The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (197 page)

Beagley, A. J.
The
“Sitz im Leben”
of the Apocalypse, with Particular Reference to the Role of the Church's Enemies.
Beihefte zur neutestamentlichen Wissenschaft 50. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1987.

Beale, G. K.
The Book of Revelation.
New International Greek Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.

Beasley-Murray, G. R. “The Relation of the Fourth Gospel to the Apocalypse."
Evangelical Quarterly
18 (1946): 173-86.

Blaising, C. A., and D. L. Bock.
Progressive Dispensationalism.
Grand Rapids: Baker, 1993.

Charles, R. H.
The Revelation of St. John.
International Critical Commentary. 2 vols. New York: Scribner's, 1920.

Collins, A. Y.
Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse.
Philadelphia: Westminster, 1984.

_________. “Introduction: Early Christian Apocalypticism.”
Semeia
36 (1986): 1—11.

Collins, J. J. “Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre.”
Semeia
14 (1979): 1-20.

Farrer, A.
The Revelation of St. John the Divine.
Oxford: University Press, 1964.

Ford, J. M.
Revelation.
Anchor Bible 38. New York: Doubleday, 1975.

Gentry, K. L. “A Preterist View of Revelation.” Pages 37—92 in
Four Views on the Book of Revelation.
Edited by C. M. Pate. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.

Giesen, H.
Die Offenbarungdes Johannes.
RNT. Regensburg: F. Pustet, 1997.

Hamstra, S. “An Idealist View of Revelation.” Pages 95—131 in
Four Views on the Book of Revelation.
Edited by C. M. Pate. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.

Hemer, C. J.
The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting.
Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement 11. Sheffield: JSOT, 1986.

Johnson, A. F. “Revelation.” Pages 571—789 in
The Expositor's Bible Commentary.
Rev. ed. Vol. 13:
Hebrews-Revelation.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005.

Kiddle, M.
The Revelation of St. John.
Moffatt New Testament Commentary. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1940.

Koester, C. R. “On the Verge of the Millennium: A History of the Interpretation of Revelation.”
Word and World
15 (1995): 128-36.

Kovacs, J., and C. Rowland.
Revelation: The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ.
BBC. Oxford: Blackwell, 2004.

Ladd, G. E.
A Commentary on the Revelation of John.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972.

Maier, G.
Die Johannesoffenbarung unddie Kirche.
Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 25. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1981.

Mathewson, D. “Revelation in Recent Genre Criticism: Some Implications for Interpretation.”
Trinity Journal
NS 13 (1992): 193-213.

Michaels, J. R.
Interpreting the Book of Revelation.
Guides to New Testament Exegesis. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992.

___________.
Revelation.
IVP New Testament Commentary 20. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1997.

Mounce, R. H.
The Book of Revelation.
Rev. ed. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.

Osborne, G. R.
Revelation.
Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002.

Osiek, C. “Apocalyptic Eschatology.”
The Bible Today
37 (1996): 341-45.

Pate, C. M. “Introduction to Revelation.” In
Four Views on the Book of Revelation.
Edited by C. M. Pate. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1998.

Porter, S. E. “The Language of the Apocalypse in Recent Discussion.”
New Testament Studies
(1989): 582—603.

Smalley, S. S.
The Revelation to John.
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2005.

_________.
Thunder and Love: John's Revelation and John's Community.
Milton Keynes, UK: Word, 1994.

Wainwright, A. W.
Mysterious Apocalypse: Interpreting the Book of Revelation.
Nashville: Abingdon, 1993.

Wilson, M.
Charts on the Book of Revelation: Literary, Historical, and Theological Perspectives.
Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007.

¹
On the history of interpretation of Revelation, see A. W. Wainwright, Mysterious Apocalypse: Interpreting the Book of Revelation (Nashville: Abingdon, 1993). For a commentary from a “reception history” perspective see J. Kovacs and C. Rowland, Revelation: The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, BBC (Oxford: Blackwell, 2004).

²
Important commentaries include D. E. Aune, Revelation, 3 vols., WBC 52 (Nashville: Nelson, 1997, 1998); G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999); H. Giesen, Die Offenbarung des Johannes, RNT (Regensburg: F. Pustet, 1997); G. R. Osborne, Revelation, BECNT (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2002); and S. S. Smalley The Revelation to John (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2005).

³
See D. A. deSilva, An Introduction to the New Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2004), 894; R. H. Charles, The Revelation of St. John, ICC (New York: Scribner's, 1920), 1.xxxix; S. S. Smalley, Thunder and Love: John's Revelation and John's Community (Milton Keynes, UK: Word, 1994), 39-40.

