Collins
- revelatory literature with a narrative framework, revelation mediated by an otherworldly being
to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality
- when reading the definition and the list of applications, only one of those people is a prophet in
the hebrew bible, don’t always have that framework, the prophet isn’t an other worldly being,
they have words from God that they bring, they don’t need mediation, focus on salvation,
prophets are about judgment, usually against the enemy, is christianity an apocalyptic group or
an early apocalyptic movement, revelation is an apocalyptic text
- jesus comes proclaiming the kingdom of god come near, eschatological end of world claim,
jesus rarely talks about the end, it never has a claim about an end or the end, simply that the
kingdom has come near, come near is when an empire usually builds another capital
- the primary capital of the seleucids is seleucia, the second one built is antioch, that is where
AEIV spent most of his time, in the first capital you have the father, in the second capital the
father sends one of the sons, when the kingdom of this ruler comes near the son exerts the rule
of that father in that space, god’s residence on earth is the temple in jerusalem, jesus is in
galilee, not that the end times are upon them, the rule of god is being made manifest in galilee,
they need to repent
- elohim said let us not let me, can’t make images of god in the ancient world, god created the
human in his image, he created them, god speaking in genesis says to make humans in their
image, it is not adam but adam and eve, not the individual male, few places of plural reference
and voice, plurality of god’s existence is manifest in the image of god on earth, plurality not
singularity, awdam vs ha-awdam, child of humanity shows weakness, not son of adam, appears
most frequently in ezekiel, in hebrew it refers to humanity, anthropos andros aner and guné, all
terms for human beings
- in 713 like a son of man came somebody, a son of humanity not anything specific, mark 2
jesus heals the paralytic, jesus calls them out for what they’re thinking, someone has authority
and he is the son, every occurrence of the son of humanity do not have the article, it is a son of
humanity, mark says that jesus claims to be the son of the human being, old testament is
originally written in hebrew, new testament is originally written in greek, jesus lives how human
beings are supposed to live prior to the fall
- genesis 1 elohim means gods, he says let us make human beings in our image, god creates
the human, the human is male and female, when text wants to refer to humanity it is adam, ben
adam is a son of human beings, sign of fragility, when we get to jesus the gospel writers say he
is the son of the human being, genesis 1 the humans are male and female, jesus is the son of
the human being, image of god, the icon of god, christ, jesus is the person in all of human
history who is living the way humanity was meant to live
- research about revelation and the world it is in, helps us know what is right by making up your
own mind, don’t trust commentaries and preachers, they made a lot out of whether he is an
apocalyptic prophet and it ignores how the phrase is used in the rest of greek literature from that
time period, people talk about the son of man, don’t pay attention to the articles, then how we
understand it in mark shows the son of the anthropos, echoes adam in genesis 1
The Fall
,- the word fall itself is not even used by paul, what happens in the creation story is that humans
will become like god knowing good and evil, serpent uses wise, genesis 1 they don’t know good
and evil, the original human beings are innocent, what they do with their evil is killing each other,
brothers killing each other, cain kills his brother abel, what adam and eve say is that he will
surely die, it takes adam 900 years to die, if you eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil and it takes that long to die it will be long, death comes into the world not by god
but by human beings, they eat the fruit and know good and evil but they do not become wise
like god, they had a choice to make, one was a path to life and the other was the path to death,
now they know good and evil, sin does not occur in genesis 1-3, the first word used for sin is
crime, criminality is crouching at cain’s door, adam and eve are ha adam, idea of death wasn’t a
thing until genesis 4, genesis text leads us to genesis 4
Diagnosing the Interpretive Challenge
- symptoms: list the various problems/key elements in the text that seem like the most crucial to
writing your key interpretive question (.e.g., why does the text repeat key words or phrases?
why is the conflict within the text described and visualized the way that it is? what first-century
assumptions are being made in this text that i will need to explore?)
- possibilities: what are the possibilities and limitations of interpreting this text in the roman world
of the 1st-century? (e.g. what do i need to understand about the religions of early judaism and
early christianity in this time period to gain better insight into my passage in revelation? what do
i need to know about typical challenges and concerns facing people under roman imperial better
clarify the specific concerns of the people sending and receiving revelation?)
