by M.J. 10 Replies latest watchtower bible
Know of a good commentary/analysis of Revelation?
A reference that's faithful to the concept of exegesis rather than eisegesis*?
A good antidote to the Revelation Climax book currently being studied by JWs?
Any suggestions would be appreciated.
*Eisegesis-an interpretation, esp. of Scripture, that expresses the interpreter's own ideas, bias, or the like, rather than the meaning of the text. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
From the preterist school of thought, in other words, it's all finished 2000 yrs ago -
http://freebooks.entrewave.com/freebooks/docs/2226_47e.htm
S
You can go to wernerbiblecommentary.org. This is a site that is updated with commentaries on different books of the bible including Revelation. It is written by a man who left Bethel almost 30 yrs ago during the inquisition. He was a researcher and writer prior to leaving. His current views are much different than what is being vomited into the WTS publications. He bases his commentaries on the original wording from the ancient Greek and Hebrew texts of the bible, and uses the best translation into english from whatever bible that has that particular passage translated most accurately. You do not need to sign in when you get to the webpage. Just click on the links and go. It is not a commercial site, just a site for those looking for accurate commentaries on the bible. The sign-in is for the site administrator and for him to update his commentaries.
CCS
Thanks! I will look those over.
I came across this book by Bruce Metzger. It looks like a good intro.
This book, The Complete Idiot's Guide to the Book of Revelation by James S. Bell, looks like its just my speed.
This one by Richard Bauckham, sounds pretty good: The Theology of the Book of Revelation
I'll keep digging...
Chuck Missler's Commentary of the Book of Revelation; CD or DVD available
Hi, MJ, There are several good books written about the Book of Revelation that are available on the market today, and all written by God-fearing men who have a fondness and love of truth that far surpasses any WTS superficiallity at spiritual posturing.
The thing to remember, though, if you are going to venture into this wonderful world of independant spiritual inquiry, is the wealth of personal freedom that is available for the expression of thought on biblical matters. When I first confronted this, on leaving the highly structured system of belief that is the WTS, a system that demanded conformity, and denied dissent, some twenty years ago, I found this freedom, coupled with the almost infinite amount of information available, dauntng, to say the least.
True Christians are a free people in free association in free assembly. A true measure of their love for the spiritual fraternity that has called them together, is their tolerance of different points of view. No one is difellowshipped for holding a contrary idea, especiaaly not in Evangelical churches, like for instance the Baptists.
So, when it comes to prophecy, and the Book of Revelation, the thing to remember is that there are basically three seperate viewpoints that are represented by True Christians. Two of these views look on Revelation as having been already fulfilled: The Preterist, which sees Revelation being fulfilled at the time of the 1C AD, or thereabouts, then there is the Historicist, which sees Revelation being fulfilled in history that is passed, and the Futurist, which holds that Revelation is still bound for future fulfillment, in an undisclosed future. A simple example for this is the beast of Rev 13. The Preterist sees this as the Roman Empire, the Historicist as the Papacy, especially since the 15thC when the Reformation occured, and the Futurist sees it as a future Worldwide ruler called the AntiChrist.
A good starting point is an overall view of prophecy itself and a couple of good books for this is are: "Things To Come" by Prof Dwight L Pentecost. Although he is, like me, a Futurist, he does give a fair composit picture of the various ways in which prophecy can be viewed. Another good book for this sort of explanation is "The Popular Encyclopedia of Bible Prophecy" by Tim LaHaye and Something [sic] Hindson [Unfortunately his first name escapes me at present] both, again are Futurists, but give a wide coverage of prophecy. "The Second Coming Bible" is written from the Historicist viewpoint and also reflects this kind of approach. The author is William Biderwolf.
From a historicist point there are: "A Simplified Commentary on the Book of Revelation" by Harry Buis, "The Millennium" by Loraine Boettner [Don't let that first name fool ya, he ain't no lady, he's a Frenchman with attitude, only joking only joking] An unusual book to say the least, is "Prophecy's Last Word" by Frederick Tatford. Although he accepts the Historicist position of Revelation, he does feel that some portions also have a future fulfillment, ie, having two fulfillments.
