If there are 4 Gospels, then why only 1 book of Revelations

kepler

One can picture authors with agents submitting canonical manuscripts to a publishing house. But who is the House?

How about "Athanasius Press"?

Then you get re-issues of the anthologies. Especially in the 16th century. And finally a statement on what is canonical, about the same time Bibles were wielded by the laymen like the cross would be wielded against vampires in horror movies. Odd?

Then along came the re-issues and anthologies.

I notice the more adamant people are about inerrancy, the fewer loose ends and "deutero-canonical" segments are included. I mean, suppose Daniel chapter 14 were included connecting Daniel to Cyrus... Or one could read Maccabees and wonder if Nebuchadnezzar might not have been comparable to Antiochus... Would one suppose that apocalyptic (and inerrant) speculations might be a little overblown?

Vidiot

kepler - "If there are 4 Gospels, then why only 1 book of Revelations?"

Probably 'cause there were at least four guys who were Jesus' followers...

...but only one who ended up having peyote-induced hallucinations on an island gulag for nutjobs and political prisoners.

sir82

There were lots of "Apocalypses" written in the 1st & 2nd centuries.

A better question would be, why did the one in the current Bible make the cut, while the others didn't?

LoveUniHateExams

then why only 1 book of Revelations

Not more books of revelations, please ... one book is more than enough

Doug Mason

Reasons for having four gospels included the fact that there are four points to the compass. The Gospels are of course written by unknown authors, people who had neither seen nor heard Jesus (Yeshua/Joshua).

Each of the synoptic Gospels contains an apocalypse (Matt 24, Mark 13, Luke 21) and Paul anticipated the end-times would take place during his lifetime (1 Thess 4) - as did Jesus ("those standing here will see the son of man coming").

As sir82 points out, several other apocalypses were written, and have survived. Indeed the current book of Revelation had a difficult time being accepted. Luther wanted the canon to be revisited and have that book (and some others) removed.

The time of Jesus was a hotbed of apocalypticism. In addition to Jesus and his followers, the Essenes of the Dead Sea are another prime example.

Jeremiah had promised that following the Babylonian Exile, Judah would be restored, but centuries later, this had not come to pass. They were still subjected to the powers of Persia, Greece and Rome. Their only hope lay in direct and immediate divine intervention.

This anticipation is repeated and repeated throughout history. Today's apocalyptic movements continue the tradition.

The lesson that history teaches is that people do not learn the lesson that history teaches.

Doug