Revelation and the End of All Things
Overview
Revelation and the End of All Things is a accessible guide to Revelation that engages the questions people most often ask about this difficult book in the Bible. Craig Koester ably takes readers through the entire book of Revelation, drawing on the best of recent scholarship while also giving attention to questions arising from events like the siege at Waco, the phenomenal sales of books in the Left Behind series, and the use of Revelation in hymnody and art.
While many of the questions that people ask about Revelation are sparked by sensationalistic interpretations of the book, these questions also point to major issues concerning our understanding of God and the future, death and life, judgment and hope. Rather than simply dismissing popular interpretations of Revelation, Koester first considers these approaches and why they are problematic. The rest of the book looks carefully at each section of Revelation, keeping the situations of first-century and twenty-first-century readers in mind. Koester’s exceptional grasp of Revelation’s history, text, and purpose allows him to present the message of Revelation in a way that is clear, engaging, and meaningful to modern readers.
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- Considers why popular interpretations of Revelation are problematic
- Presents the message of Revelation that is clear, engaging, and meaningful to modern readers
- Draws on recent scholarship and the use of Revelation in hymnody and art
- Interpreting the Mystery
- Christ and the Churches: Revelation 1–3
- The Scroll Unsealed: Revelation 4–7
- Trumpets of Terror and Hope: Revelation 8–11
- The Beast and the Lamb: Revelation 12–15
- The Harlot and the Bride: Revelation 15–19
- The End: Revelation 19–22
Top Highlights
“The criterion for authentic prophecy is finally whether the prophet’s message promotes faithfulness to God or whether it leads people away from God.” (Page 45)
“Revelation emphasizes that God, not Caesar, is Lord of the world” (Page 31)
“Assuming that Revelation’s message would have been clearest to those who lived in John’s own time, they search for clues to understanding the book not by combing recent headlines or news broadcasts, but by studying the language and literature of the ancient world.” (Pages 26–27)
“Revelation also differs from apocalypses that divide time into periods that occur in a linear sequence” (Page 30)
“Those who hold this view are called ‘dispensationalists’ because they usually divide world history into a series of periods or ‘dispensations’ that will culminate with the thousand-year kingdom of Christ on earth. They are also ‘premillennialists,’ because they argue that world conditions will worsen until Christ returns before (‘pre-’) the millennial kingdom begins. They insist that prophecy is actually history that has been written in advance, so that the prophetic passages in the Bible constitute a script that will be played out to the letter in the end times. They also assume that no single book of the Bible contains the entire script, and that verses from various parts of the Bible must be joined together like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle so that people can see the whole picture.” (Page 19)
Craig Koester communicates current scholarship on Revelation with clarity, passion, and concern that the message of the Bible be understood and appropriated in today’s world. Not merely an antidote or alternative to Left Behind and ‘Jesus is coming soon’ commercialism, Revelation and the End of All Things is a substantial contribution to good literature on Revelation in its own right.
—M. Eugene Boring, professor emeritus of New Testament, Brite Divinity School
This book offers an innovative introduction to Revelation, drawing on the history of interpretation, art, and music as well as on sound literary and historical analysis. It will help readers understand a wide variety of current approaches to Revelation by explaining briefly their origins and intentions. Highly recommended for ministry students, church study groups, and general readers.
—Adela Yarbro Collins, Buckingam Professor of New Testament Criticism and Interpretation, Yale University
Koester has written a book of singular significance for the contemporary Christian community. The puzzle of Revelation is normally resolved by ignoring its original setting or by rendering it irrelevant to the Christian Bible through an intense focus on that setting. Koester shows that the horizons of the Christian past, present, and future merge in John’s remarkable ‘revelation.’ I cannot recommend this book highly enough to all Christians.
—Francis J. Moloney, Katharine Drexel Professor of Religious Studies, The Catholic University of America
- Title: Revelation and the End of All Things
- Author: Craig R. Koester
- Publisher: Eerdmans
- Publication Date: 2001
- Pages: 223
- Resource Type: Monographs
- Topic: Revelation