Ekphrasis, Vision, and Persuasion in the Book of Revelation

Ekphrasis, Vision, and Persuasion in the Book of Revelation PDF Author: Robyn J. Whitaker
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161539787
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book

Book Description
Robyn. J. Whitaker interprets the Book of Revelation within the context of ancient rhetoric and religion. She argues that the author of Revelation uses a popular rhetorical tool, ekphrasis, to paint word-pictures of God that compete with material images to both critique image-making and simultaneously make an absent God present.

Ekphrasis, Vision, and Persuasion in the Book of Revelation

Ekphrasis, Vision, and Persuasion in the Book of Revelation PDF Author: Robyn J. Whitaker
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161539787
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 308

Get Book

Book Description
Robyn. J. Whitaker interprets the Book of Revelation within the context of ancient rhetoric and religion. She argues that the author of Revelation uses a popular rhetorical tool, ekphrasis, to paint word-pictures of God that compete with material images to both critique image-making and simultaneously make an absent God present.

Dreams, Visions, Imaginations

Dreams, Visions, Imaginations PDF Author: Jens Schröter
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110714779
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 647

Get Book

Book Description
The contributions in this volume are focused on the historical origins, religious provenance, and social function of ancient Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature, including so-called ‘Gnostic’ writings. Although it is disputed whether there was a genre of ‘apocalyptic literature,’ it is obvious that numerous texts from ancient Judaism, early Christianity, and other religious milieus share a specific view of history and the world to come. Many of these writings are presented in form of a heavenly (divine) revelation, mediated through an otherworldly figure (like an angel) to an elected human being who discloses this revelation to his recipients in written form. In different strands of early Judaism, ancient Christianity as well as in Gnosticism, Manichaeism, and Islam, apocalyptic writings played an important role from early on and were produced also in later centuries. One of the most characteristic features of these texts is their specific interpretation of history, based on the knowledge about the upper, divine realm and the world to come. Against this background the volume deals with a wide range of apocalyptic texts from different periods and various religious backgrounds.

Vivid Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion

Vivid Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion PDF Author: Meghan Henning
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 1467467200
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 333

Get Book

Book Description
A major scholarly collaboration exploring vivid visual rhetoric in the New Testament From Jesus’s miraculous walk on water to the graphic horrors of hell, New Testament authors make vivid and unforgettable images appear before their audience’s eyes. In the past decade, scholarship on early Christian use of ancient rhetorical techniques has flourished. One focus of rhetorical criticism of the New Testament has been the function of ekphrasis, or vivid visual description. In this landmark collection, leading New Testament scholars come together to probe the purpose and import of ekphrasis in early Christian literature. The research in this collection explores the relationship between vivid rhetoric and genre, taking into account technical features, authorial intent, and audience response. Specific topics include: • The New Testament’s rhetoric compared against Greco-Roman rhetorical handbooks • Juxtaposition between vivid and non-vivid rhetoric • The use of energeia in John’s Gospel to draw upon the reader’s multiple senses • Aesthetics and the grotesque in Revelation • The use of travelogue to create a virtual journey for the audience • Vivid rhetoric in early martyr literature Vivid Rhetoric and Visual Persuasion is a must-read for scholars of early Christianity and rhetorical criticism. Readers will find this collection indispensable in understanding a complex feature of the New Testament in its historical context. Contributors Contributors Bart B. Bruehler, Diane Fruchtman, Meghan Henning, Martina Kepper, Susanne Luther, Harry O. Maier, Gudrun Nassauer, Nils Neumann, Vernon K. Robbins, Gary S. Selby, Aldo Tagliabue, Sunny Kuan-Hui Wang, Annette Weissenrieder, Robyn J. Whitaker

The Oxford Handbook of the Book of Revelation

The Oxford Handbook of the Book of Revelation PDF Author: Craig Koester
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190655445
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 640

Get Book

Book Description
The Book of Revelation holds a special fascination for both scholars and the general public. The book has generated widely differing interpretations, yet Revelation has surprisingly not been the focus of many single-volume reference works. The Oxford Handbook of the Book of Revelation fills a need in the study of this controversial book. Thirty essays by leading scholars from around the world orient readers to the major currents in the study of Revelation. Divided into five sections-Literary Features, Social Setting, Theology and Ethics, History of Reception and Influence, and Currents in Interpretation-the essays identify the major lines of interpretation that have shaped discussion of these topics, and then work through the aspects of those topics that are most significant and hold greatest promise for future research.

Revelation

Revelation PDF Author: Amos Yong
Publisher: Presbyterian Publishing Corp
ISBN: 1646981995
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 354

Get Book

Book Description
The book of Revelation stands as one of the most challenging and inspiring in the Christian canon. While giving rise to much unhelpful speculation, its core message of the active sovereignty of God in a hostile world has given courage and comfort throughout Christian history. In this volume, Amos Yong analyzes the message of Revelation to its earliest readers and speaks to its ongoing meaning for believers today. The volumes in the Belief series offer a fresh and invigorating approach to all the books of the Bible. Building on a wide range of sources from biblical studies and the Christian tradition, renowned scholars focus less on traditional historical and literary angles in favor of a theologically focused commentary that considers the contemporary relevance of the text. Why then, and why now are overarching questions asked throughout the volumes in the series.

