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.

Lee, Dal. The Narrative Asides in the Book of Revelation. Lanham, Maryland: University Press of America, 2002. 186 pp.

Lee applies methods of new literary criticism to the apocalyptic book of the Bible, focusing on narrative asides, which have recently begun to be studied in other books of the New Testament as well. The study is slightly revised and updated from his 1990 doctoral dissertation for the Chicago Theological Seminary. It does not provide a subject index.

Whether one will agree with all Lee’s conclusions or not, it is important to note and make interpretive use of the narrative asides.

Resseguie, James L. Revelation Unsealed: A Narrative Critical Approach to John’s Apocalypse. (Biblical Interpretation Series, 32). Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1998. 233 pp.

Published in 1998 (as is James Barr’s study), Resseguie likewise provides a narrative critical analysis of Revelation. In many ways, Resseguie’s methodology is less explicit than Barr’s, but he provides quite many very useful observations and this monograph should receive careful attention. Barr’s and Resseguie’s analyses illustrate that a narrative critical approach may result in quite different interpretations.

Interesting as both studies are, they definitely call for more analyses of this sort, perhaps providing a possibility for Revelation scholarship to advance further.

Reviews:

• Felix Just, in: Review of Biblical Literature (2000) (direct link here)
• Russell S. Morton, in: Review of Biblical Literature (2000) (direct link here)

Garrow, Alan J.P.: Revelation. (New Testament Readings). London & New York: Routledge, 1997. 156 pp.

Garrow’s book is a refreshing reading of Revelation which was originally submitted as a M Phil thesis at Coventry University. His aim is to locate the “story” (the content of the scroll in Rev 5) in Revelation, i.e. to answer where and what the story is, using insights from film analysis (Chatman). Garrow especially draws attention to John’s use of “foreshadodwing” and “suspense”. Garrow is to be credited for this part of his book.

His overall conclusions are that Revelation’s story deals with a short reign for Domitian after Titus and Domitians defeat as well at the return of Christ with all the associated events, and that the reason why John told this story was to overturn some opponents who had competings views of the future. His means was to provide the true interpretation of the present state which decides the future. Thereby John made it clear that his opponents’ arguments concerning the future were faulty.

Some of these insights may be accepted, but too many unsubstantiated assumptions and claims invalidate his overall thesis. Firstly, Garrow argues that Revelation was designed to be read in six installments. The reason Garrow gives as to why it is necessary to propose this theory seems to be that Revelation is simply too long to be read during service because it takes about two hours to read aloud. This “problem” is not obvious, however. It remains an open question whether there is need for this solution at all.

Secondly, his identification of the cliffhangers needed to identify the divisions between the various instalments is problematic and does not easily conform to any recognised analysis of Revelation’s structure. This means that his structure and function analysis of the whole text of Revelation is based on problematic assumptions. I cannot accept, e.g., that 17:1-18 should be labelled “commentary on bowl judgments”.

Thirdly, I doubt that his dating of Revelation and its story (based on his previous conclusions) will find much support among Revelation scholars.

However, although these critical remarks are serious with regard to Garrow’s overall thesis, the book should be read because of its introduction of narratological analysis. Story analysis (or: narratological analysis or narrative poetics) may very well be very helpful. (4 Jan 1998)

Reviews:

• Georg S. Adamsen, in: Revelation Reviews
• Allen Kerkeslager, in: Review of Biblical Literature (2000) (direct link here)

Herms, Ronald. An Apocalypse for the Church and for the World: The Narrative Function of Universal Language in the Book of Revelation. Beiheft zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche, 143. Berlin; New York: Walter de Gruyter, 2006. xv + 299 pp. €88,00.

The Table of Contents indicates that this thesis is, at least in part, a critique of Richard Bauckham’s chapter “The Conversion of the Nations” (in Bauckham, Climax). In Chapter One, Introduction, Herms states the purpose, method and assumptions of his study. He also studies the history of interpretation, dealing with source-critical scholars, some mainstream commentaries, literary-narrative scholars, and, finally, Richard Bauckham and his chapter “The Conversion of the Nations” (pp. 1-49). The selection of mainstream commentaries: M. Kiddle, Mounce, Caird, and Swete seems reasonable as regards the works treated, but perhaps some other commentaries could (and should) have been included?

Chapter Two: Early Jewish Literature (pp. 50-137) surveys four pieces: Tobit, Similitudes of Enoch (1 Enoch 37-71), 4 Ezra, and the Animal Apocalypse (1 Enoch 85-90).

Chapter Three discusses preliminary matters, as regards Revelation (pp. 138-168).

Chapter Four: Universal Traditions in the Book of Revelation is the main and longest chapter (pp. 169-256).

In Chapter Five, Herms gives his Synthesis and Conclusions (pp. 257-261). The back matters include a 11 page bibliography, and Indices of Authors, Topics and References.

The publisher states: “This monograph examines the problem of universally inclusive language in the book of Revelation and the resulting narrative tension created by narrowly exclusive language. Analysis is conducted by placing relevant texts within their literary-narrative context and through consideration of how the author understood and appropriated biblical traditions. A key feature of this study is its examination of four early Jewish documents with significant similarities to the problem being examined in Revelation. From these documents (Tobit; Similitudes of Enoch [1 Enoch 37-71]; 4 Ezra; and, Animal Apocalypse [1 Enoch 85-90]) a contextual picture emerges which allows a fuller understanding of Revelation’s distinctive approach toward the problem of the fate of the nations. This study contends that the interpretive strategies applied to biblical traditions in Revelation have their roots in the wider early Jewish milieu. From this comparative analysis, identifiable patterns with regard to the role of ‘universal terminology’ in the communicative strategy of John’s Apocalypse emerge.”

See more, incl. the Table of Contents, here.

Update June 12th, 2008: See also the review by David L. Barr in Review of Biblical Literature (direct link to pdf-file here)