Edited by David L. Barr Professor of Religion, Wright State University
This book is intended to be both an introduction to the Book of Revelation for undergraduate students and an introduction to the various ways of reading it. The authors have worked together for eight years as members of the Society of Biblical Literature Seminar on Reading the Apocalypse: The Intersection of Literary and Social Methods. This work attempts to translate their concerns for both method and meaning into a form appropriate for undergraduate students. Each chapter attempts an overall reading of Revelation that grows out of a particular methodological approach; the authors illustrate the methods by discussing the text of Revelation rather than discussing the method with illustration from Revelation. The primary approaches include historical (Thompson), literary (Barr), and social analysis (Friesen), which are then used in combination with other reading strategies, including social conflict theory (Duff), philosophy (Farmer), women's studies (Humphrey), ethics (Barr), History of Religions (Thompson), liberation theology (Ruiz), and popular culture (Paulien). Each of these essays focuses on a specific text from Revelation and shows how the method used helps interpret that text. Beginning students will benefit from the clear explanations and discussions of key texts from Revelation; more advanced students will appreciate how methods shape our understandings of texts. All will benefit from up-to-date discussions by some of the leading scholars studying Revelation today. The main purpose of the book is to show the methods at work, revealing how method shapes meaning. However, the volume will go beyond the usual demonstration of a series of methods, trying also to relate them to each other and to show the tensions between them. The reader will gain some sense of how to use the various methods and how to choose between the readings they offer.
List of Contributors (alphabetical)
David L. Barr Professor of Religion Wright State University
Paul Duff Associate Professor of Religion The George Washington University
Ronald L. Farmer Dean of the Wallace All Faiths Chapel and Associate Professor of Religious Studies Chapman University
Steve Friesen Associate Professor and Chair Department of Religious Studies University of Missouri
Edith M. Humphrey Associate Professor of New Testament Pittsburgh Theological Seminary
Jon Paulien Professor of New Testament Interpretation Andrews University
Jean-Pierre Ruiz Associate Professor and Chair Department of Theology & Religious Studies St John's University
Leonard L. Thompson Emeritus Professor Lawrence University