The Fiction of the Seven Letters in the Apocalypse: Representing Heavenly Authority in the Shadow of Paul

While scholars have traditionally taken Revelation’s "letters to the seven churches" (Rev 2-3) as documentation for the experiences of the Christ-movement in those cities, this article argues that the letters amount to a fictional device—that the Apocalypse appropriates epistolary forms in...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Frankfurter, David 1961- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Cambridge Univ. Press 2024
In: Harvard theological review
Year: 2024, Volume: 117, Issue: 1, Pages: 79-98
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Bible. Offenbarung des Johannes 2-3 / Fiction / Pauline letters / Rejection of / Authority
IxTheo Classification:HC New Testament
Further subjects:B Apocalyptic Literature
B early Christian prophecy
B epistolary fiction
B Book of Revelation
B Pauline authority
B Jewish Christ-belief
B ancient letter collections
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Description
Summary:While scholars have traditionally taken Revelation’s "letters to the seven churches" (Rev 2-3) as documentation for the experiences of the Christ-movement in those cities, this article argues that the letters amount to a fictional device—that the Apocalypse appropriates epistolary forms in response to the increasing authority of early Pauline collections among the late first-century Asia Minor Christ-movements. With its divine epistolary authority and heavenly sevenfold "collection," the Apocalypse attempts to exceed and denigrate Pauline authority in the Christ-movement, and it elevates a Jewish Christ-devotion based in priestly apocalyptic traditions. In the end, we can see John of Patmos both as a competitor to the Pauline tradition and as a witness to the earliest circulation of Pauline collections.
ISSN:1475-4517
Contains:Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1017/S001781602300038X