Beauty and the Beast
Leading a bible study this evening on Revelation. It's just an overview of what apocalyptic literature is, why we can't take it literally, and how it is actually a beautiful and complex representation of a theology of hope rather than terror and violence. Thought y'all might be interested in the short version:
1 Biblical literature comes in many flavors or genres: Luke 10:30 (parable); Psalm 100 (psalm=song); Matthew 1:1 (geneology); Philippians 1:1 (letter)
2 Prophecy is another genre and it doesn't mean telling the future the way you think--it was usually written after the fact to explain why things went a particular way. It was frequently written when an oppressed minority were asking, "Where is God? How could this happen?" Prophets were more like political analysts than like Miss Cleo--they were able to take a step back and see the patterns around them, point out where the people were failing.
3 Apocalyptic literature is a kind of prophecy with specific stylistic devices like bizarre imagery (code for current politicians and situations) and clear divides between good and evil, light and dark. Thing is, the Jews at the time didn't have a concept of hell or heaven--everyone went to Sheol. At some point along the way, this concept of the afterlife changed into looking at God's promise of temporal redemption as a future hope--that is, God would save them here on earth. The New Jerusalem we hear so much about is a physical city--it's the heavenly city come to earth.
4 Revelation itself was written by John (no, not that John and not that John either) of Patmos probably in the first century CE after a particulary bad persecution of Christians. Babylon is a code for Rome, 666 and the Beast are probably meant to be Caesar, and "The Tribulation" is not clearly defined but literally means "pressure."
5 Yes, it's trippy; yes, it's violent; yes, it's got one of the most beautiful passages in all of Biblical literature (21:1-5). More to the point, it's art. It's a complex and ambiguous vision about a complex and ambiguous world. It's the veil being lifted for one person who sees what it's all about and who tries to share that hope with the rest of us.
1 Biblical literature comes in many flavors or genres: Luke 10:30 (parable); Psalm 100 (psalm=song); Matthew 1:1 (geneology); Philippians 1:1 (letter)
2 Prophecy is another genre and it doesn't mean telling the future the way you think--it was usually written after the fact to explain why things went a particular way. It was frequently written when an oppressed minority were asking, "Where is God? How could this happen?" Prophets were more like political analysts than like Miss Cleo--they were able to take a step back and see the patterns around them, point out where the people were failing.
3 Apocalyptic literature is a kind of prophecy with specific stylistic devices like bizarre imagery (code for current politicians and situations) and clear divides between good and evil, light and dark. Thing is, the Jews at the time didn't have a concept of hell or heaven--everyone went to Sheol. At some point along the way, this concept of the afterlife changed into looking at God's promise of temporal redemption as a future hope--that is, God would save them here on earth. The New Jerusalem we hear so much about is a physical city--it's the heavenly city come to earth.
4 Revelation itself was written by John (no, not that John and not that John either) of Patmos probably in the first century CE after a particulary bad persecution of Christians. Babylon is a code for Rome, 666 and the Beast are probably meant to be Caesar, and "The Tribulation" is not clearly defined but literally means "pressure."
5 Yes, it's trippy; yes, it's violent; yes, it's got one of the most beautiful passages in all of Biblical literature (21:1-5). More to the point, it's art. It's a complex and ambiguous vision about a complex and ambiguous world. It's the veil being lifted for one person who sees what it's all about and who tries to share that hope with the rest of us.