The Book of Revelation and Early Jewish Textual Culture explores the relationship between the writing of Revelation and its early audience, especially its interaction with Jewish Scripture. It touches on several areas of scholarly inquiry in biblical studies, including modes of literary production, the use of allusions, practices of exegesis, and early engagements with the Book of Revelation. Garrick Allen brings the Book of Revelation into the broader context of early Jewish literature, including the Dead Sea Scrolls and other important works. Arguing that the author of the New Testament Apocalypse was a 'scribal expert, someone who was well-versed in the content of Jewish Scripture and its interpretation', he demonstrates that John was not only a seer and prophet, but also an erudite reader of scripture.

The Book of Revelation and Early Jewish Textual Culture

The “Magdala stone table”: its function and role in determining the liturgical furniture in the ancient synagogue

Buch und Offenbarung: Medien und Medialität der Johannesapokalypse


The article examines the terms σωτήρ (Phil 3:20–21) and φιλία (Joh 15:12–17) which are characteristic of a special kind of early Christian speaking and communicating. Early Christianity learns within the linguistic guidelines of its environment to understand and express its own faith. The analysed ambiguous concepts (representative for many other terms) represent communicative contrasts: words which function as a communicative base and at the same time as a vehicle to modify and transform the perception of the addressed readers. As communicative contrasts, these terms promote the language skills of early Christianity and consolidate the identity of early Christian communities within Greek-Roman society.

Kommunikative Kontraste

In face of the religious and cultic claims of the Roman emperors, Philo (Legatio ad Gaium) and Revelation develop contrasting perspectives in positioning their respective religious communities within the cultural majority of their day. The Alexandrian Jew Philo opts for critical integration and social cohabitation—a solution that is conventionally ascribed to early Christianity. John pleads strongly for the self-isolation of the Christian minority groups in the Province of Asia—a solution conventionally ascribed to Jewish self-definition in the Tannaitic period. The article illustrates this remarkable exchange of religious and social self-conceptualisations in both authors. Social rather than religious boundaries determine the framework in which the Roman Empire and its ruler are conceptualised, literary reactions are developed, and strategic alternatives are formed.

Hans-Georg Gradl

Papers

Buch und Offenbarung: Medien und Medialität der Johannesapokalypse

Kommunikative Kontraste

Kaisertum und Kaiserkult: Ein Vergleich zwischen Philos Legatio ad Gaium und der Offenbarung des Johannes