What makes the Book of Revelation so hard to understand? How does the Book of Revelation fit into Judaism and the beginning of Christianity? John W. Marshall proposes a radical reinterpretation of the Book of Revelation of John, viewing it as a document of the Jewish diaspora during the Judean War. He contends that categorizing the Book as "Christian" has been an impediment in interpreting the Apocalypse. By suspending that category, solutions to several persistent problems in contemporary exegesis of the Apocalypse are facilitated. The author thus undertakes a rereading of the Book of Revelation that does not merely enumerate elements of a Jewish "background" but understands the Book of Revelation as an integral whole and a thoroughly Jewish text. Marshall carefully scrutinizes the problems that plague contemporary interpretations of the Book of Revelation, and how the category of "Christian" relates to such problems. He employs the works of Mieke Bal, Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Jean Fran‡ois Lyotard, and Jonathan Z. Smith as theoretical resources. In the second half of his study, he provides detailed descriptions of the social and cultural context of the diaspora during the Judean War, and constructive rereadings of four key text complexes. The result is a portrait of the Apocalypse of John that envisions the document as deeply invested in the Judaism of its time, pursuing rhetorical objectives that are not defined by the issues that scholars use to differentiate Judaism from Christianity.
Author(s): John W. Marshall
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 265
Parables of War: Reading John's Jewish Apocalypse......Page 4
CONTENTS......Page 6
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS......Page 8
1 INTRODUCTION......Page 10
2 APORIAS: PASSAGES WITHOUT PASSAGE......Page 19
1. The Synagogue of Satan......Page 21
2. Keeping the Commandments......Page 25
3. 144,000 from Israel or on Zion......Page 27
4. The Holy City and the Great City......Page 31
3 MEANINGS: NAMES AND PATHS......Page 34
1. Paths of Suspicion......Page 35
2. Signification and Reference......Page 37
1. The Problem......Page 46
2. The Possibility of a Supplement......Page 47
3. The Practice of a Complement......Page 49
4. Conflicted Functioning......Page 51
1. Smith's Critique and Proposal......Page 54
2. Monothetic and Polythetic Movements in the Interpretation of the Apocalypse of John......Page 56
3. Polythetic Classification and a Polyadic Understanding of Religion......Page 60
1. The Great Collective Story......Page 64
2. Ignatius? Paul? Jesus? Adam?......Page 69
3. The Difference......Page 75
7 NAMES: CHOOSING CATEGORIES......Page 77
1. Christian, Christianity (χριστιανός, χριστιανισμός)......Page 78
2. Christ (Χριστός)......Page 85
3. Judaism, Jewish, Jew (Ἰουδαϊσμός, Ἰουδαῖος)......Page 91
4. Assembly (Ἐκκλεσία)......Page 92
5. Gathering (Συναγωγή)......Page 93
8 DATE: THAT LONG YEAR......Page 97
1. The Role of "Sources"......Page 98
2. The Seven Kings of the Seven Mountains......Page 99
3. The Name "Babylon"......Page 101
4. The Number of the Beast......Page 102
5. Testimonies......Page 103
6. Historical Circumstances......Page 104
7. The Two Witnesses......Page 105
9 LOCATION: DIASPORA IN WAR......Page 107
1.1 Help from "Beyond the Euphrates"......Page 109
1.2 Agrippa's Warning......Page 111
1.3 Conflict in Caesarea and Chaos in Syria......Page 112
1.4 Strife in the Wide World......Page 115
1.5 The Aftermath in Africa and Antioch......Page 117
2. The Long Year......Page 119
3. Other Wars, Other Diasporas......Page 123
3.2 Greek Diaspora in Italy......Page 124
3.3 The Mithridatic Wars......Page 125
3.4 Scythians in Greece......Page 126
10 PARABLES I: STANDING FAST AMONG THE NATIONS......Page 131
1. The Not-Jews and the Synagogue of Satan......Page 133
1.1 Balaam, Jezebel, and the Nicolaitans......Page 136
1.2 The Adversary and John's Adversaries......Page 140
1.3 Naming the Synagogue of Satan......Page 141
2. Those Who Keep the Commandments......Page 143
2.1 Chasing the Queen of Heaven......Page 144
2.2 The Beasts Run Amok......Page 148
2.3 The Warriors' Secret Chorus......Page 149
2.4 ἐντολή and νομός and Jesus in the Dock......Page 150
1. The 144.000 from Israel or on Zion......Page 158
1.1 Allies in the Source Critics......Page 161
1.2 Clean from Women......Page 164
1.3 Priests in the Temple, Warriors in Wartime......Page 169
2. The Great City and the Holy City......Page 172
2.1 Sources and Critics......Page 175
2.2 Measuring the Temple......Page 176
2.3 Two Witnesses Before the Lord of the Earth......Page 178
2.4 Literal and Spiritual Geography: Sodom, Egypt, and Babylon......Page 179
12 RESULTS: JUDAISM IN ASIA AND DEVOTION TO JESUS......Page 183
1. The Persuasive Apocalypse......Page 185
1.1 Tie Structure of the Apocalypse......Page 186
1.2 Problems and Responses......Page 190
1.3 Parties in Conflict, Shuffling Categories......Page 194
1.4 Other Elements of John's Program......Page 198
2. The Apocalypse of John and Other Jesus Literature......Page 201
2.1 Paul's Anxiety over Gentiles......Page 202
2.2 The Gospels' Anxieties with(in) Judaism......Page 206
3.1 Living in Asia......Page 210
3.2 Money and Cult......Page 212
EPILOGUE......Page 216
Primary Sources......Page 217
Secondary Sources......Page 224
SUBJECT INDEX......Page 249
ANCIENT SOURCES INDEX......Page 254
MODERN AUTHOR INDEX......Page 264
Untitled......Page 268
