Showing papers on "Revelation published in 2013"

YHWH, the Trinity, and the literal sense : theological interpretation of Exodus 3:13-15

Abstract: In this dissertation, I engage a variety of contexts in reading Exodus 3:13–15. The trend in late-nineteenth and twentieth-century Old Testament scholarship was to oppose the meaning of the Hebrew text with later Christian interpretations, which built on Greek and Latin translations. According to this view, the text of Ex 3:13‒15 presents an etymology of the divine name that suggests God’s active presence with Israel or what God will accomplish for Israel; the text does not address the nature or being of God. In Part I, I critique this interpretive trend, arguing that religio-historical approaches to determining the origins of the name “YHWH” and of Yahwism do not substantially help one read the received form of the biblical text, and that Augustine’s interpretation of Ex 3:13–15 provides an example of a pre-modern reading of the literal sense that avoids the problems of which it might be accused. In Part II, I argue that the text of Ex 3:13–15, understood according to the literal sense, addresses both who God is as well as God’s action, and that conversation with Augustine’s reading can help the reader, in a Christian context, to understand the text and its subject matter. Read within the literary contexts of the received form of the book of Exodus and the Pentateuch as a whole, the text of Ex 3:13–15 suggests that Moses’ question addresses more than factual information, even the character and nature of God. The “I am who I am” of v. 14a expresses indefiniteness; while God reveals himself as YHWH and offers this name for the Israelites to call upon him, God is not exhausted by this revelation but rather remains beyond human comprehension and control.

A Kingdom of Priests: Ancestry and Merit in Ancient Judaism

Abstract: Introduction 1. Priest and Scribe: Ancestry and Professional Skill in the Book of the Watchers, the Wisdom of Ben Sira, and Aramaic Levi 2. Jubilees' Kingdom of Priests 3. Priesthood and Purity Laws: The Temple Scroll and the Damascus Document 4. Priesthood and Sectarianism: The Rule of the Community, the Damascus Document, and the Book of Revelation 5. Priesthood and Allegory: Philo and Alexandrian Judaism 6. "The Children of Abraham Your Friend": The End of Priesthood, the Rise of Christianity, and the Neutralization of Jewish Sectarianism Acknowledgments Bibliography Index

Radical politics and the Apocalypse: activist readings of Revelation

Abstract: The growth of the study of the geopolitics of religion is welcome after decades of neglect. However, the narrow focus upon right-wing American interpretations of end-times theology writes evangelical Christians as geography's ‘repugnant cultural other’ who constitute us as the modern, progressive, rational subject. Drawing on parallel debates in the anthropology of religion, this article stresses the importance of attending to other readings of the Apocalypse in other places. Using the examples of Dan Berrigan, William Stringfellow and Allan Boesak, it shows how justice and peace activists have read the Book of Revelation as a radical anti-imperial text and found in it a source of resilience for non-violent resistance in the face of apparently overwhelming odds.

Sacred Scripture, Sacred War: The Bible and the American Revolution

Abstract: Introduction Chapter 1: "The Curse of Cowardice": Biblical Patriotism and the Martial Power of the Sermon Chapter 2: "The Lord is a Man of War": Moses, the Exodus, and the Spirit of '76 Chapter 3: "Curse ye Meroz" and "Cursed Be He that Keepeth Back his Sword from Blood": Deborah, Jeremiah, and the Militant American Jeremiad Chapter 4: "Teacheth My Hands to War, and My Fingers to Fight": David's Revolutionary Heroism "After God's Own Heart" Chapter 5: "The Liberty wherewith Christ hath Made Us Free": Peter, Paul, and Patriotism Chapter 6: "The Fierceness and Wrath of Almighty God": Revelation in the Revolution Epilogue: An American Patriot's Bible Notes Index

