Apocalypticism, Prophecy, and Magic in Early Christianity: Collected Essays
Renowned scholar David Aune, author of a leading commentary on the book of Revelation, here offers twenty collected essays on apocalypticism, the book of Revelation, and related topics. Several essays on the Apocalypse of John explore contextual relationships of the Apocalypse to apocalyptic literature. Other essays center on aspects of the content and interpretation of the Apocalypse itself by investigating issues such as discipleship, narrative Christology, genre, and the problem of God and time. Essays on early Christian prophecy deal with charismatic exegesis in early Judaism and early Christianity, the relationship between Christian prophecy and the messianic status of Jesus, and the prophetic features found in The Odes of Solomon."Despite its unquestionable utility for scholars of Revelation, [this volume] is not simply a compilation of specialist papers on selected technical topics concerning the New Testament book. Rather, its title is entirely appropriate: this is a volume that deals with ancient Jewish and Christian apocalypticism, prophecy, and magic at a very high level. . . . What strikes one most about this collection is Aune's tremendous breadth of interest and expertise. . . . Aune brings to his investigation an immense knowledge of not only the Jewish, Christian, and classical literature of the era but also the documentary evidence, including the numismatic and inscriptive. . . . I would find it difficult to conduct research on ancient apocalypses and apocalypticism, or on the book of Revelation, without this volume by my side. Its inclusion in university and personal libraries is strongly recommended."--Lorenzo DiTommaso,Review of Biblical Literature"In many respects [this book] accompanies the author's three-volume Word Commentary [on Revelation]. . . . Individual essays represent a variety of approaches, literary, historical, and sociological, reflecting the depth and breadth of the author's scholarship. This volume will prove a useful and accessible resource, comparable in scale to a fourth volume of the commentary, and will provide readers with further benefits of the concentration of scholarly energy and insight which went into those volumes."--Nicholas H. Taylor,Journal for the Study of the New Testament Booklist