⁴
Irenaeus, Against Heresies
4.20.11; Tertullian,
Against Marcion
3.14.3; 3.24.4; Clement of Alexandria,
Paed.
2.119;
Quis dives salvetur
42;
Stromateis
6.106;
Hippolytus, Antichrist 36;
Origen,
Commentary on the Gospel of John
2.4.

⁵
Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
3.39.3—7. Apparently, Papias made a distinction between John the apostle and John the elder (see chap. 7 above). With reference to the two tombs of John in Ephesus, Eusebius conjectured that Papias attributed the Gospel to the apostle and Revelation to the elder.

⁶
Charles,
Revelation of St. John, 1.
xxxviii.

⁷
Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
7.25.15. This was suggested but quickly dismissed by Dionysius of Alexandria (d. 265) as a possible alternative, since Mark's name also was John.

⁸
J. M. Ford,
Revelation,
AB 38 (New York: Doubleday, 1975), 28-46.

⁹
F. Bovon, “John's Self-Presentation in Revelation 1:9-10,”
CBQ 62
(2000): 695.

¹⁰
Beale,
Book of Revelation,
1127-28.

¹¹
E.g., “I, Daniel” (Dan 7:15; 8:15,27; 9:2; 10:2,7; 12:5); “I, Baruch”
(2 Apoc. Bar.
8:3; 9:1; 10:5; 11:1; 13:1; 32:8; 44:1); “I, Enoch”
(1 Enoch
12:3); “I, Ezra”
(4 Ezra
2:33). See also H. B. Swete,
Commentary on Revelation
(Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1977; repr. of 3d ed. of
The Apocalypse of St. John
[1911]), 11; Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
75.

¹²
See M. E. Boring, “The Apocalypse as Christian Prophecy: A Discussion of the Issues Raised by the Book of Revelation for the Study of Early Christian Prophecy,”
SBL Seminar Papers
2 (1974): 26—27.

¹³
See F. D. Mazzaferri,
The Genre of the Book of Revelation from a Source-critical Perspective,
BZNW 54 (Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1989), 259—378. On the OT prophetic call narratives, see ibid., 88—102. Cf. G. von Rad,
Old Testament Theology,
trans. D. M. G. Stalker (New York: Harper, 1965), 2.50—69; N. Habel, “The Form and Significance of the Call Narratives,”
ZAW 77
(1965): 297—323; and D. E. Aune,
Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1983), 97-103.

¹⁴
This view is held by a majority of scholars: Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
1.xliv; Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
1; G. R. Beasley-Murray,
Revelation,
NCBC (London: Oliphants, 1974), 35—37; Swete,
Revelation,
39; Smalley,
Thunder and Love,
39; Boxall,
Revelation,
7; A. Y. Collins,
Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse
(Philadelphia: Westminster, 1984), 50; W. G. Kümmel,
Introduction to the New Testament,
rev. ed., trans. H. C Kee (Nashville: Abingdon, 1975), 472. Cf. R. K. MacKenzie
(The Author of the Apocalypse: A Review of the Prevailing Hypothesis of Jewish-Christian Authorship,
MBPS 51 [Lewiston: Mellen, 1997], 3), who posited that John was a Gentile-Christian from Asia Minor.

¹⁵
Charles,
Revelation of St. John, 1
.xliv; H. B. Swete,
The Apocalypse of St. John
(London: Macmillan, 1911), cxxv.

¹⁶
Most (if not all) of these solecisms are intentional, such as
apo
(“from,” 1:4) followed by the nominative rather than the genitive, pointing to God's self-identification as “I am” in Exod 3:14. On the Semitic syntax of Revelation, see Swete,
Apocalypse of St. John,
cxxv; G. Mussies,
The Morphology of Koine Greek as Used in the Apocalypse of St. John: A Study in Bilingualism,
NovTSup 27 (Leiden: Brill, 1971), 352—53; S. Thompson,
The Apocalypse and Semitic Syntax,
SNTSMS 52 (Cambridge: University Press, 1985); S. E. Porter, “The Language of the Apocalypse in Recent Discussion,”
NTS 35
(1989): 582-603; Beale,
Book of Revelation,
100-107.

¹⁷
See Aune
(Revelation 1—5,
1): “[N]o known examples of Jewish apocalypses originated in the eastern or western Diaspora, nor did the genre survive long in early Christianity once it had moved outside the boundaries of Palestine.”

¹⁸
Ibid.