The Matter and Form of Maimonides' Guide

Abstract: Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed has traditionally been read as an attempt to harmonize reason and revelation. Another, more recent interpretation takes the contradiction between philosophy and religion to be irreconcilable, and concludes that the Guide prescribes religion for the masses and philosophy for the elite. Moving beyond these familiar debates, Josef Stern argues that the perplexity addressed in this famously enigmatic work is not the conflict between Athens and Jerusalem but the tension between human matter and form, between the body and the intellect. Maimonides' philosophical tradition takes the perfect life to be intellectual: pure, undivided contemplation of all possible truths, from physics and cosmology to metaphysics and God. According to the Guide, this ideal cannot be realized by humans. Their embodied minds cannot achieve scientific knowledge of metaphysics, and their bodily impulses interfere with exclusive contemplation. Closely analyzing the arguments in the Guide and its original use of the parable as a medium of philosophical writing, Stern articulates Maimonides' skepticism about human knowledge of metaphysics and his heterodox interpretations of scriptural and rabbinic parables. Stern shows how, in order to accommodate the conflicting demands of the intellect and the body, Maimonides creates a repertoire of spiritual exercises, reconceiving the Mosaic commandments as training for the life of the embodied mind. By focusing on the philosophical notions of matter and form, and the interplay between its literary form and subject matter, Stern succeeds in developing a unified, novel interpretation of the Guide.

The moral philosopher

Abstract: Oracles of Reason [1693] Charles Blount 226pp A Letter to the Deists [1696] Humphrey Prideaux 156pp bound with Short and Easy Method with the Deists [1723] Charles Leslie 69pp Christianity not Mysterious [1696] John Toland 208pp bound with Letter in Answer to a Book entitled Christianity not Mysterious [1697] Peter Browne 188pp Reflections on the Conduct of the Modern Deists [1727] Samuel Chandler 166pp Christianity as Old as the Creation [1730] Matthew Tindal 400pp Usefulness, Truth and Excellency of the Christian Revelation [1731] James Foster 378pp The Moral Philosopher, in a dialogue between Philalethes, a Christian Deist, and Theophanus, a Christian Jew [1738] Thomas Morgan 460pp A Collection of the Tracts of a certain Free Enquirer [c.1750] Peter Annet 464pp

'The government of Christ': John Woolman's (1720-1772) apocalyptic theology

Abstract: Previous approaches to colonial New Jersey Quaker tailor, John Woolman (1720-1772), have failed to address the centrality of theology to his social reforms. This thesis comprises an original contribution to Woolman studies and 18th century Quaker theology through a demonstration of a heretofore unrecognised apocalyptic theology which encompassed a practical and comprehensive vision of God's kingdom on earth. Based on an analysis of Woolman's entire body of writing, this thesis argues that Woolman's theology is best understood as apocalyptic because it was centred on a vision of Christ's immediate presence governing all aspects of human affairs. Woolman's apocalypticism is analysed around three main theological themes: divine revelation, propheticism and eschatology. These themes are evident in Woolman's belief that, 1) God intervened in world affairs to reveal God's will for humanity on earth in a way unavailable to the senses and natural faculties; 2) God's will made claims on society and God commissioned human agents to confront apostasy and be God's spokespeople; and, 3) the faithful embodied the kingdom and pointed to the transformation of all things to establish the 'government of Christ'.

Julian of Norwich : A Book of Essays

Abstract: Likeness of God and the restoration of humanity in Julian of Norwich's "Showings" image of God - contrasting configurations in Julian of Norwich's "Showings" trinitarian hermeneutic in "Revelation of Love" St Cecilia and St John of Beverly - Julian of Norwich's early model and late affirmation genre approach to Julian of Norwich's epistemology point of coincidence - rhetoric and the apophatic in Julian of Norwich's "Showings" "I wolde for thi loue dye" - Julian, romance discourse and the masculine Julian's diabology "In the lowest part of our need" - Julian and medieval gynaecological writing a question of audience - the Westminster text and 15th-century reception of Julian of Norwich leaving the womb of Christ - love, doomsday and space/time in Julian of Norwich and Eastern orthodox mysticism.

