Term Paper on "Ways of Reading the Book of Revelation"
Term Paper 4 pages (1395 words) Sources: 1+
[EXCERPT] . . . .
Book of RevelationReading Revelation: A Revelation in and of Itself
Revelation from the New Testament has always been read, perceived, discussed, and written about in impressionistic, imaginative, and sometimes deeply personal ways. The text, with its plentiful, evocative imagery and metaphorical symbolism, seems to lend itself to nothing less. Perhaps that is partly because, unlike earlier books of the New Testament, Revelation focuses not on what has happened historically (although some readers interpret the text historically) but instead on what will happen in the future, although symbolically and metaphorically. Revelation's content encourages, and often seems even to insist upon, impressionistic, interpretative reading, especially, I believe, Chapters 12-13 of Revelation in particular. Those chapters' symbolism, imagery, metaphor, and content - have always captured my imagination. My own interpretative reading of Revelation 13 tells me something important about the struggle between good and evil, within myself even, and perhaps within all of humanity. That struggle, Revelation 12-13 in particular tells me, is integral to being human; it has existed since the beginning of time, and it will continue to exist until the Second Coming.
Revelation as a whole is considered to be one of the most controversial, if not the most controversial, books of the entire New Testament. Its author is believed to have been John the Apostle (the John of Gospels 1, 2, and 3, Wikipedia). However, even that authorship remains unclear, and is more of an educated guess (Wikipedia). Personally, I have always been drawn to the animal imagery and symbolism within Revelation. P
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carefully crafted literature. It was not spoken (like prophetic sermons), but was composed. That means it exhibits certain features of normal writing, such as structure, form, flow of thought, creative use of language, etc. [emphasis original]."
Most striking to me are the dragon, seabest, and lamb's horn (earth beast) symbolic images within Revelation 12-13. This imagery is at once fanciful and real; symbolic and concrete. The imagery and symbolism contained within Revelation 13:2-4 has always felt especially powerful to me, particularly the description of the first appearance of the sea beast, and the aftermath of its appearance:
And I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads, with ten crowns on his horns, and on each head a blasphemous name. 2 The beast I saw resembled a leopard, but had feet like those of a bear and a mouth like that of a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne and great authority. 3 One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast. 4 Men worshiped the dragon because he had given authority to the beast, and they also worshiped the beast and asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" (Revelation
Mention of the leopard and the lion within this passage reminds me, also, of the opening of Dante's Inferno (Cantos 1-3), in which Dante, the spiritually lost poet and traveler, and Virgil, the pre-Christian Roman author of the Aeneid and Dante's spiritual guide through Hell and Purgatory, overcome, physically and spiritually, the looming, threatening, and frightening presence of the leopard (fraud) and the lion (violence), as well as of a third beast lurking in the dark forest of Dante's Cantos 1-3 of the Inferno: the she-wolf (immoderation). In Revelation, the "feet like those of a bear" (Revelation 13:2) that the sea beast is described as possessing might be symbolically equivalent to the she-wolf of Dante's Inferno: Bears have rapacious appetites, just as Dante's she-wolf symbolizes immoderation.
Revelation 13:5 also states: "And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies." Like Dante the spiritual traveler, the seabeast of Revelation 13 may either overcome, through "speaking great things," the temptations of fraud; violence, and immoderation, or it may succumb to them through "blasphemies." The sea beast-equivalent in each of us gives us capacities for both greatness and sin. We alone must choose which path to follow: the… READ MORE
Quoted Instructions for "Ways of Reading the Book of Revelation" Assignment:
I must submit this paper to TURNITIN.COM. I would like an original essay (1000 words). Please follow the following criteria below in writing this essay:
The assignment is to provide the student's own reading of the book of Revelation. This can take a variety of forms. One could continue in the pattern the course has followed and write a summary of Revelation using the latest critical sources and commentaries, in much the same manner as we approached the parables of Jesus. Or one could write a poetic treatment of the book, or a short story, or even a play. All of these would be acceptable. The reason that all of these formats are fine for this is that the book of Revelation is a text filled to the brim with a rich symbolism that is not found elsewhere in the New Testament. Because of this, Revelation (and it is Revelation, not Revelations) has for many centuries been read in an imaginative manner. Thus it is appropriate that we focus on its evocative qualities even as we read in our text by Stephen Harris all of the historical critical information about the book. Basically, the question boils down to this: How do you read the book of Revelation? What does it mean to you? What does it evoke to you? Is it about the future? Is it about the past? Is it fantasy or fiction? How does it move or sadden or anger you? These are but a few of the issues that Revelation might raise for you. I want to be absolutely clear that because you are writing about your reaction to the book, you will not be graded lower for having this or that perspective. What matters is that you complete the assignment in the ***** in which it was assigned and that you write well and passionately.
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“Ways of Reading the Book of Revelation.” A1-TermPaper.com, 2005, https://www.a1-termpaper.com/topics/essay/book-revelation-reading/333673. Accessed 5 Oct 2024.
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