- comparison: how does my knowledge of other "cases" help me as i diagnose the key
interpretive problem in my selected passage? (e.g. daniel 7, daniel 9, book of weeks, book of
dreams)
- imagination: given my initial reading of the "symptoms" in this passage, and any background
information i have on early Judaism, early christianity, and the early roman empire, does my
initial diagnosis of the key interpretive problem make sense of the evidence, in that world? does
my key interpretive problem reflect something that would actually be a significant concern for
jews and christians within the roman empire (in asia minor)?
Informed Reading of Revelation
- less horrific, able to highlight more, holistic perspective
- symbolism (horns, son of man, seven)
- revelation itself is symbolic, apocalypto in greek, can refer to a book in line with other books
like revelation (daniel 7-12, 4 ezra, 3 baruch), can also be prophecy, oracles, divination,
metaphors, other kinds of symbols of the universe, important to remember there are all kinds of
symbols, every word is a symbol in revelation, how symbolic are those symbols, degrees of
symbolism in apocalyptic literature
- literal representation, metaphor, apocalyptic symbolism, dream, what is apocalyptic material
and symbolism vs regular metaphors vs flat out literature
- the whole of revelation is symbolic, where is the apocalyptic symbolism
- what you know you don’t know now, so much to explore
- intertextuality, history, social cultural, ideological
, - making intertextual connections was easier, borrowed themes from isaiah jeremiah ezekiel
zechariah, backwards in scripture, some things are current, historical, there is no new testament
when john is writing, when they look for authoritative symbolism, go to the older jewish
scriptures, already have a sense of one piece then go to the next
- daniel used symbolism to represent history in the seleucid period, helps show things in
revelation with roman symbols, concern for the seven churches of asia minor under roman rule,
means something to them in the roman word, now that daniel is seen under aeiv, what happens
to romans under domitian
- each letter in revelation is written to a certain audience, each church has to listen to what is
being said to the other churches as well, they have specific messages but others need to listen
and learn from it, end of the world or end of roman oppression
Revelation 1
- revelation of jesus christ, but god gave jesus christ that revelation, then to the angels, then
john, then servants, highly mediated revelation, john requires a heavenly mediary, revelation of
a prophecy, read the gospel of matthew, jesus is a prophet, the prophet from nazareth, different
because it is explicitly called a prophecy because of jesus, when thinking about prophecy we
think about a fulfillment, jesus is fulfilling some prophetic word
- prophets of jewish scripture are there for the call to repentance, majority of these prophets try
to get people to quit doing idolatry and stop injustice, significant punishment and completion
brings restoration later, jesus is the fulfillment of a promise of a blessed future, there are words
to the people of god and words to the nations, in revelation there is always concern and strong
words to the people of god and to the nations, fill in the blank that jesus is a prophet, revelation
follows the idea of the prophets calling people to repentance, both have words for people of god
and to the nations
- in the spirit, write in a book, seven lampstands, one like a son of man, only time this phrase
occurs in the bible is in revelation, why is jesus introduced as one like a son of man, lots of data
about the physical aspect of jesus, described as the son god helios, his face shines like the sun,
portrayed like a son god, familiar image they would know, combination of the context of jewish
scripture and greco-roman culture, writer uses popular culture to provide imagery so the
audience can understand, conceptual blending, starts in verse 9 of revelation, watch how it
unfolds, john fills us in, eagles in revelation
Revelation 2
- works toil endurance, false prophets, double emphasis on works, abandoned the love they
have at first, return to the works they did at first, parallelism, related to works, love and works
together, love is probably not warm hearted, more like love your neighbor has yourself, it
requires works, you have to repent and return to the works that you did at first like love, hate
nicolaitans, hate the romans, sebastoi temple in ephesus, exalted ones, temple to the most
worthy of the early roman emperors, love of god is there, now they need to love their neighbor,
that is where they are failing
Understanding Revelation as a Prophecy
- revelatory literature with a narrative framework, revelation mediated by an otherworldly being
