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...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
2024
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| 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 |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (kostenfrei) Volltext (kostenfrei) |
| 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. |
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| ISSN: | 1475-4517 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Harvard theological review
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1017/S001781602300038X |
