Reading Revelation as Pastiche: Imitating the Past (The Library of New Testament Studies)

Fletcher, Michelle

ISBN 10: 0567685284 / ISBN 13: 9780567685285

Published by T&T Clark, 2018

About this Item

Seller Inventory # V9780567685285

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Reading Revelation as Pastiche: Imitating the Past (The Library of New Testament Studies)
• Publisher: T&T Clark
• Publication Date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0567685284
• ISBN 13: 9780567685285
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Scholars have often read the book of Revelation in a way that attempts to ascertain which Old Testament book it most resembles. Instead, we should read it as a combined and imitative text which actively engages the audience through signalling to multiple texts and multiple textual experiences: in short, it is an act of pastiche. Fletcher analyses the methods used to approach Revelation's relationship with Old Testament texts and shows that, although there is literature on Revelation's imitative and multi-vocal nature, these aspects of the text have not yet been explored in sufficient depth. Fletcher's analysis also incorporates an examination of Greco-Roman imitation and combination before providing a better way to understand the nature of the book of Revelation, as pastiche. Fletcher builds her case on four comparative case studies and uses a test case to ascertain how completely they fit with this assessment. These insights are then used to clarify how reading Revelation as imitative and combined pastiche can challenge previous scholarly assumptions, transforming the way we approach the text.

About the Authors

Michelle Fletcher is Research Assistant on the Visual Commentary on Scripture and Research Fellow at King's College London, UK.

Chris Keith is Research Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Norway. He is the author of The Pericope Adulterae, the Gospel of John and the Literacy of Jesus, a winner of the 2010 John Templeton Award for Theological Promise, and Jesus' Literacy: Scribal Culture and the Teacher from Galilee. He is also the co-editor of Jesus among Friends and Enemies: A Historical and Literary Introduction to Jesus in the Gospels, and was recently named a 2012 Society of Biblical Literature Regional Scholar.