Revelation as Divination: Divine Presence and Knowledge in Oracles, Mysteries, and the Apocalypse of John

The Book of Revelation has been read as a literary prophecy, an allegorical divination narrative, or a piece of persuasive rhetoric. In this new approach to the apocalyptic text, Nathan Leach argues that Revelation’s oral performance to Christ-following assemblies in the ritual settings of the late 1st century CE formed an experience that resonated deeply with wider divinatory practices in Roman Asia.

Revelation as Divination uses an interdisciplinary theoretical repertoire including performance criticism, ritual studies, material culture and affect theory to show how Revelation created meaning through oral performance to its ancient participatory audience. Despite Revelation’s extreme social separatist polemic, it is through the performance’s experiential resonance with broader ancient Mediterranean divinatory practices that its production of divine presence and access to divine knowledge were socially readable, gained authenticity, and affected its participants.