Leo Strauss and the Rediscovery of Maimonides

Abstract: In "Leo Strauss and the Rediscovery of Maimonides", Kenneth Hart Green explores the critical role played by Maimonides in shaping Leo Strauss' thought. In uncovering the esoteric tradition employed in Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed, Strauss made the radical realization that other ancient and medieval philosophers might be concealing their true thoughts through literary artifice. Maimonides and al-Farabi, he saw, allowed their message to be altered by dogmatic considerations only to the extent required by moral and political imperatives and were in fact avid advocates for enlightenment. Strauss also revealed Maimonides' potential relevance to contemporary concerns, especially his paradoxical conviction that one must confront the conflict between reason and revelation rather than resolve it. An invaluable companion to Green's comprehensive collection of Strauss' writings on Maimonides, this volume shows how Strauss confronted the commonly accepted approaches to the medieval philosopher, resulting in both a new understanding of Maimonides and a new depth and direction for his own thought. It will be welcomed by anyone engaged with the work of either philosopher.

Intertextuality and the use of Scripture in the Book of Revelation

Abstract: In an article in 1993 and a monograph in 1995, I used the literary concept of intertextuality to describe the complex use of the Old Testament in the book of Revelation. In this article, I review seven recent monographs (Ronald Farmer, Robert Royalty, Gregory Beale, Alison Jack, Sverre Boe, Pilchin Lee, David Mathewson) and an important article by Paul Decock to determine whether intertextuality has proven to be a useful concept for understanding John’s use of Scripture.

The Book of Revelation

Abstract: The book of Revelation raises a multitude of critical, theological, and interpretive questions. A number of general and introductory topics are particular to the book of Revelation, including questions of authorship, date, and historical context. This chapter includes a number of special topics that are important in considering the meaning and significance of the book of Revelation. There are a number of important theological ideas in the book of Revelation, including the nature of God, Christology, ecclesiology, and eschatology, among others. The role of biblical criticism is significant in interpretation of the book of Revelation. A section presents interpretations of individual passages and sections. As with most books in the New Testament, the book of Revelation has generated a number of collections of essays. These vary in scope and purpose depending upon the occasion of the volume.Keywords: biblical criticism; book of Revelation; Christology; theological ideas

LET THEM BE LIKE THE SNAIL THAT DISSOLVES INTO SLIME” (Ps. 58:8a): PASTORAL AND THEOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVES ON DIVINE AND HUMAN VIOLENCE IN THE BIBLE

Abstract: Divine and human violence permeates both testaments of the Bible, as the psalm laments, conquest stories in Joshua and Deuteronomy, the prophets, Jesus' parables, and the book of Revelation attest. Readers often ignore, spiritualize, simplify, romanticize, or sanitize this violence. Reading with interruption (Fewell) allows readers to stop and questionviolent texts and imagine them differently, thereby promoting shalom or wholeness. Interruption can challenge God images, assumptions about the 'Other', and self-identity in transformative, life-giving ways.

An Introduction to the Critical Study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures: On the Book of Revelation

Abstract: This work is by a professor of New Testament interpretation at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (Louisville, KY). He was previously principal of Spurgeon's College in London (195872). He writes from the preterist-futurist camp. He regards the main purpose of the book as picturing the triumph of Christ and the major events of the book from chapters 4 through 18 to be a description of the endtime preceding the second coming of Christ. However, he does spiritualize the thousand-year reign of Christ and intimates that it begins with His first coming. He also spiritualizes the 144,000 as the church (church = new Israel). Reviewed in BibSac (Jan 1982): 82.

Do Christians and Muslims Believe in the Same God? Reflections on Miroslav Volf's Allah: A Christian Response

Abstract: Miroslav Volf's Allah: A Christian Response is an important book that advances Christian–Muslim dialogue. This article outlines Volf's thesis, critically evaluates some key claims made in the book, and examines some of the methodological presuppositions in Volf's project. It also seeks to situate Volf's claim about the “same God” within a Christian typology of “revelation” so that the significance of his claims might be better understood.

The Image of Both Churches

Abstract: The Image of both Churches after the most wonderful and heavenly Revelation of Saint John the Evangelist, containing a very fruitful exposition or paraphrase upon the same, wherein it is conferred with the other scriptures and most authorized histories. Compiled by John Bale, an exile also in this life for the faithful testimony of Jesus.