YEAR 1

YEAR 1 PDF Author: Susan Buck-Morss
Publisher: MIT Press
ISBN: 0262548623
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

Get Book

Book Description
Reclaiming the first century as common ground rather than the origin of deeply entrenched differences: liberating the past to speak to us in another way. Conventional readings of antiquity cast Athens against Jerusalem, with Athens standing in for “reason” and Jerusalem for “faith.” And yet, Susan Buck-Morss reminds us, recent scholarship has overturned this separation. Naming the first century as a zero point—“year one”—that divides time into before and after is equally arbirtrary, nothing more than a convenience that is empirically meaningless. In YEAR 1, Buck-Morss liberates the first century so it can speak to us in another way, reclaiming it as common ground rather than the origin of deeply entrenched differences. Buck-Morss aims to topple various conceptual givens that have shaped modernity as an episteme and led us into some unhelpful postmodern impasses. She approaches the first century through the writings of three thinkers often marginalized in current discourse: Flavius Josephus, historian of the Judaean War; the neo-Platonic philosopher Philo of Alexandria; and John of Patmos, author of Revelation, the last book of the Christian Bible. Also making appearances are Antigone and John Coltrane, Plato and Bulwer-Lytton, al-Farabi and Jean Anouilh, Nicholas of Cusa and Zora Neale Hurston—not to mention Descartes, Kant, Hegel, Kristeva, and Derrida. Buck-Morss shows that we need no longer partition history as if it were a homeless child in need of the protective wisdom of Solomon. Those inhabiting the first century belong together in time, and therefore not to us.

The Cosmic Journey in the Book of Revelation

The Cosmic Journey in the Book of Revelation PDF Author: Joel M. Rothman
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0567710351
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 199

Get Book

Book Description
Joel M. Rothman considers the significance of cosmology in biblical and extra-biblical texts, and the role of the cosmic journey in many apocalyptic narratives. He posits that Revelation's narrative likewise takes the hearer on a virtual journey, through a cosmic story-space of great theological significance. While scholarship commonly assumes a three-tiered cosmos in Revelation, Rothman argues that Revelation's narrative operates in a four-tiered cosmos, with the hyper-heaven sitting above the sky-heaven, earth, and abyssal depths; a cosmic story-space that is recreated in the imagination of the hearers. Beginning with a methodology of visual narrative reading, Rothman then discusses the assumptions and existing conceptions regarding heaven and earth. He stresses that Revelation does not exhibit tension in its portrayal of heaven - between heaven as a site of conflict and heaven as the realm in which God truly reigns - but rather shows readers a sky-heaven characterised by archetypal conflict between powerful sky-beings and a hyper-heaven defined by full recognition of the Throne. In journeying through the sky-structure and God-space and by analysing the four cosmic layers in operation, the distinct nature of the two sky-spaces, cosmic change and the ideological import of the cosmic structure, Rothman demonstrates that the existence of the hyper-heaven - in contradistinction with the limited lived-cosmos of earth and sky-heaven - is a present guarantee of the final cosmic transformation that creates a new space for human life, exclusive of imperial draconian elements.

Genres of Mark

Genres of Mark PDF Author: Jacob P. B. Mortensen
Publisher: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht
ISBN: 364756060X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Get Book

Book Description
One of the most fundamental questions when reading and trying to understand New Testament texts is the question of genre. It is impossible to understand a text, its meaning and intention, in its proper historical setting if one does not understand its genre: As an example, interpreting a satirical text without understanding the genre would no doubt lead to grave misunderstandings. The same logic applies to texts from the New Testament, and the matter is complicated even further by the immense historical gap between the time of the genesis of the New Testament canon and now. The problem of the New Testament texts' genre(s) is therefore a vital area of scholarly discussion within international New Testament scholarship. The current volume utilizes the newest insights from current research on the New Testament to cast new light on the question of the genre of Mark's Gospel. Here, prominent international New Testament scholars discuss how we should understand the genre(s) of Mark's Gospel, thus making an important contribution to international scholarship on the Gospel of Mark as well as the Gospel genre in general.

The Power of Pictures in Christian Thought

The Power of Pictures in Christian Thought PDF Author: Anthony C. Thiselton
Publisher: SPCK
ISBN: 0281078874
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 370

Get Book

Book Description
Part One considers key philosophical and aesthetic evaluations of literary images and symbols. The power of pictures is widely appreciated, as in the adage 'a picture is worth a thousand words'. Sometimes Christian discourse can be smothered by endless prose, which demands much inferential reasoning. There is, however, a contrary argument. An isolated visual representation can be misleading if it is improperly interpreted. For example, some mystical visions are interpreted as direct instructions from the Holy Spirit, as happened with the Radical Reformers, who advocated the Peasants’ Revolt. Hence theories of symbol, metaphor, and visual representation must be examined Part Two discusses visual representation in the Old Testament, the teaching of Jesus, pictures and analogies in Paul, and the Book of Revelation. This shows the range of authentic visual representations. In contrast to biblical material, we find throughout Christian history abundant examples of misleading imagery which is often passed off as Christian. A notorious example is found in the visual representation and metaphors used by Gnostic writers. Almost as bad are some visual representations used by the medieval mystics, Radical Reformers, and extreme charismatics – all of which lack valid criteria of interpretation, relying instead on subjective conviction. Similarly, sermons and prayers today can be enriched with pictorial images, but some can be misleading and unhelpful for the life of the Church.

Revelation

Revelation PDF Author: Lynn R. Huber
Publisher: Liturgical Press
ISBN: 0814682340
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 520

Get Book

Book Description
While feminist interpretations of the Book of Revelation often focus on the book’s use of feminine archetypes—mother, bride, and prostitute, this commentary explores how gender, sexuality, and other feminist concerns permeate the book in its entirety. By calling audience members to become victors, Revelation’s author, John, commends to them an identity that flows between masculine and feminine and challenges ancient gender norms. This identity befits an audience who follow the Lamb, a genderqueer savior, wherever he goes. In this commentary, Lynn R. Huber situates Revelation and its earliest audiences in the overlapping worlds of ancient Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and first-century Judaism. She also examines how interpreters from different generations living within other worlds have found meaning in this image-rich and meaning-full book.