Reading the Book of Revelation: A Resource for Students

David L. Barr

BRILL, 2004-03-01 199 pages

This wide-ranging introduction to the interpretation of the Apocalypse comes from scholars who have worked together for over a decade as members of the Society of Biblical Literature Seminar on Reading the Apocalypse: The Intersection of Literary and Social Methods. Each chapter provides an overall reading of Revelation that grows out of a particular methodological approach. The primary approaches include historical, literary, and social analysis, which are then used in combination with other reading strategies including social conflict theory, philosophy, women's studies, ethics, History of Religions, Postcolonial Studies, and popular culture. Each of the essays focuses on a specific text from Revelation and shows how the method used helps interpret that text, and how diverse methods produce divergent readings of a text. Contributors include David L. Barr, Paul B. Duff, Ronald L. Farmer, Steven J. Friesen, Edith M. Humphrey, Jon Paulien, Jean-Pierre Ruiz, and Leonard L. Thompson. Developed as a resource book for undergraduates, this work will also prove useful to more advanced students, clergy, and others who wish to explore how methods shape our understandings of texts. All will benefit from up-to-date discussions by some of the leading scholars studying Revelation today.

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