Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on January 6, 2008
Wilson, Mark Wayne. The Victor Sayings in the Book of Revelation. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2007. 294 pp. Paperback
This volume is based on the author’s Ph.D.-thesis (see abstract here). Wilson analyses this very important motif that also is also of great importance for the overall interpretation of Revelation’s message and purpose.
The publisher’s description
“This is the first major study to focus solely on the victor sayings and should prove invaluable to scholars and students of Revelation and apocalyptic literature. It demonstrates that the motif of victory is Revelation’s macrodynamic theme.
“Chiasmus is proposed as the book’s macrostructure, based in part on the chiastic nature of the promises to the victors, with the later fulfillment of these promises in the book. The proposed forms for the seven letters—forms such as edicts, oracles, and epistles—are examined, and it is concluded that they are a mixtum compositum best called ‘prophetic letters.’
“The sociological significance of victory is explored within the Greco-Roman world. The text of the promises and their co-texts (as reflected intertextually in traditions of biblical literature) receive thorough examination.
“The eschatological fulfillment of the victor sayings is surveyed in Revelation’s later chapters, especially in chapters 21-22, where the new Jerusalem is depicted.
“The study concludes with an investigation of the ways that the promises were appropriated for the time and the text world of Revelation.” (More at the publisher’s page)
About ten years ago, the author very kindly gave me access to an electronic copy of his very useful thesis. I think I have some discussions with Wilson’s analyses in my own thesis (which you can read about here)
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Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on December 27, 2007
Moyise, Steve (ed.) Studies in the Book of Revelation. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 2001. xvii + 206 pp. ISBN: 0567088146 (hb.), 0567088049 (pbk.).
Essays included:
- The Words of Prophecy: Reading the Apocalypse Theologically, by Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (pp. 1-20)
- Seventh-Day Adventism: Self-Appointed Laodicea, by Robert Surridge (pp. 21-42)
- The Enthroned Christ of Revelation 5:6 and the Development of Christian Theology, by Jonathan Knight (pp. 43-50)
- The Many Faces of Babylon the Great: Wirkungsgeschichte and the Interpretation of Revelation 17, by Ian Boxall (pp. 51-68)
- Praise and Politics in Revelation 19:1-10, by Jean-Pierre Ruiz (pp. 69-84)
- The Millennium and the Second Coming, by R. Jack McKelvey (pp. 85-100)
- Waiting for the End that Never Comes: The Narrative Logic of John’s Story, by David L. Barr (pp. 101-112)
- Criteria and the Assessment of Allusions to the Old Testament in the Book of Revelation, by Jon Paulien (pp. 113-130; also available here)
- The Book of Revelation: Image, Symbol and Metaphor, by Ian Paul (pp. 131-148)
- Out of the Wilderness: Feminist Perspectives on the Book of Revelation, by Alison Jack (pp. 149-162)
- The Apocalypse and Its Ambiguous Ethos, by Greg Carey (pp. 163-180)
- Does the Lion Lie down with the Lamb, by Steve Moyise (pp. 181-194; also available here)
Christopher Rowland has written the Foreword (pp. ix-ixvii). The back matters consists of Indices of Bible and Ancient Sources, Modern Authors, and Subjects.
“This is a specially commissioned set of state-of-the-art studies on the most important aspects of Revelation and its significance for the 21st century–by the world’s leading scholars. The studies can be grouped in relation to three main themes: strategies of interpretation (theological, literary, feminist, metaphorical); the nature of the violent imagery; and passages of particular interest (the letter to Laodicea, ‘praise and politics’, Old Testament allusions, the second coming of Christ).This book will provide an invaluable resource for researchers and students alike,” according to the publisher.
Reviewed by John M. Court, in Journal of Theological Studies 54, no. 2 (October 2003): 726-729.
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Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on September 8, 2007
Beasley-Murray, G. R. “The Second Coming in the Book of Revelation.” Evangelical Quarterly 23, no. 1 (1951): 40-5. Available online at http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/revelation_beasley-murray.pdf.
Beasley-Murray argues that the true background of John’s doctrine is “the experience of the powers of evil in opposition to the Spirit of God, and the conviction that only the forth-putting of the power of the Living Redeemer could end the struggle.” “Judgment and sovereignty, the fulfilment of the purpose of God, are what the Prophet means by the Second Coming of Christ.”