Image, Word and God in the Early Christian Centuries

Abstract: Christianity proclaims Christ and the incarnate word of God; the Bible is described as the Word of God in both Jewish and Christian tradition. Are these usages merely homonymous, or would the ancients have recognized a more intimate relation between the word incarnate and the word proclaimed? This book investigates the concept of logos in pagan, Jewish and Christian thought, with a view to elucidating the polyphonic functions which the word acquired when used in theological discourse. Edwards presents a survey of theological applications of the term Logos in Greek, Jewish and Christian thought from Plato to Augustine and Proclus. Special focus is placed on: the relation of words to images in representation of divine realm, the relation between the logos within (reason) and the logos without (speech) both in linguistics and in Christology, the relation between the incarnate Word and the written text, and the place of reason in the interpretation of revelation. Bringing together materials which are rarely synthesized in modern study, this book shows how Greek and biblical thought part company in their appraisal of the capacity of reason to grasp the nature of God, and how in consequence verbal revelation plays a more significant role in biblical teaching. Edwards shows how this entailed the rejection of images in Jewish and Christian thought, and how the manifestation in flesh of Christ as the living word of God compelled the church to reconsider both the relation of word to image and the interplay between the logos within and the written logos in the formulation of Christian doctrine.

Revelation 21-22 in Light of Jewish and Greco-Roman Utopianism

Abstract: In Revelation 21-22 in Light of Jewish and Greco-Roman Utopianism, Eric J. Gilchrest offers a creative and compelling reading of Revelation 21-22 as understood through the lenses of ancient Greco-Roman and Jewish utopianism.

The word of life : a study of the relationship between the doctrines of revelation and redemption, with reference to the theology of John Calvin and contemporary thought concerning speech and action

Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to show that any disconnect between the doctrines of revelation and redemption is unwarranted. Divine communicative action is to enable personal knowledge of God, and this has not only epistemological but also soteriological implications. A survey of Calvin‘s understanding concerning the activity of speech, both human and divine, is undertaken first. The role of Scripture in conveying divine speech is discussed and Calvin‘s concept of accommodation is reviewed. As communication can only function in particular contexts, it is argued that an appropriate context for divine-human communication is provided in the doctrine of the imago Dei. The main contemporary views are considered and a recent major statement of the functional view is summarised and an initial critique offered. Further objections are then raised to the primacy (or exclusivity) of the consensus view. Also the imago is located in the wider framework of biblical theology and Calvin‘s concept of the imago is also examined. The identity of the covenant-making God is considered and this is done with particular reference to the experience and testimony of Israel. The significance of the notions ̳experience‘ and ̳testimony‘ are examined especially in their relation to knowledge. The Exodus texts concerning the ―revelation of the divine name‖ are then analysed, which opens up questions about the identity of YHWH, his action and the links with his speech. Some contemporary thinking on the Epistle to the Hebrews is surveyed and this leads to the conclusion that to ignore the speech of YHWH is to render both his identity and action opaque at the very least. In the context of God‘s ―design plan‖, human beings are made for relationship with him and divine communicative action is necessary to effect that relationship – bringing both revelation and redemption together.

The church as symbolic mediation: Revelation ecclesiology in the theology of Avery Dulles, S. J.

Abstract: THE CHURCH AS SYMBOLIC MEDIATION: REVELATION ECCLESIOLOGY IN THE THEOLOGY OF AVERY DULLES, S. J. Abraham B. Fisher, B.S., M.A. Marquette University, 2013 This dissertation examines closely the theology of Avery Dulles, S.J., arguing that when Dulles’ symbolic-mediation theology of revelation is viewed through the lens of his sacramental ecclesiology, there emerges an ecclesiology that recognizes and emphasizes the revelatory nature of the church. This study constructs this “revelation ecclesiology” by bringing Dulles’ signature theologies of the church and revelation into conversation. At the intersection of those two theologies stands the reality of symbol – a defining characteristic for both the theology of the church as a sacramental reality and the theology of revelation as an event of divine self-communication. The study begins, therefore, by defining the concept of symbol, and the related foundational concepts of revelation, church and sacrament, as they function theologically within Dulles’ corpus. The study then demonstrates the crucial role of symbol in the development of Dulles’ sacramental ecclesiology, arguing that the unique efficacy of symbol lies at the heart of the sacramental reality. Because of its sacramental nature, the church demonstrates the efficacy and modality of symbol, but also possesses an ontological connection to Christ, the primordial sacrament. The study continues with a demonstration of Dulles’ conviction that the phenomenon of divine revelation is an event of communication with a transactional character. Revelation requires both an offer and a reception in order to realize itself as an accomplished event, however, this reception must be according to the mode of the receiver and thus requires a mediation. Symbol is the reality that is uniquely capable of providing this necessary mediation. Finally, the study concludes that Dulles’ corpus provides evidence that the sacrament of the church functions as precisely that symbolic mediation which characterizes the event of revelation. Thus the sacrament of the church is what Dulles has termed a revelatory symbol, i.e., one which expresses and mediates God’s selfcommunication in Christ. A final chapter concludes the study with an exploration of the implications of the constructed revelation ecclesiology for several significant current theological issues and questions: the mission of the church, the unity of revelation, the possibility and necessity of ecclesial reform, ecumenical dialogue, and the question of the closure of revelation.