to a human recipient, disclosing a transcendent reality
- when reading the definition and the list of applications, only one of those people is a prophet in
the hebrew bible, don’t always have that framework, the prophet isn’t an other worldly being,
they have words from God that they bring, they don’t need mediation, focus on salvation,
prophets are about judgment, usually against the enemy, is christianity an apocalyptic group or
an early apocalyptic movement, revelation is an apocalyptic text
- jesus comes proclaiming the kingdom of god come near, eschatological end of world claim,
jesus rarely talks about the end, it never has a claim about an end or the end, simply that the
kingdom has come near, come near is when an empire usually builds another capital
- the primary capital of the seleucids is seleucia, the second one built is antioch, that is where
AEIV spent most of his time, in the first capital you have the father, in the second capital the
father sends one of the sons, when the kingdom of this ruler comes near the son exerts the rule
of that father in that space, god’s residence on earth is the temple in jerusalem, jesus is in
galilee, not that the end times are upon them, the rule of god is being made manifest in galilee,
they need to repent
- elohim said let us not let me, can’t make images of god in the ancient world, god created the
human in his image, he created them, god speaking in genesis says to make humans in their
image, it is not adam but adam and eve, not the individual male, few places of plural reference
and voice, plurality of god’s existence is manifest in the image of god on earth, plurality not
singularity, awdam vs ha-awdam, child of humanity shows weakness, not son of adam, appears
most frequently in ezekiel, in hebrew it refers to humanity, anthropos andros aner and guné, all
terms for human beings
- in 713 like a son of man came somebody, a son of humanity not anything specific, mark 2
jesus heals the paralytic, jesus calls them out for what they’re thinking, someone has authority
and he is the son, every occurrence of the son of humanity do not have the article, it is a son of
humanity, mark says that jesus claims to be the son of the human being, old testament is
originally written in hebrew, new testament is originally written in greek, jesus lives how human
beings are supposed to live prior to the fall
- genesis 1 elohim means gods, he says let us make human beings in our image, god creates
the human, the human is male and female, when text wants to refer to humanity it is adam, ben
adam is a son of human beings, sign of fragility, when we get to jesus the gospel writers say he
is the son of the human being, genesis 1 the humans are male and female, jesus is the son of
the human being, image of god, the icon of god, christ, jesus is the person in all of human
history who is living the way humanity was meant to live
- research about revelation and the world it is in, helps us know what is right by making up your
own mind, don’t trust commentaries and preachers, they made a lot out of whether he is an
apocalyptic prophet and it ignores how the phrase is used in the rest of greek literature from that
time period, people talk about the son of man, don’t pay attention to the articles, then how we
understand it in mark shows the son of the anthropos, echoes adam in genesis 1
The Fall
,- the word fall itself is not even used by paul, what happens in the creation story is that humans
will become like god knowing good and evil, serpent uses wise, genesis 1 they don’t know good
and evil, the original human beings are innocent, what they do with their evil is killing each other,
brothers killing each other, cain kills his brother abel, what adam and eve say is that he will
surely die, it takes adam 900 years to die, if you eat from the fruit of the tree of knowledge of
good and evil and it takes that long to die it will be long, death comes into the world not by god
but by human beings, they eat the fruit and know good and evil but they do not become wise
like god, they had a choice to make, one was a path to life and the other was the path to death,
now they know good and evil, sin does not occur in genesis 1-3, the first word used for sin is
crime, criminality is crouching at cain’s door, adam and eve are ha adam, idea of death wasn’t a
thing until genesis 4, genesis text leads us to genesis 4
Diagnosing the Interpretive Challenge
- symptoms: list the various problems/key elements in the text that seem like the most crucial to
writing your key interpretive question (.e.g., why does the text repeat key words or phrases?
why is the conflict within the text described and visualized the way that it is? what first-century
assumptions are being made in this text that i will need to explore?)
