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)

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.

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.”

Adamsen, Georg S. “Åbenbaringen af Jesus Kristus – Åbenbaringsbogen og dens metaforer”. i Til tro, nr. 2, 2000.

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.