Good Futurist books are: "Approaching Hoofbeats" by Billy Graham, "Revelation Visualized" by Salem Kirban, "Revelation" by Theodore Epp. "Lectures on Revelation" by Henry Ironside,and "The King is Coming" by HL Willmington.
A quiet trip down to your local Christian bookstore will reveal a lot more titles to peruse. The thing to avoid is the "Realized School" of Prophecy, which is advocated by various cultic systems. This sees an idiosyncratic view of Revelation, wherein the things depicted there have a contrived fulfillment on the cultic group. The two most [in]famous for this are The WTS and HW Armstrong's WWCOG.
Good hunting and hope this helps.
By the way, I remember you once asking about Bruce Metzger's "A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament" Oddly enough, I was surfing the net just the other day, when I came across a site called "Logos Bible Sofware" who have an electronic version of the book for immediate download, and for a comparitively cheap cost. I think it was about $30. I thought about you, and was going to PM you. but there you go, you've got the message anyway.
"The quest for truth is endless, but it is the trip, not the goal that sustains belief" - Moggy Lover, circa 2007.
Cheers
You will find several there: http://www.ptsem.edu/Academics/departments/BS/NT/Commentaries%20(Abrgd).htm
Metzger wrote an excellent book on Revelation; Bauckham too.
Did you hear Metzger died, by the way?
Slim
Yes.
Revelation is about the individual soul... it's about you. It's not about anyone else really. It's about the struggle that occurs when spiritual ideals are out of sync with material needs and desires. Considering the rest of the bible, should this come as a surprise? No.
Revelation must be deciphered in the language in which it was originally written... in the spirit. A langugage dead to us at present and thus useless. One soul did translate it for us whilst in a trance-like state. To my knowledege he is the only one in history to have ever translated it. Although my grasp of history is somewhat minimal, I personally believe the narrow path is very narrow indeed.
If you want the truth, you'll need to dismiss the crap you've been taught. Dismissing something you hold dear to your heart, that you have enjoyed teaching other people, that you have woven into the fabric of your being thread by thread, year by year is almost impossible to let go of. If this is you, you'll outright dismiss the truth even when you ask for it. You won't even see it.
I know better than to point a JW or even an ex-JW towards Truth. From my experience they don't want to know it unless it's a thread that can be woven neatly into their current beliefs.
Suffice to say, the best answer I can give you, is not a hyperlink that explains the real truth (because you will not see it), but the advice that Jesus himself offered. Knock and the door will be opened. After 20 years of learning myself and trying to teach others, this really is the best advice I can offer. My own teacher never sought students. I found him.
If I thought you wanted a teacher, I would teach... but only as your friend... a companion. The internet can be such an impersonable medium, that I have found teaching via it limiting and inferior... however for self-study (knocking and looking), it's wonderful.
Thanks! Great responses. By the way, in case some of you couldn't tell, my original question was meant to be rather facetious.
First off, Buddy, point well taken. But since I'm a product of the 20th & 21st centuries with limited awareness of the world/situation/consciousness from which this book sprung up from, I do think it's profitable to learn from those who have already done the work in bringing relevant details of such things to light. I can sit here and ponder "what this book means to me", with no deeper frame of reference, but then I have no real intellectual advantage over any whack-jobs touting their own "new light".
SBF, I hadn't heard that he died! Just looked it up on google news. Thanks for the reccommendations.
Narkissos, I will look into some of those. Thanks for that list in any case. The fact that you reccommended it goes a long way.
Moggy Lover, thanks for the info, especially on the Textual Commentary.
ajwnm, I think I've seen his stuff. Isn't it available on blueletterbible.org? I'll look into it. Thanks!
UpAndAtom, thanks for the comments. As far as I'm concerned, the bible points to Christ himself as the Truth. Any further insight I can gleam off a book like Revelation is just gravy.