¹⁹
A. Farrer,
The Revelation of St. John the Divine
(Oxford: University Press, 1964), 37. The name “John”
(Iōannēs)
occurs frequently in Jewish writings but very rarely in Greek texts (1 Esd 9:29; 1 Macc 2:1—2; 8:17; 9:36,38; 16:1,9,19,21,23; 2 Macc 4:11; 11:17; and 188 times in Josephus). See also MacKenzie,
The Author of the Apocalypse,
8 n. 2.

²⁰
deSilva,
Introduction,
894.

²¹
See I. Boxall,
Revelation: Vision and Insight
(London: SPCK, 2002), 7. Cf. the arguments by D. Guthrie,
New Testament Introduction,
rev. ed. (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1990), 936; and D. A. Carson and D. J. Moo,
An Introduction to the New Testament,
2d ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2005), 702.

²²
Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
1.xliii—xliv; Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
li; deSilva,
Introduction,
894.

²³
See Beale,
Book of Revelation,
1070.

²⁴
See Charles,
Revelation of St. John,
1.c; Guthrie,
Introduction,
933; G. Maier,
Die Johannesojfenbarung und die Kirche,
WUNT 25 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1981), 107; Carson and Moo,
Introduction to the New Testament,
701.

²⁵
Irenaeus,
Against Heresies
4.20.11; Clement of Alexandria,
Paed.
2.119;
Quis div.
42;
Stromateis
6.106; Hippolytus,
Antichrist
36; Origen,
Commentary on John
2.4; Tertullian,
Against Marcion
3.14.3; 3.24.4.

²⁶
Guthrie,
Introduction,
935.

²⁷
In both cases, the date of these documents is in question. On the
Apocryphon of John,
see M. Waldstein and F. Wisse,
The Apocryphon of John,
NHMS 33 (Leiden: Brill, 1995), 1—8. On the Muratorian Fragment, see A. C. Sundberg, “Canon Muratori: A Fourth-Century List,”
HTR 66
(1973): 1—41; G. M. Hahneman,
The Muratorian Fragment and the Development of the Canon,
Oxford Theological Monographs (Oxford: Clarendon, 1992); and L. M. McDonald,
The Biblical Canon: Its Origin, Transmission, and Authority
(Peabody: Hendrickson, 2007), 373-81.

²⁸
See especially Maier
(Johannesojfenbarung,
62—63), who concluded that Papias personally knew John the apostle, referred to as “the elder” in Asia Minor, and regarded Revelation as his writing. See the list of scholars who argue that Papias knew Revelation and attributed it to the apostle (ibid., 62 n. 243).

²⁹
Tertullian,
Marc.
4.5 ; see Charles,
Revelation of St. John, 1
.c.

³⁰
Carson and Moo,
Introduction to the New Testament,
701.

³¹
Charles,
Revelation of St. John, 1
.c; cf. Irenaeus,
Against Heresies
3.2.9; Epiphanius,
Against Heresies
51.3; Eusebius,
Eccl. Hist.
3.28.1-2.

³²
For a discussion of the relationship between John's Gospel and Revelation, see chap. 7.

³³
Aune,
Revelation 1—5,
lxix—lxx.

³⁴
Collins,
Crisis and Catharsis,
32, 84—110; see W. Schmithals,
The Apocalyptic Movement,
trans. J. E. Steely (Nashville: Abingdon, 1975), 141-50.

³⁵
See 16:7; 20:4. See J. P. Heil, “The Fifth Seal (Rev 6,9-11) as a Key to the Book of Revelation,”
Bib
74 (1993): 220-43.

³⁶
G. B. Caird,
A Commentary on the Revelation of St. John the Divine
(New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 85.

³⁷
Beale,
Book of Revelation,
390.

³⁸
Tacitus,
Ann.
15.44; Suetonius,
Nero 16.2;
Tertullian,
Apol
. 5.3;
Nat.
1.7.8; P. Keresztes, “Law and Arbitrariness in the Persecution of the Christians and Justin's First Apology,”
VC
18 (1964): 204; J. W. P. Borleffs, “Institutum Neronianum,” VC 6 (1952): 9-145.

³⁹
Bell, “Date of John's Apocalypse,” 93—97; Wilson, “Problem of the Domitianic Date,” 588—96; Thompson,
Book of Revelation,
116.

⁴⁰
Some also point to the reference to wealth in Laodicea as evidence for a later date since the city was destroyed by an earthquake c. 61 and rebuilt without the financial assistance of Rome (Tacitus,
Ann.
14.27.1). If the city had been destroyed, one would naturally expect a much later date for the composition of the letter. See C. J. Hemer,
The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting,
JSNTSup 11 (Sheffield: JSOT, 1986), 193-96; Mounce,
Book of Revelation,
35; L. Morris,
The Revelation of St. John,
TNTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), 37.