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on August 26, 2007
Adamsen, Georg S. “Åbenbaringen af Jesus Kristus – Åbenbaringsbogen og dens metaforer”. i Til tro, nr. 2, 2000.
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on August 25, 2007
Hutchison, Dennis A. “The Nature of Christ’s Comings in Revelation 2-3.” Th.D.-dissertation, Grace Theological Seminary, 1986. 309 pp.
This unpublished thesis is primarily concerned with the analysis of the chronological aspect of Christ’s coming in Revelation 2-3. Hutchison argues that the context, e.g. the rewards, strongly suggests an eschatological interpretation. This thesis seems to be the first monograph devoted specifically to this issue.
Hutchison’s thesis is a substantial work that is available from UMI, order no. 8619650.
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on
Adamsen, Georg S. Parousia and Paraenesis: The Parousia Motif and Its Paraenetic Use in the Book of the Revelation. Dr.theol. thesis, Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology, Oslo (Det teologiske Menighetsfakultetet, Oslo), 2001/2002.
The Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology in Oslo, Norway, (http://www.mf.no) has accepted the 369 page dissertation Parousia and Paraenesis: The Parousia Motif and Its Paraenetic Use in the Book of Revelation by cand.theol. Georg S. Adamsen, The Lutheran School of Theology in Aarhus, Denmark, (http://www.teologi.dk) for public defence for the degree Doctor Theologiae (dr.theol.). The defence took place at Saturday, June 8th, 2002 at 10:15 am.
The official opponents were Professor, teol.dr. David Hellholm, University of Oslo, and Reader, teol.dr. Håkan Ulfgard, University of Linköping, Sweden. The third member of the committee was Professor, dr.theol. Hans Kvalbein, NLST. Professor Hellholm served as chair of the committee.
The degree of Dr.theol. was awarded June 14th, 2002.
The submitted dissertation consists of Five Parts.
Part I contains four introductory chapters which argue that the topic parousia and paraenesis merits a specialised study (Chapter 1), preliminarily define important concepts and terms such as parousia and paraenesis (Chapter 2), discuss the role of the OT (Chapter 3) and the methods and procedures (Chapter 4) in this study.
Part II presents a preliminary study of the narrative character, structure and setting of Revelation (Chapter 5), outlines the conceptual OT background for the portrayal of the parousia in Revelation, i.e. the OT imagery of theophany, divine warfare and judgment, the Day of the Lord, and some other concomitant motifs (Chapter 6), and closes with some concluding remarks (Chapter 7).
Part III analyses the parousia motif in the pro- and epilogue (Chapter 8), in the first vision in Revelation 1:9–3:22 (Chapter 9), and in the second vision in Revelation 4:1–22:5 (Chapter 10). The author argues that the whole prologue and the entire epilogue (apart from the very last verse) concern the parousia and reveal that the main theme of the two visions is the parousia. The analyses make clear that the parousia is not only conceived of as a martial and judicial coming, i.e. as a divine judgment warfare epiphany, but also as the coming of the bridegroom. The aim of Chapter 9 and Chapter 10 is to substantiate that the two main visions of Revelation concern the parousia of (primarily) God and Christ by applying the parousia concept developed in the preceding chapters of the dissertation. Thus, Chapter 9 argues that the texts which in the first vision (Rev 1:9–3:22) refer to the coming of Christ concern the parousia. Chapter 10 endeavours to demonstrate that an outline of a parousian interpretation of the second vision (Rev 4:1–22:5) can plausibly be provided. The author therefore concludes that the parousia is the main theme of Revelation and the most important issue (Chapter 13).
Part IV (Chapter 12) deals with the paraenetic use of the parousia motif. The author argues that there is a paraenetic use of the parousia motif and that the paraenesis is directly related to the parousia and the parousian Son of Man, not to a non-parousian martyrdom. The problem which the paraenesis addresses is that many of the churches are no longer properly prepared for the parousia. They therefore need to repent in order to prevent the Son of Man’s coming as a warrior-judge and ensure that that he will come as their bridegroom. The churches who do not need to repent are urged to remain faithful so that they will not loose the salvific relationship they already have with Christ and, in consequence, suffer the eternal judgment plagues instead of the temporary defeat by Satan and his helpers followed by the resurrection. Thus, the aim of the paraenesis is to urge the churches to be and remain appropriately prepared for the coming of Christ which results in either defeat and judgment or wedding and salvation, depending on people’s relationship to Christ. The paraenetic exhortations in the first vision are supported by the second vision in general and a number of specific passages in particular, and they are strongly reinforced by the epilogue in that it explicitly urges all individual listeners to call for the parousia.
