Who? What? When?

Some Important Data on the Book of Revelation

* The final book in the New Testament is commonly referred to by the interchangeable titles "Revelation" and "The Apocalypse." The names are actually synonymous, since their Latin and Greek roots both mean "an unveiling."

* A wide consensus dating back to the second century A.D. has understood the "John" mentioned in Revelation 1:1,4,9; 22:8 to be the Beloved Apostle, the evangelist behind the Fourth Gospel. Numerous modern scholars have raised questions about this identification, based primarily on doubts that the same person could have produced two such dramatically different works, but no other proposed candidate has won unqualified-much less unanimous-endorsement. At present, neither tradition nor scholarship can resolve this impasse for us.

* Many indications in the text hint that this book was written during a period marked by episodes of violent hostility against Christians. Some scholars relate it specifically to the persecutions under Nero (A.D. 54-68). Most, however, believe the more likely setting was the brutal repression during the reign of Domitian (A.D. 81-96). In either case, historians tell us that much of the second half of the first century was marked by the barbaric suppression of people who were considered opponents of the state religion, with its emperor worship and its decadent immorality. Christians easily qualified on all three counts.

* The traditional reference to this writing as a "book" may be somewhat misleading, since the entire text is no more than a couple dozen pages long-even in editions that include explanatory footnotes. Still, it is one of the most challenging, yet hopefilled and intriguing sections of the entire Bible.

Copyright Word Among Us Nov 2004
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