Carey, Greg: Elusive Apocalypse: Reading Authority in the Revelation to John. (Studies in Biblical Hermeneutics, 15). Macon, Georgia: Mercer University Press, 1999. xiv + 209 pp.

Employing not only the rhetorical notion of authorial ethos, but postcolonial and resistance criticism, this book, a (probably revised) edition of Carey’s 1996 Ph.D.-thesis, deals with how Revelation constructs authority and concludes that John’s authorial ethos is unstable, and that the same modern unstability only can be escaped by finding a way to submit our visions to public dialogue.

See further Carey’s abstract.

Barr, David Lawrence (ed.) The Reality of Apocalypse: Rhetoric and Politics in the Book of Revelation. Society of Biblical Literature symposium series, 39. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2006. ix + 306 pp. RRP £19.22

Barr, who headed the Seminar on the Apocalypse: The Intersection of Literary and Social Methos, has selected a number of essays to represent the work of the seminar. Barr also edited a volume for students.

Essays included:

• Reading the Apocalypse as Apocalypse: the limits of genre, by Gregory L. Linton
• Apocalypse renewed: an intertextual reading of the Apocalypse of John, by David E. Aune
• Beyond genre: the expectations of Apocalypse, by David L. Barr
• Hearing and seeing but not saying: a rhetoric of authority in Revelation 10:4 and 2 Corinthians 12:4, by Jean-Pierre Ruiz
• To rejoice or not to rejoice? rhetoric and the fall of Satan in Luke 10:17-24 and Rev. 12:1-17, by Edith M. Humphrey
• Sarcasm in Revelation 2-3: churches, Christians, true Jews, and Satanic synagogues, by Steven J. Friesen
• The “synagogue of Satan”: crisis mongering and the Apocalypse of John, by Paul Duff
• Symptoms of resistance in the book of Revelation, by Greg Carey
• Dragon myth and imperial ideology in Revelation 12-13, by Jan Willem van Henten
• The Lamb who looks like a dragon? characterizing Jesus in John’s Apocalypse, by David L. Barr
• Betwixt and between on the Lord’s day: liturgy and the Apocalypse, by Jean-Pierre Ruiz
• Babylon the great: a rhetorical-political reading of Revelation, by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza

Johns, Loren L. The Origins and Rhetorical Force of the Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse of John. Bluffton College. Dissertation Adviser: Dr. James H. Charlesworth. Date of defence: 13 Feb 1998.

An investigation of the origins and rhetorical force of the lamb imagery in the Apocalypse of John. Chapter one introduces the problem of reading this book ethically.

Chapter two focuses on the semantic domain of lambs in the biblical literature. The chapter suggests how arnion should be translated in light of its use in the New Testament, the Septuagint, Josephus, Philo, and the documentary papyri.

Chapter three examines lamb symbolism in the ancient Near East and in the Graeco-Roman environment. Lambs were associated with divination and the consulting of oracles. They also often served as a symbol for vulnerability.

Chapter four shows that there is little evidence to support the existence of a militant lamb-redeemer figure in the apocalyptic traditions of Early Judaism. The symbolic value of lambs in later rabbinic traditions is also briefly considered.

Chapter five discusses method in symbol analysis, then the socio-historical situation of the seven churches. This provides the background necessary for considering seven possible sources of the lamb imagery from the Old Testament: (1) the sacrificial system; (2) the paschal victim; (3) Daniel’s ram and goat; (4) Isaiah 53:7; (5) the Aqedah; (6) the eschatologically victorious lamb of Micah 5 (LXX); and (7) the lamb as a symbol of vulnerability in visions of eschatological peace.

Chapter six focuses on the role of the Lamb Christology within the rhetorical program of the Apocalypse. The political and liturgical language of the Apocalypse supports an ethic of nonviolent resistance. Though lions and lambs both had rich backgrounds in the history, literature, and ritual of the ancient Near East, the application of both terms to the messiah was a creative contribution of the author.

The evidence supports the thesis that the Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse has an ethical force: the Seer saw in the death of Jesus both the decisive victory over evil and the pattern for the Asian Christians’ nonviolent resistance to evil. John’s readers were to “overcome” in the same way that the Lamb overcame, making Jesus’ death ethically paradigmatic.

Revelation mailing list: Dissertation Abstracts 2.003: Johns: The Origins and Rhetorical Force of the Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse of John
Date of original posting on Revelation mailing list: 26 Apr 1998

Carey, William Gregory. Attention-Seeking Behavior: Rhetoric, Resistance, and Authority in the Book of Revelation. Dissertation under the direction of Professor Fernando F. Segovia. Vanderbilt University, 1996.

Authority represents a fundamental dimension of the Book of Revelation, which resists the Roman Empire of the late first century and those Jews, Christians, and other persons who accommodate themselves to the Empire. Contemporary readers – critical, liberationist, and millenarian – wrestle over who has the authority to interpret Revelation while their readings of the Apocalypse themselves imply conflicting modes of authority. These ancient and modern struggles may be traced to tensions within the Apocalypse itself and demonstrate the need for a rhetorical investigation of how Revelation constructs authority.

John, Revelation’s ever-present narrator, provides the point of entry for such a study. The classical concept of ethos, how speakers constructed their personal credibility, offers one perspective for understanding John. Contemporary categories of the narrator and point of view fill out John’s ethos, while postcolonial and resistance criticisms emphasize the mutual reinforcement of representation and power. Further insights come from early Jewish apocalyptic literature, which has its own strategies for building authority. In building his ethos John faces two related tasks. He must establish his own credibility while deprecating his opponents. Careful investigation of Revelation’s complex ethical-rhetorical strategies reveals that John’s ethos suffers internal conflict. When turned against his opponents, Revelation can abide neither difference nor dialogue. More essentially, John’s ethos is itself unstable. At once he is his audience’s partner and superior, a fellow participant who turns heavenly voices to his own purposes and claims the authority to bless and to curse. Contemporary interpreters may learn from John’s ethical bind. To escape it, we must find a way to submit our visions to public dialogue.

A (probably revised) edition is published as Elusive Apocalypse: Reading authority in the Revelation to John. Mercer, 1999. Pp. xiv + 209. Paper.

Revelation mailing list: Dissertation Abstracts 2.002: Carey: Attention-Seeking Behavior
Date of original posting on Revelation mailing list: 13 Jan 1998. Last paragraph added July 29th, 2000.