Part V (Chapter 13) garners the conclusions of the whole thesis and concludes that the parousia is not only an important theme, but the central main theme (Part III) as well as the focus of the paraenesis of Revelation (Part IV), which is also indicated by the peculiar double opening of the prologue. Thus, the theme and function of Revelation are brilliantly integrated with its structure, or form. The few pertinent studies of this theme and in particular those studies who have dealt with various aspects of the parousia concept, outlined a path to a new understanding of Revelation (Part I, Chapter 3). The starting point was a combination of the analysis of the narrative structure of Revelation and the Old Testament portrayal of the Day of the Lord and the divine warfare which will take place on this day (Part II). The longer part of the journey was then an analysis of the theme of Revelation on this basis (Part III), while the shorter part (Part IV) surveyed the texts once more in order to determine how the theme was used paraenetically. The author believes that this is a substantial contribution to the determination and understanding of Revelation’s main theme and the paraenetic use thereof.
For a Danish summary, see http://www.mf.no/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=39.
Revelation mailing list: Dissertation Abstracts 6.002: Georg S. Adamsen: Parousia and Paraenesis: The Parousia Motif and Its Paraenetic Use in the Book of the Revelation
Date of original posting on Revelation mailing list: May 9th, 2002
Posted by Georg S. Adamsen on
McCormack, Philip. The Nature of Judgment in the Book of the Revelation. This 272 page D.Phil.-thesis was successfully defended at The Faculty of Humanities, The Institute of Theology, The Queen’s University of Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 15th, 2001 and the D.Phil.-degree awarded July 4th, 2001. The examiners were the Reverend Doctor Steven Motyer of the London Bible College and the Reverend Professor J. Cecil McCullough of Union Theological College Belfast and Queen’s University. Copies of the thesis are available in the University library.
This investigation into the nature of judgment in Revelation will demonstrate that John’s use of this theme is highly developed and consistently woven throughout the Apocalypse. It is multivariate in its employment of its images and global in its effect.
This thesis will also establish, through a consideration of the theme of judgment in Apocalyptic works contemporary to Revelation and models of judgment found in the Old Testament, that John utilised images and ideas from a number of sources and freely modified them for his own purposes.
It will also prove that John’s presentation of this theme shares more similarities with contemporary apocalypses, than with the model identified in the Old Testament.
The main conclusion which follows from an examination of the nature of judgment, covered in chapters two and three of this thesis, is to propose that the nature of judgment in Revelation is primarily punitive upon the unregenerate at the eschaton.
When this major theme is considered exegetically in the context of the parousia, in which it is set in the text of Revelation, judgment has no didactic or salvific element in John’s understanding of it. This presentation of the nature of judgment may seem initially to be somewhat out of step with the clear images of hope contained in chapter 21-22v5, in which there is the clear revelation of the conversion of the nations. However, a consideration of three other important themes found in the Apocalypse, the combat motif, the salvation of the nations and the function and use of witness in Revelation, will reveal that a punitive understanding of judgment upon the ungodly may not only be defended but is consistent with these themes.
This thesis will endeavour to reach this conclusion and therefore make a contribution to scholarly research on the theme of judgment through; 1) the reading strategy employed – Biblical Literalist; 2) the methodology utilized in considering the subject material – exegetical; 3) the comparison of the nature of judgment in Revelation with that in contemporary Apocalyptic works and the Old Testament.
Revelation mailing list: Dissertation Abstracts 6.001: Philip McCormack: The Nature of Judgment in the Book of the Revelation
Date of original posting on Revelation mailing list: February 20th, 2002
Wilson, Mark Wayne. The Victor Sayings in the Book of Revelation. Eugene, Oregon: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2007. 294 pp. Paperback