- possibilities: what are the possibilities and limitations of interpreting this text in the roman world
of the 1st-century? (e.g. what do i need to understand about the religions of early judaism and
early christianity in this time period to gain better insight into my passage in revelation? what do
i need to know about typical challenges and concerns facing people under roman imperial better
clarify the specific concerns of the people sending and receiving revelation?)
- comparison: how does my knowledge of other "cases" help me as i diagnose the key
interpretive problem in my selected passage? (e.g. daniel 7, daniel 9, book of weeks, book of
dreams)
- imagination: given my initial reading of the "symptoms" in this passage, and any background
information i have on early Judaism, early christianity, and the early roman empire, does my
initial diagnosis of the key interpretive problem make sense of the evidence, in that world? does
my key interpretive problem reflect something that would actually be a significant concern for
jews and christians within the roman empire (in asia minor)?
Informed Reading of Revelation
- less horrific, able to highlight more, holistic perspective
- symbolism (horns, son of man, seven)
- revelation itself is symbolic, apocalypto in greek, can refer to a book in line with other books
like revelation (daniel 7-12, 4 ezra, 3 baruch), can also be prophecy, oracles, divination,
metaphors, other kinds of symbols of the universe, important to remember there are all kinds of
symbols, every word is a symbol in revelation, how symbolic are those symbols, degrees of
symbolism in apocalyptic literature
- literal representation, metaphor, apocalyptic symbolism, dream, what is apocalyptic material
and symbolism vs regular metaphors vs flat out literature
- the whole of revelation is symbolic, where is the apocalyptic symbolism
- what you know you don’t know now, so much to explore
- intertextuality, history, social cultural, ideological
, - making intertextual connections was easier, borrowed themes from isaiah jeremiah ezekiel
zechariah, backwards in scripture, some things are current, historical, there is no new testament
when john is writing, when they look for authoritative symbolism, go to the older jewish
scriptures, already have a sense of one piece then go to the next
- daniel used symbolism to represent history in the seleucid period, helps show things in
revelation with roman symbols, concern for the seven churches of asia minor under roman rule,
means something to them in the roman word, now that daniel is seen under aeiv, what happens
to romans under domitian
- each letter in revelation is written to a certain audience, each church has to listen to what is
being said to the other churches as well, they have specific messages but others need to listen
and learn from it, end of the world or end of roman oppression
Revelation 1
- revelation of jesus christ, but god gave jesus christ that revelation, then to the angels, then
john, then servants, highly mediated revelation, john requires a heavenly mediary, revelation of
a prophecy, read the gospel of matthew, jesus is a prophet, the prophet from nazareth, different
because it is explicitly called a prophecy because of jesus, when thinking about prophecy we
think about a fulfillment, jesus is fulfilling some prophetic word
- prophets of jewish scripture are there for the call to repentance, majority of these prophets try
to get people to quit doing idolatry and stop injustice, significant punishment and completion
brings restoration later, jesus is the fulfillment of a promise of a blessed future, there are words
to the people of god and words to the nations, in revelation there is always concern and strong
words to the people of god and to the nations, fill in the blank that jesus is a prophet, revelation
follows the idea of the prophets calling people to repentance, both have words for people of god
and to the nations
- in the spirit, write in a book, seven lampstands, one like a son of man, only time this phrase
occurs in the bible is in revelation, why is jesus introduced as one like a son of man, lots of data
about the physical aspect of jesus, described as the son god helios, his face shines like the sun,
portrayed like a son god, familiar image they would know, combination of the context of jewish
scripture and greco-roman culture, writer uses popular culture to provide imagery so the
audience can understand, conceptual blending, starts in verse 9 of revelation, watch how it
unfolds, john fills us in, eagles in revelation
Revelation 2
- works toil endurance, false prophets, double emphasis on works, abandoned the love they
have at first, return to the works they did at first, parallelism, related to works, love and works
together, love is probably not warm hearted, more like love your neighbor has yourself, it
requires works, you have to repent and return to the works that you did at first like love, hate
nicolaitans, hate the romans, sebastoi temple in ephesus, exalted ones, temple to the most
worthy of the early roman emperors, love of god is there, now they need to love their neighbor,
that is where they are failing
Understanding Revelation as a Prophecy
