Testing the Apocalypse : The History of the Book of Revelation

Leaders of the early Church were divided over Revelation—its uncertain authorship, its unorthodox theology, even its terrible grammar. Should it be considered Scripture? Then the first Christian emperor saw himself prophesied in its pages. Here is the first comprehensive history of how Revelation came to be included in the New Testament.

Early Christians applied four tests to writings when they were deciding which works merited treatment as Scripture: an origin soon after Christ’s time, apostolic authorship, Christian orthodoxy, and acceptance of a work by Christian congregations across the known world. Historian and intelligence analyst David Muller applies those tests anew to Revelation, with the benefit of far more evidence than the Church fathers had available. Using every pertinent ancient source, selected Reformation writings, and more than 150 scholarly works from the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first centuries, Muller pieces together a history of Revelation that is both surprising and convincing.

“Dave Muller’s Testing the Apocalypse will matter to any serious scholar considering Christianity’s past – or its future.” —Dr. Cassidy S. Dale, Drew Theological School, Drew University

“David has gone where many evangelical scholars fear to tread; an open, honest, and intellectual assessment of Revelation’s place in the canon of Scripture.” —Rev. John C. Speight, Jr., United Methodist Church

David G. Muller, Jr. is a historian and experienced Bible teacher who recently retired after 44 years in U.S. intelligence. Muller ran intelligence operations on five continents, but his specialty is analysis – examining assumptions, assessing source reliability, calculating confidence levels and probabilities, developing alternative explanations for events, and writing clear, cogent assessments. Readers of his assessments included Cabinet officers and the President. Muller studied Chinese language at Stanford University, graduated from Dartmouth College in history and Chinese, then studied Russian language and earned an advanced degree in history at the University of Michigan. He and his wife and daughters are active members at an evangelical church in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.