and coolly; it is the product of long centuries of philosophical speculation. The concept, “god,” was already disposed Eastern Orthodoxy treats the text as simultaneously describing contemporaneous events (events occurring at the same time) and as prophecy of events to come, for which the contemporaneous events were a form of foreshadow. It rejects attempts to determine, before the fact, if the events of Revelation are occurring by mapping them onto present-day events, taking to heart the Scriptural warning against those who proclaim "He is here!" prematurely. Instead, the book is seen as a warning to be spiritually and morally ready for the end times, whenever they may come ("as a thief in the night"), but they will come at the time of God's choosing, not something that can be precipitated nor trivially deduced by mortals. [71] New Testament narrative criticism also places Revelation in its first century historical context but approaches the book from a literary perspective. [117] For example, narrative critics examine characters and characterization, literary devices, settings, plot, themes, point of view, implied reader, implied author, and other constitutive features of narratives in their analysis of the book.

Gentry, Kenneth L. Jr. (1998). Before Jerusalem Fell: Dating the Book of Revelation, Powder Springs, GA: American Vision, ISBN 0-915815-43-5. Other apocalypses popular in the early Christian era did not achieve canonical status. 2 Esdras (also known as the Apocalypse of Ezra) is recognized as canonical in Ethiopian Orthodox churches, but as part of the Old Testament. Popes, old and new, have been targets for those on the lookout for the Antichrist. Unsplash/Nacho Arteaga, CC BY

Topics on Antichrist

The Apostolic Canons, approved by the Eastern Orthodox Council in Trullo in 692, but rejected by Pope Sergius I, omit it. [47] Protestant Reformation [ edit ]

Accordingly, they argue, the Book of Revelation should not be read as an enigmatic warning, but as an encouraging vision of Christ's definitive victory over evil. [64] Oriental Orthodox [ edit ] "Christ in Glory (Pankrator)," ca. 6th-8th Century CE, wall painting from the Monastery of Bawit. The Coptic iconography represents many elements from the Book of Revelation. Doubts resurfaced during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther called Revelation "neither apostolic nor prophetic" in the 1522 preface to his translation of the New Testament (he revised his position with a much more favorable assessment in 1530), [48] Huldrych Zwingli labelled it "not a book of the Bible", [49] and it was the only New Testament book on which John Calvin did not write a commentary. [50] As of 2015, [update] Revelation remains the only New Testament book not read in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church, [51] though Catholic and Protestant liturgies include it. Professor Schüssler Fiorenza believes that Revelation has particular relevance today as a liberating message to disadvantaged groups. John's book is a vision of a just world, not a vengeful threat of world-destruction. Her view that Revelation's message is not gender-based has caused dissent. She says humanity is to look behind the symbols rather than make a fetish out of them. In contrast, Tina Pippin states that John writes " horror literature" and "the misogyny which underlies the narrative is extreme." [110] Chilton, David (2011). The Days of Vengeance. Tyler, Texas: Dominion Press. p.55. ISBN 978-0-930462-09-3. Russell, James (1887). The Parousia. United Kingdom: Bierton Strict and Particular Baptists. pp.258–259. ISBN 978-1-519610-94-2.

James Morgan Pryse was an esoteric gnostic who saw Revelation as a western version of the Hindu theory of the Chakra. He began his work, "The purpose of this book is to show that the Apocalypse is a manual of spiritual development and not, as conventionally interpreted, a cryptic history or prophecy." [91] Such diverse theories have failed to command widespread acceptance. However, Christopher Rowland argues: "there are always going to be loose threads which refuse to be woven into the fabric as a whole. The presence of the threads which stubbornly refuse to be incorporated into the neat tapestry of our world-view does not usually totally undermine that view." [92] Radical discipleship [ edit ]