I am happy to announce the publication of my latest book entitled Revelation and the First Century: Preterist Interpretations of the Apocalypse in Ancient Christianity.
The Book of Revelation is a fascinating book filled with wonder, mystery, and triumph. In its visions one sees references to the coming of Antichrist, the last persecution, the last battle, the Second Coming of Christ and the general resurrection accompanying it, the Last Judgment, and everlasting life.
Many people today, however, believe that its visions contain prophecies about historical events that were going to take place shortly, that is, in the first century of Christian history. Those who oppose such a lens for interpreting the visions of the Apocalypse say that this “preterist” view of Revelation is a relatively recent phenomenon not found in early Christianity. Revelation and the First Century challenges that idea by showing that many writers in ancient and medieval Christianity indeed saw references to first century historical persons and events in John’s visions.
For example, some interpreted the “hour of testing” in Rev 3:10 as a time of trial that happened immediately after the death of the emperor Nero. Others saw in the four horsemen of the Apocalypse a description of the deeds of early Roman emperors. Some interpreted the 144,000 sealed in Rev 7 as a picture of Jewish believers in the first century. Others expressed the opinion that Nero was the beast of Rev 13, and that some of the prophecies of the Book of Revelation were fulfilled in the Roman-Judean war of 68-70 AD.
Revelation and the First Century provides citations in English translation from dozens of early commentaries showing just how they often interpreted the visions of the Apocalypse in light of first century historical events.
View the Table of Contents, PDF
To read a review by Jack Kettler, click here.
For those interested in ancient biblical interpretation, the Book of Revelation, eschatology, ancient history, and ecclesiastical history, I trust the book will be an interesting read and a valuable resource.
To order from the publisher, click here.
To order from Amazon, click here.