Before Jerusalem Fell

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REVEI.ATION STUDIES
Interest in Revelation
At once arresting and bewildering the reader, the vivid imagery
and dramatic message of Revelation have long captivated the attention
of Christendom. Although the literary genre of which it is
considered to be a distinctive representative (i .e., “apocalyptic” ) 1 was
familiar to the ancients of the first century of our era, Revelation is,
nevertheless, set apart from its literary milieu at two levels. On the
human level, it is widely heralded as “the most perfect of apocalypses,”
and “the climax in style of an age of literary effort .“2 On the
divine level, it is nothing less than inspired revelation from God.
1. The debate as to whether or not Revelation ought to be classed as apocalyptic
literature will not be engaged here. Probably it is not properly “apocalyptic,” in the
narrow sense in which this word is understood by modern scholars. Rather, we prefer
“prophetic.” For an excellent discussion of the significant differences, see David Hill, New
Testament Profhzy (Atlanta John Knox, 1979), chap. 3: “The Book of Revelation as
Christian Prophecy.” See further discussion in G. Von Rad, T?uolo.g of&h Old Testament,
vol. 2 (Eng. trans.: Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1965); P. Vilhouer, “Apocalyptic,” in
R. M. Wilson, cd., New Testament Apoaypha, vol. 2 (Eng. trans.: London: Lutterworth,
1965); and Werner Georg Kiimmel, Introduchon to thz Ntzo Testament, 17th cd., trans.
Howard Clark Kee (Nashville, TN: Abingdon, 1973), pp. 457ff. Additional discussion
and documentation can be found in Barclay Newman, “The Fallacy of the Domitian
Hypothesis. Critique of the Irenaeus Source as a Witness for the Contemporary-
Historical Approach to the Interpretation of the Apocalypse,” New Te$tament Studies 10
(1963-64):134, n. 4.
2. Vacher Burch, Anthropolo~ and the Apoca@e (London: Macmillan, 1939), p. 11.
James Moffatt speaks of it thus: Revelation “rises above its class quantum lenkr solent inter
uibuma aspresst. [W] hen it is approached through the tangled underwoods of
apocalyptic wfitings in general, with their frigid speculations upon cosmic details, their
wearisome and fantastic calculations, their tasteless and repulsive elements, and the
turgid rhetoric which frequently submerges their really fine conceptions, the Apocalypse
of John reveals itself as a superior plant” (James Moffatt, T/u Revelation of St. John the
Diuine, in W. R. Nicoll, cd., Englishman’s Greek Testament, vol. 5 [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,
rep. 1980], pp. 295-296).
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