Revelation (Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament)

by Sigve K. Tonstad

Publisher:

Baker Academic

, 2019

Overview

This practical commentary on Revelation is conversant with contemporary scholarship, draws on ancient backgrounds, and attends to the theological nature of the text. Sigve Tonstad, an expert in the early Jewish context of the New Testament, offers a nonretributive reading of Revelation and addresses the issue of divine violence. Paideia commentaries explore how New Testament texts form Christian readers by attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs, showing how the text shapes moral habits, and making judicious use of photos and sidebars in a reader-friendly format.

Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament explores how New Testament texts inform Christian readers by:

• Attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs
• Showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits
• Commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book
• Focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text
• Making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format

The Paideia series approaches each text in its final, canonical form, proceeding by sense units (pericopes) rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Thus, each commentary follows the original train of thought as indicated by the author instead of modern artificial distinctions. Using this approach, one is able to grasp not only the exegetical-historical information of a passage, but also follow a coherent theological expression throughout.

Finally, this series is enormously helpful and practical through its usage of small visual presentations of historical, exegetical, and theological information. Highly user friendly, this is a great resource for college students, pastors, or those who want to take their Bible study to another level.

Key Features

• Includes introductions and bibliographies for each book
• Contains indexes of subjects, modern authors, and Scripture and ancient sources
• Provides notes, outlines, images, and tables for further clarity

Contents

Top Highlights

“In this apocalypse, revelation is foremost a depiction not of a historical problem but is rather a shocking and utterly counterintuitive representation of God.” (Pages xii–xiii)

“The foregoing perception of Revelation has two key components: God-ordained violence and a lack of compassion” (Page 6)

“Continuity and novelty together are legitimate and necessary conceptions for what has so far been described” (Page 188)

“The alternative sketched above may be called ‘the Cosmic Conflict View’ or ‘the Imitation View.’” (Page 20)

“Apokalypsis (Rev. 1:1) is not a term for catastrophe.” (Page 20)

Paideia: Commentaries on the New Testament explores how New Testament texts inform Christian readers by:

• Attending to the ancient narrative and rhetorical strategies the text employs
• Showing how the text shapes theological convictions and moral habits
• Commenting on the final, canonical form of each New Testament book
• Focusing on the cultural, literary, and theological settings of the text
• Making judicious use of maps, photos, and sidebars in a reader-friendly format

The Paideia series approaches each text in its final, canonical form, proceeding by sense units (pericopes) rather than word-by-word or verse-by-verse. Thus, each commentary follows the original train of thought as indicated by the author instead of modern artificial distinctions. Using this approach, one is able to grasp not only the exegetical-historical information of a passage, but also follow a coherent theological expression throughout.

Finally, this series is enormously helpful and practical through its usage of small visual presentations of historical, exegetical, and theological information. Highly user friendly, this is a great resource for college students, pastors, or those who want to take their Bible study to another level.

Endorsements

Tonstad's remarkable commentary offers a comprehensive reading of Revelation that is both literarily sensitive and theologically incisive. With careful attention to the text's engagement with Israel's scriptures, Tonstad interprets Revelation as a christologically centered disclosure of the astonishing, counterintuitive triumph of God's love over the cosmic power of evil. This deeply intelligent commentary challenges historicist readings of the book as a simple document of political resistance to the Roman Empire. At the same time, it grapples thoughtfully with pervasive misreadings of Revelation--both in the Christian theological tradition and in Western literary culture more broadly--as a fountainhead of resentment and violence. All who read this commentary will be forced to reconsider what they think they know about the Apocalypse. Let anyone who has an ear listen.

—Richard B. Hays, George Washington Ivey Professor Emeritus of New Testament, Duke Divinity School

Well-written, accessible, and wise, Tonstad’s commentary navigates a myriad of issues that either put off or entice readers to the enigma that is Revelation. Situating Revelation among its Reformation skeptics, its modern naysayers, and its more sensationalist interpreters, Tonstad reads the apocalypse in terms of the cosmic conflict in which God’s decisive response to the evil of the great Deceiver is to offer revelation and witness as the antidote. Full of macro- and micro-level insights along with clear and helpful theological analysis, this volume is a welcome addition to the Paideia series.

—Darian Lockett, associate professor of New Testament, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

Product Details

• Title: Revelation
• Author: Sigve K. Tonstad
• Series: Paideia Commentaries on the New Testament
• Publisher: Baker Academic
• Print Publication Date: 2019
• Logos Release Date: 2019
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Research Edition
• Subject: Bible. N.T. Revelation › Commentaries
• ISBNs: 9781493424337, 9780801049002, 9781540962423, 1493424335, 0801049008, 1540962423
• Resource ID: LLS:PAIDEIA67REV
• Resource Type: Bible Commentary
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-10-05T17:07:57Z

About Sigve K. Tonstad

Sigve K. Tonstad, originally from Norway, is assistant professor of religion and associate professor of medicine at Loma Linda University in California. He is author of Saving God’s Reputation (T&T Clark, 2006) along with three other books as well as numerous articles which have appeared in both scholarly and non-scholarly journals.