Editorial Introduction -- By: Anonymous

Journal: Review and Expositor
Volume: REVEXP 098:1 (Winter 2001)
Article: Editorial Introduction
Author: Anonymous

Editorial Introduction

No book in the Bible requires as much immersion into the text as does the Book of Revelation. This is not a work into which one can wade casually or timidly. To understand this enigmatic writing, one must jump in feet first and go under a few times. The teacher or preacher who is looking for a simple text for an easy lesson should look elsewhere. Revelation demands readers who are persistent, who are imaginative, and who are willing to grapple with the Apocalypse of John. Such readers will discover a work that more powerfully than any other writing in the canon challenges, inspires, comforts, and motivates. A layperson who was faced with the task of teaching the Book of Revelation in a church setting, in commenting about the difficulty of trying to understand John’s Apocalypse, said, “Revelation is like a foreign language. You have to know how to speak it and understand it before it makes sense.” The articles in this issue of Review and Expositor are intended to help the reader understand better the “language” of the Apocalypse so that it does indeed “make sense.”

In this issue Richard Vinson, Dean or Arts and Sciences and Professor of Religion at Averett College, takes a close look at the social world in which John of Patmos lived and to which the Apocalypse was addressed. His careful reading of the text and critical analysis of evidence from the ancient world lead to conclusions about the historical and social world of Revelation that challenge many popular views. In an article focusing on worship in the Apocalypse, Hulitt Gloer, Professor Preaching and Christian Scripture at George W. Truett Theological Seminary at Baylor University, identifies the various liturgical elements in Revelation and convincingly argues for the centrality of worship to the structure and meaning of this book. Richard Spencer, Professor in the Departments of Philosophy and Religion and Foreign Languages and Literature at Appalachian States University, deals honestly and insightfully with one of the most troublesome aspects of the Book of Revelation—its use of violent imagery and its call for vengeance. He demonstrates that even when one finds some of Revelation’s imagery and its portrayal of God unacceptable, one can still find in John’s visions a valuable contribution to Christian Scripture.

At least in popular understanding, Revelation has usually been understood as a book dealing with the future that has little to say to the present situation. In “Sacred Imagination and Social Protest,” Edwin Broadhead, Assistant Professor of General Studies, Director of the Campus Christian Center, and Campus Minister at Berea College, makes it clear that the Book of Revelation contains more than just a message of comfort and assurance. The vision of John of Patmos can also serve as a critique of society’s ills and a catalyst for social ju...