From Clear Fulfillment to Complex Prophecy: the History of the Adventist Interpretation of Revelation 9, from 1833 to 1957

Abstract: FROM CLEAR FULFILLMENT TO COMPLEX PROPHECY: THE HISTORY OF THE ADVENTIST INTERPRETATION OF REVELATION 9, FROM 1833 TO 1957 by Jon Hjorleifur Stefansson

Revelation as divine testimony : a philosophical-theological inquiry

Abstract: The dissertation examines, on the basis of insights from contemporary analytic philosophy of testimony, the intellectual viability of the traditional Christian conception of revelation as divine te ...

Thinking and Seeing with Women in Revelation

Abstract: Introduction Chapter 1: Seeing with John: Revelation, Vision and Metaphor Chapter 2: Seeing and Thinking with the City-Bride: Revelation's Bridal Imagery in Context Chapter 3: Becoming the Bridal City: Envisioning the Bride with Late Medieval Visionaries Chapter 4: "Coming into Wedding": Reading and Viewing Revelation in the American South Conclusion: Unveiling the Visible

The First Chapter

Abstract: [1] The revelation of Jesus Christ, [2] which God gave unto him [3] for to show unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass. [4] And he sent and showed by his angel unto his servant John, [5] which bore record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. [6] Happy is he that readeth and they that hear the words of the prophecy and keep those things which are written therein, [7] for the time is at hand.

Historical and theological backgrounds of the Whore of Babylon in Revelation 17 & 18 in a Jewish context

Abstract: I argue that some ancient Jewish sects, specifically the community at Qumran and the early Christians, did in fact write against, speak out against, and interpret ancient tests as being against their fellow Jews, the Temple, Jerusalem or all three. Given the time in which these occurred, I argue that those sects believed that the Roman Empire would be means in which their god would punish/destroy Jews that did not believe as they did, the Temple that did not represent what they thought it should, and Jerusalem as they believed it had become a sinful city. I examine the writings and persons of the Greek Bible. I examine specifics such as the Parable of the Tenants and demonstrate that this was delivered against Jewish leadership and the Olivet Discourse that, like the book of Jubilees, presents a series of tribulations that will fall on a wicked generation, specifically the one living in Jerusalem during the first century C.E. I also demonstrate how the motif of these writings affected the book of Revelation. I examine the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible and show how the author used them as allusions in regards to the Whore of Babylon that appear in the book of Revelation. In doing so, I demonstrate that the Whore of Babylon is correctly identified as the city of Jerusalem. Additionally I show that the author used Babylon, the ancient foe of Israel, as a metaphor to demonstrate what he believed Israel had become. Lastly, I examine the author, a man named John, and the social world he lived in and the time he wrote during. I demonstrate that the commonly held belief of persecution against the early Christians and the use of Roman religion, such as the imperial cult, has been over stated and has led not only to a misinterpretation of chapters 17 and 18 in the book of Revelation, but they have led to an overall misunderstanding of the book as a whole.

Narrative Space, Angelic Revelation, and the End of Mark’s Gospel

Abstract: This article draws on spatial theory to analyse the final chapter of Mark’s Gospel, describing a setting full of religious and cultural significance. The analysis reveals a narrative of building tens...