Imperial Cult and Commerce in John's Apocalypse PDF Download

Author: J. Nelson Kraybill
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0567339289
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 267

View

Book Description
Drawing evidence from ancient literature, coins, inscriptions and artwork, Kraybill points to the penetration of the Roman imperial cult (emperor worship) into commercial settings as a primary concern of the Apocalypse. By the time John was on Patmos, people in Asia Minor could not 'buy or sell' without giving idolatrous allegiance to Rome. Imperial cult and commerce blended in guild halls, the banking industry and the market place. John calls readers to 'come out from' pagan loyalties of Roman imperial society and give full allegiance to a New Jerusalem of justice and equality under the rule of Christ.

Author: J. Nelson Kraybill
Publisher: Brazos Press
ISBN: 1441212558
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 224

View

Book Description
In this lively introduction, J. Nelson Kraybill shows how the book of Revelation was understood by its original readers and what it means for Christians today. Kraybill places Revelation in its first-century context, opening a window into the political, economic, and social realities of the early church. His fresh interpretation highlights Revelation's liturgical structure and directs readers' attentions to twenty-first-century issues of empire, worship, and allegiance, showing how John's apocalypse is relevant to the spiritual life of believers today. The book includes maps, timelines, photos, a glossary, discussion questions, and stories of modern Christians who live out John's vision of a New Jerusalem.

Author: Ryan Leif Hansen
Publisher: Fortress Press
ISBN: 1451484429
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 173

View

Book Description
Cosmology is a central focus in John’s Apocalypse, Ryan Leif Hansen argues, but not in the sense that John envisions a stable cosmos. Rather, John employs cosmological themes for persuasive purposes that include a critique of Roman imperial cultic discourse. Hansen’s argument requires a discussion of the apocalyptic genre and rhetoric, the ways in which apocalyptic literature makes meaning especially through the construction of symbolic worlds, and then a comparison of this means with cosmological themes in which eternal Rome lies at the center of the cosmos. John seeks to persuade his hearers that the world, as governed and sustained by Caesar and the Roman gods and perpetuated through the Roman cult and economy, is a false order, passing away in order that God’s new creation, narrated by truthful worship and costly witness to the Lamb, can emerge as gift. The book concludes with suggestions for fruitful conversation with recent work in apocalyptic theology.

Author: Loren L. Johns
Publisher: Wipf and Stock Publishers
ISBN: 1625646976
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 309

View

Book Description
Revision of the author's thesis (Ph.D.)--Princeton Theological Seminary, 1998.

Author: Jeffrey D. Meyers
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1978708351
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 201

View

Book Description
Revelation is resistance literature, written to instruct early Christians on how to live as followers of Jesus in the Roman Empire. The Nonviolent Apocalypse uses modern examples and scholarship on nonviolence to help illuminate Revelation’s resistance, arguing that Revelation’s famously violent visions are actually acts of nonviolent resistance to the Empire. The visions form part of Revelation’s proclamation of God’s way as a just and life-giving alternative to the system constructed by Rome. Revelation urges its readers to pursue this radical form of living, engaging in nonviolent resistance to all that stands in the way of God’s vision for the world.

Author: Rodney Reeves
Publisher: InterVarsity Press
ISBN: 0830853499
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 193

View

Book Description
Through all of John's works, a consistent message is woven: being a Christian is about abiding in Christ and in his words. Combining exegesis with spiritual reflection, this accessible introduction on the Johannine literature from Rodney Reeves helps readers envision how to follow Jesus—as disciples, in community, and even at the end of the world.

Author: Amy-Jill Levine
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826466516
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 275

View

Book Description
An examination of New Testament Apocalyptic literature through the categories of post-colonial thought, deconstruction, ethics, Roman social discourse, masculinisation, virginity, and violence.

Author: James A. Kelhoffer
Publisher: Mohr Siebeck
ISBN: 9783161506123
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 488

View

Book Description
James A. Kelhoffer examines an often overlooked aspect of New Testament constructions of legitimacy, namely the value of Christians' withstanding persecution as a means of corroborating their religious identity as Christ's followers. The introductory chapter defines the problem in interaction with sociologist Pierre Bourdieu's concept of cultural capital. Chapters 2-10 examine the depictions of persecuted Christians in the Pauline letters, First Peter, Hebrews, Revelation, the NT Gospels, and Acts. These exegetical analyses support the conclusion that assertions of standing, authority, and power claimed on the basis of persecution play a significant and heretofore under-appreciated role in much of the NT. It is also argued that depictions of persecution can have both positive implications for the persecuted and negative implications for the depicted persecutors in constructions of legitimation.An epilogue considers later examples of early Christian martyrs and confessors, as well as John Foxe's Book of Martyrs . The epilogue also addresses the ethical and hermeneutical problem of asserting the withstanding of persecution as a basis of legitimacy in ancient and modern contexts. This problem stems from the observation that, although the NT authors present their construals of withstanding persecution as a basis of legitimation as if they were self-evident, such assertions are actually the culmination of numerous presuppositions and are therefore open to dissenting viewpoints. Yet the NT authors do not acknowledge the possibility of competing interpretations, or that oppressed Christians could someday become oppressors. Accordingly, this exegetical study calls attention to an ethical and hermeneutical problem that the NT bequeaths to the modern interpreter, a problem inviting input from ethicists and other theologians.

Author: Stanley E. Porter
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004254870
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 361

View

Book Description
Johannine Writings and Apocalyptic provides a wide-ranging and thorough annotated bibliography for John's Gospel, the Johannine letters, Revelation, and apocalyptic writings pertinent to these books. More inclusive than many other bibliographies, this volume provides reference to over 1300 individual entries, often including references to multiple works with a given description. Annotations are designed to provide guidance to a wide range of readers, from students wishing to gain entry to the subject to graduate students engaging in research to professors needing ready access to useful materials. The volume is topically organized and indexed for easy access.

Author: Malcolm Gill
Publisher: Peter Lang
ISBN: 9783039118298
Category : Bibles
Languages : en
Pages : 200

View

Book Description
This book addresses the influence of the imperial cult in first-century AD Asia Minor and its subsequent relevance to the reading of the New Testament. In particular, this work argues, through a contrapuntal reading of 1 Timothy 2:1-7, that the early Christian community strongly resisted the Emperor's claim to be the «mediator» between the gods and humanity. In contrast to this claim, the author shows that 1 Timothy 2:1-7 can be read as a polemic from a minority community, the Christian church in Ephesus, against the powerful voice of the Roman Empire in regard to divine mediation.