Revelation

Dr. David Aune’s thoroughness in this definitive commentary on the first five chapters of the book of Revelation is nothing short of monumental. “More is known today about the textual tradition of Revelation than about any other book in the New Testament,” he asserts. In an introductory section that could easily stand alone as a book, he presents a comprehensive inventory and evaluation of all categories of textual evidence, and an exhaustive assessment of peculiarities of the syntax in the Greek written by John of Patmos.

Scholars and pastors will appreciate Aune’s extensively annotated translation of the text, and his insights into the variant readings and nuances of every significant word.

An advocate of source criticism, Dr. Aune examines the full range of secular and biblical literature in search of possible sources for the striking literary devices in Revelation. His mastery of an incredibly broad range of ancient writings enables him to compare every pericope of Revelation to the literary traditions of the ages that preceded its writing, and thus to evaluate the possible sources for the forms John employed to write his vision. Although this volume of the Word Biblical Commentary series deals only with the first five chapters of Revelation, Aune’s detailed introductory comments scrutinize the entire expanse of this mysterious book. He provides an expanded outline of all twenty-two chapters and focuses on the implications for the book of Revelation of such matters as:

• the use of chronological eschatological visions
• the recurring sets of sevens
• the paired angelic revelations beginning in 17:1 and 21:9
• the scenes in the heavenly throne room with their hymns
• possible connections between the scrolls in chapters 5 and 10

All serious students of Revelation will value this latest effort to unravel its mysteries.

As he familiarizes his readers with myriad possible ways to see every detail in the text, Dr. Aune stakes out his own ambitious but well-informed theories. He calls his readers to look afresh at a majestic book, a book at once profoundly Jewish and Christian, and to think with him about how this marriage of dissimilar apocalyptic traditions might have taken place.

DAVID AUNE is Professor of New Testament and Christian Origins at the University of Notre Dame. He holds an M.A. from Wheaton Graduate School of Theology, an M.A. from the University of Minnesota, and a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago. Among his publications are The New Testament in its Literary Environment and Greco-Roman Literature and the New Testament (editor).