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Parallel Worlds: The Place of Revelation in
Jewish Apocalyptic
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By the end of the module the student should be able to:
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1. locate the Revelation in the genre of Jewish apocalyptic
2. show the distinctive ways that the risen Christ is
portrayed in the text
3 identify some of the key theological themes in the text
4. use several different hermeneutical tools to interpret
the text
5. give an account of how Revelation might be used within
the context of Christian worship and praxis today
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The disclosure of divine secrets is the
purpose of Jewish apocalyptic
Those secrets can include creation, the origin
of evil, calendaric matters and the end of the
world
Bosch
St John on Patmos
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What features of Daniel 7 and Ezekiel 1
appear in Revelation 4?
How is the Old Testament used in Revelation
4?
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the temple, the torah, the one God who was
worshipped in the temple and obeyed in the
following of the torah, election as his
covenant people to whom he had given
temple and torah – this common Judaism
gave Jews common identity in very concrete
ways.
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Orthodoxy, Ethnicity and Identity
Ethnicity, circumcision, sabbath observance,
dietary laws, purity laws, scripture,
monotheism and major festivals
P M Casey, From Jewish Prophet to Gentile
God, Cambridge, 1991
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Ezekiel 1
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Daniel 7
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1 Enoch 14
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What language and imagery does each use
about God?
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From Israel’s past
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Offer legitimacy to the community
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Reveals secrets
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Perform actions on behalf of God, including
judgement
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I saw on the top of Sinai what appeared to be
a throne so enormous that it touched the
clouds of heaven. On it there sat a man
(literally light) of noble appearance wearing a
crown, and with a sceptre in one hand, and
with the other, he summoned me. I
approached and stood in front of the throne,
he handed me the sceptre and commanded
me to mount the throne, and gave me the
crown. The he withdrew from the throne.
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And the Head of Days came with Michael,
Gabriel, Raphael and Phanuel and thousands
and tens of thousands of angels without
number. And that angel came to me and
greeted me with his voice: “You are the Son of
Man who was born to righteousness”. (1 En.
71: 13-14)
 1Then
I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven,
wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow over his head, and his face
was like the sun, and his legs like pillars of fire. 2 He had a little
scroll open in his hand. And he set his right foot on the sea, and
his left foot on the land, 3and called out with a loud voice, like a
lion roaring. When he called out, the seven thunders sounded.
4And when the seven thunders had sounded, I was about to write,
but I heard a voice from heaven saying, "Seal up what the seven
thunders have said, and do not write it down." 5And the angel
whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised his right
hand to heaven 6and swore by him who lives forever and ever,
who created heaven and what is in it, the earth and what is in it,
and the sea and what is in it, that there would be no more delay,
7but that in the days of the trumpet call to be sounded by the
seventh angel, the mystery of God would be fulfilled, just as he
announced to his servants the prophets.
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Revelation has at least three images of Jesus
◦ One like a son of man
◦ The Lamb
◦ The warrior on the horse
◦ What do they say individually about John’s
Christology?
◦ What do they say collectively?