So I have finally bit the bullet and just started a class on Revelation last week. Since this is my first time teaching this book I thought maybe a few of you who have might have some words of wisdom or perspective to offer. Here are my reference books:
- The NIV Application Commentary: Revelation
by Keener
- The Book of Revelation (The New International Commentary on the New Testament)
by Mounce
- Revelation (Smyth & Helwys Bible Commentary)
by Reddish one of the best commentaries out there. A must have IMO
- Breaking the Code by Metzger
- Revelation (New Cambridge Bible Commentary)
by Ben Witherington
Am I missing anything you think critical to understanding the book? And don’t toss the Left Behind Series at me 🙂
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There’s this really neat book on the Seven Churches called Letters From The Lamb…
OK, enough shameless plugs. If you don’t want to get my book, I’d recommend looking at Sir William Ramsey’s stuff on the Seven Churches. It’s in public domain; just Google it.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
I heard the author of that book is some sort of “change agent” 😉 Thanks for reminding me you published that last year. Where is the best place to get a copy that benefits you the most?
https://www.21stcc.com/viewspecial.cfm/prodno/9780890983522 works, if you really want to pick up a copy. But don’t spread that change agent stuff around; don’t want my mom to know.
Grace and peace,
Tim Archer
Tim,
Glad to hear your mom reads the blog.
Surprised by Hope, NT Wright
The Fire that Consumes, Edward Fudge
I figure it’s most important to focus on the very end
I can get those pretty easily…didn’t even think about those somehow. Thanks.
The book The Most Embarrassing Book Of The Bible presents what I find to be an interesting look at the book of Revelation. You can purchase it quite inexpensively as an e-Book here:
https://www.andrewcorbett.net/e-books/index.html
I think it’s $6.95 Australian dollars, which is probably a little less in US dollars.
Really enjoy your blogs!
Jared
I can’t “get it at Jared?” Okay…corney joke there. Thanks.
Matt,
Has Dr. Oster’s long awaited commentary on Revelation been published yet? The last time I spoke with him, he had secured a publisher (I can’t remember which one) but had a few minor things to do before publication.
Grace and peace,
Rex
I don’t think it is out yet.
I think that Jim McGuiggan has some good things to say about it in his little book on Revelation. Richard Bauckham is suppose to be good too.
Thanks George…I may have the McGuiggan one at my disposal. Not sure.
Don’t have much for you. “The Meaning and Message of Revelation” (Edward McDowell, 1951, Nashville, ISBN 0-8054-1315-4 4213-15) that I studied in college obscured as much as it revealed. But it has its moments, especially when sharing culture of the time or different tenses of language used.
Here’s some scattered thoughts I had finishing a blog study of the parousia with the Revelation to John: Second Coming, Part XII. I apologize for its fragmented nature. The day I wrote it was, as Radar of M*A*S*H once said, “One day. One very bad day.”
Reading Witherington. Will also be reading the New International Commentary on Revelation. Interested to see what you do.
Preaching on in next month.
Okay, so this may be the weirdest suggestion, but I think anybody reading and teaching Revelation could really benefit by spending an hour or so in a local comic book store. Not for exegetical insight, but because of style and storytelling. Revelation really reads like the comic book of the NT, full of vivid image frames, heroics and villainry, and grand themes. Take it for what it’s worth, but if you read the book as a whole in a single setting, I think a comic book is really the best parrallel in contemporary literature.
I’ve used some illustrations that can be purchased at https://www.revelationillustrated.com, and they were really helpful. Now, the artist does include some pictures of the rapture, etc., but the stuff taken directly from the text of Revelation is great. It does highlight the vivid imagery in ways I hadn’t thought of earlier. I used in powerpoint, and it helped us review the storyline in the first few minutes of each class.
Also, Stafford North has some good materials, specifically an introductory discussion of the different approaches that is very Bible-class friendly.
Thanks Andrew. I will have a look.
How could you think of teaching Revelation without consulting Foy Wallace Jr.’s commentary on it?
You know that one’s a given…
Reversed Thunder: The Revelation of John and the Praying Imagination by Eugene Peterson takes seriously John’s triune role as pastor, prophet, and poet in the writing of the Revelation. Peterson doesn’t get into nuts and bolts and trying to identify particular images with particular people, etc. What he does is to try and take the pastoral message of each section and show how that message is still deeply relevant for today’s church.
Nick,
Sounds very interesting. I didn’t know that was out there.
I have found David L. Roper’s Truth for Today commentary on Revelation very helpful. Also, as A Lamb Slain by Floyd Irvin Stanley has some good stuff in it.