation (see here). In Denmark a lay interpreter, K. M. Schmidt [link follows], found it the best interpretation know to him.

The author
According to FamousAmericans.net, Joseph Augustus Seiss (1823-1904) was born and confirmed a Moravian. Having studied theology in private, he was ordained as a Lutheran pastor. 1858-1904 Seiss served in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He published more than 100 writings, including this commentary. According to FamousAmericans.net, Seiss published this commentary in 1869-1881 in three volumes, but several Americans libraries gives the year of publication as 1865.

Seiss was Doctor of Divinity, but so far I have not been able to determine where and for what.

Seiss was praised as a “confessionalist,” i.e. as one who adhered to the Lutheran confessions. However, his premillennial view gave rise to controversy (Dictionary of Christianity in America, s.v.). Dr. C. F. W. Walther refuted Seiss’s view that the early church was (crass) chiliastic, according to Francis Pieper, Christian Dogmatics, vol. 3, p. 532 n 53b.

Among his other publications is The Last Times and the Great Consummation (1863), available through Google Book.

For biography of Seiss, see Lawrence R. Rast Jr., “Joseph A. Seiss and the American Lutheran Church,” Ph.D. dissertation, Vanderbilt University, 2003, and Samuel Robert Zeiser, “Joseph Augustus Seiss: Popular Nineteenth-Century Lutheran Pastor and Premillennialist,” Ph.D. dissertaton, Drew University, 2001.

The Apocalypse is available for WordSearch (see the image of the book above) and as part of the Free Bible Explorer. It is also available via MBooks – Michigan Digitization Project.

ISBN: 1602061432