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CORNERSTONE ADULT LEARNING COMMUNITIES FALL 2011 READING
REVELATION RESPONSIBLY 2011 David W. Opderbeck Licensed Under
Creative Commons Attribution / Share Alike
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INTRODUCTIONS Welcome! The class website:
http://www.tgdarkly.com/revelation Who are we and why are we
interested in this class? What do you think of when you think of
the book of Revelation?
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AN OPENING THEME AND AN INTERPRETIVE KEY Do not be afraid. I am
the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold
I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and
Hades. Rev. 1:17-18 What are some of your fears? How does the image
of Christ the Living One respond to your fears?
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HOW DO WE READ? Why do we need to think about reading
Revelation or any Biblical text responsibly? What is responsible
reading? Understanding the genre, context, words, grammar,
structure, and flow of the text: exegesis Understanding how the
concerns of this particular text relate to the whole canon of
scripture, the central narrative(s) of scripture, the revelation of
God in creation, the revelation of God in the person of Christ, the
concerns the Church has faced through history, and the concerns we
face as the Church today: hermeneutics In short, a responsible
reading is always a theological reading connected to the central
theme of scripture: the good news of Jesus Christ and what that
good news means in a particular historical and cultural
circumstance
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HERMENEUTICS AND HORIZONS Practicing Community
Composer(s)Redactors First receiving community
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HERMENEUTICS AND HORIZONS Synchronic Reading First receiving
community Present interpreting community Past interpreting
communities
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HERMENEUTICS AND HORIZONS Practicing Community Composer(s)
Redactors First receiving community Synchronic Reading Present
interpreting community Past interpreting communities Merging
Horizons Text Canon
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THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Genre: includes epistolary,
prophetic,and apocalyptic genres Apocalyptic in the First Century
Jewish context: e.g., the book of 1 Enoch; the Dead Sea Scrolls; 2
Enoch; 2 Esdras Narrative framework Mediated by an other-worldly
being Discloses a transcendent reality that breaks into the present
and concerns the future (eschatological) Cosmic dualism: good vs.
evil forces Temporal dualism: present age and the age to come Use
of vivid visionary symbolism A literal non-literalism Source:
Gorman, Ch. 2-4
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THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Genre: includes epistolary,
prophetic,and apocalyptic genres Epistolary: Christian letters in
the First to Third Centuries (in scripture: e.g., Romans,
Corinthians, Galatians, etc.) Pastoral texts addressed to specific
churches facing particular historical problems Prophetic: Hebrew
Bible texts such as Isaiah Prophecy, in the Biblical tradition, is
not exclusively or even primarily about making pronouncements and
predictions concerning the future. Rather, prophecy is speaking
words of comfort and/or challenge, on behalf of God, to the people
of God in their concrete historical situation. (Gorman, p. 23).
Source: Gorman, Ch. 2-4
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THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION The writer: John Probably not the
Apostle identified as author of the Gospel of John (he does not
identify himself as an Apostle or suggest that he knew Jesus during
Jesus earthly ministry) Likely a leader of a local Christian
community in Asia Minor who was exiled to, or was taking refuge on,
the Island of Patmos Probably writing during the reign of the Roman
Emperor Domitian (81-96 A.D.) Source: Gorman, Ch. 2-4
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THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION Some background concerns and themes:
Jewish apocalyptic: The Messianic Age and the hope of the renewal
of Creation and the destruction of evil Jesus, the suffering
Messiah who overturned Second Temple Jewish expectations The
Church, history, and suffering: the paradigm of the Cross The false
power of Rome, Imperial civil religion, and the True Risen,
Returning King: theopolitical protest literature Pastoral
encouragement: persevering through trials Liturgical text: a call
to worship A book of beatitudes (blessings)
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THE HORIZONS OF REVELATION What is Revelation Not A secret
codebook for predicting the future A literal map of events that can
be read together with a newspaper or the evening news The
geopolitics of the modern nation-state of Israel (at least not
directly) Prescriptions for American domestic of foreign policy (at
least not directly) The United Nations, Communism, Democracy, the
Cold War, the Soviet Union, China, the European Union, North Korea,
the U.S. Supreme Court, Middle Eastern oil, the Federal Reserve
Bank, the World Bank, the World Trade Organization, the Internet,
Peak Oil, Global Warming (pro or con!), the economic crisis, Al
Gore, Bono, Bill Gates, the Pope, George W. Bush, Barack Obama (at
least not directly) The Rapture and the Left Behind craze
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REVISITING THE THEME Do not be afraid. I am the First and the
Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for
ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. Rev.
1:17-18
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REVISITING THE THEME Reminder: check the class website for
supplemental materials http://www.tgdarkly.com/revelation