Heaven on Earth: God's Call to Community in the Book of Revelation
Overview
Much of the literature on the book of Revelation paints a frightening apocalyptic vision of the end times. Michael Battle offers an alternative look at Revelation in this new work, seeing it instead as a hopeful call to bring heaven on earth. Battle explores the problematic imagery found in Revelation before showing how similar problems play out in our contemporary world. Battle sees Revelation as a guide that shows us that we can live out God's call for heaven on earth by living in community with one another, as exhibited through the writings of Martin Luther King Jr., Desmond Tutu, Rowan Williams, and Ubuntu theology. He writes, “I seek to imagine in my particular Christian context how a view of heaven need not lead to culture wars and further excuses for oppressing others. Heaven, as envisioned by John of Patmos, has much greater purpose.”
Key Features
- Offers a refreshing approach to interpreting the Revelation of John
- Takes seriously Revelation’s genre as apocalyptic literature
- Integrates insights from other Christian perspectives and traditions
Contents
- Part One: Revelation's Nightmares
- God, Are You There?
- Context Matters
- On Earth as in Heaven
- Keys to the Kingdom
- The Church of Zombies
- Heaven in Beast Mode
- Part Two: Staying Awake
- Yawning in Heaven
- God's Time
- Individualism: Hell on Earth as in Heaven
- Learning a New Language
- Redemption Song
- A Theology of Proximity
- Part Three: Good Dreams
- A New Ethic
- A Roads (and Rivers) to Heaven?
- Martin Luther King's Heaven
- King's Practice of Heaven
- Desmond Tutu's Heaven Is Ubuntu
- Tutu's Practice of Heaven
- Practicing Heaven Ourselves
- The Key to the Bottomless Pit
- New Heaven and New Earth
- Afterward: The Healing of the Nations
Praise for the Print Edition
Michael Battle is a fitting name to write a commentary on Revelation. The archangel Michael battles the forces of evil hell-bent on moving God's creation toward destruction. As I have reiterated, however, no such evil will ever prevail. Michael Battle is also a fitting person to write this book: not only did I ordain him a priest, I also watched him over the years grow as he continuously integrated theology with the practice of ministry. In such an integrated way, Michael invites the reader into the birthing process of heaven on earth. As with any birth, we must move through pain and struggle toward the life that God continues to create. Our politics, economics, spirituality, environmentalism, and much more move through such purgation to new life. And God will not abandon us. God, like a mother, holds us even now as we must move toward wisdom and maturity.
—Desmond Tutu
The book of Revelation is a closed book to many perplexed by its content and a happy hunting ground for others for whom it provides apocalyptic ammunition in support of dubious politics. In the hands of Michael Battle it becomes a source of encouragement and challenge for building community in a world in global crisis. Michael writes with passion, insight, a wry humor, and clarity. He also writes out of his experience as a black Episcopal priest who has drunk deeply from the wisdom of Desmond Tutu, his chief mentor. No more needs to be said to encourage you to read and digest what he has written and to study it together with others on the journey of faith and building the beloved community.
—John W. De Gruchy, Robert Selby Taylor Professor Emeritus of Christian Studies, University of Cape Town, South Africa
Product Details
- Title: Heaven on Earth: God's Call to Community in the Book of Revelation
- Author: Michael Battle
- Publisher: Westminster John Knox
- Publication Date: 2017
- Pages: 220
- Resource Type: Monograph
- Topic: Revelation
Sample Pages from the Print Edition
Reviews
0 ratings
Whyndell Grizzard
7/2/2018
Sounds more like humanist utopia wishful thinking- if it is as he claims, this book has little to do with true biblical insight or exposition.
Larry Craig
6/12/2018
I'm always looking for a good commentary. In these sample pages, the author tells us what he is going to do, but then they don't show us doing it. I'm not going to hunt around for sample pages from another source. I'll pass on this.
