The Book of Revelation : A Biography / Timothy Beal.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beal, Timothy, author.

Series:

Lives of great religious books.

Lives of Great Religious Books ; 49

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Bible. Revelation--Influence.

Bible.

Bible. Revelation--Criticism, interpretation, etc.

Bible. Revelation--Criticism, interpretation, etc--History.

Eschatology.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (284 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2018]

Language Note:

In English.

Summary:

The life and times of the New Testament's most mystifying and incendiary bookFew biblical books have been as revered and reviled as Revelation. Many hail it as the pinnacle of prophetic vision, the cornerstone of the biblical canon, and, for those with eyes to see, the key to understanding the past, present, and future. Others denounce it as the work of a disturbed individual whose horrific dreams of inhumane violence should never have been allowed into the Bible. Timothy Beal provides a concise cultural history of Revelation and the apocalyptic imaginations it has fueled.Taking readers from the book's composition amid the Christian persecutions of first-century Rome to its enduring influence today in popular culture, media, and visual art, Beal explores the often wildly contradictory lives of this sometimes horrifying, sometimes inspiring biblical vision. He shows how such figures as Augustine and Hildegard of Bingen made Revelation central to their own mystical worldviews, and how, thanks to the vivid works of art it inspired, the book remained popular even as it was denounced by later church leaders such as Martin Luther. Attributed to a mysterious prophet identified only as John, Revelation speaks with a voice unlike any other in the Bible. Beal demonstrates how the book is a multimedia constellation of stories and images that mutate and evolve as they take hold in new contexts, and how Revelation is reinvented in the hearts and minds of each new generation.This succinct book traces how Revelation continues to inspire new diagrams of history, new fantasies of rapture, and new nightmares of being left behind.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. Introduction

Chapter 2. Pale Rider: Obscure Origins

Chapter 3. Apocalypse Not Now: Augustine's Tale of Two Cities

Chapter 4. Cry Out and Write: Hildegard's Apocalypse

Chapter 5. Mind's Eye: Joachim in the Forests of History

Chapter 6. September's Testament: Luther's Bible vs. Cranach's Revelation

Chapter 7. New World of Gods and Monsters: Othering Other Religions

Chapter 8. Heaven in a Garage: James Hampton's Throne Room

Chapter 9. Left Behind, Again: The Rise and Fall of Evangelical Rapture Horror Culture

Chapter 10. Post Script: Revelation Becomes Us

Further Reading

Acknowledgments

Notes

Index

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 209-213) and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 23. Mai 2019)

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

ISBN:

9781787853898

1787853896

9780691185088

0691185085

OCLC:

1128172198