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Scholar takes "New" Approach to the Book of Revelation by Focusing on the "Old"

No book in the Bible has been interpreted as variously as the book of Revelation. Students of prophecy and mystics especially have found in the visions of Revelation fertile ground for speculation and spiritualization. It seems as if every new commentary on Revelation reveals a new approach.

Craig Keener, author of the NIV Application Commentary on REVELATION, offers a "new" approach by focusing on the "old." In order to understand this fascinating book, he says, we must focus on its "ancient rather than modern" background:

"If today's newspapers are a necessary key to interpreting the book, then no generation until our own could have understood and obeyed the book."

In focusing on Revelation's message to its original audience, Keener is not denying the genre of the book (apocalyptic), its purpose (prophecy), its method (use of symbols), or its message for readers today (God's awesome majesty and control). On the contrary, Keener affirms the value of all previous approaches- idealistic, historical, preterist, futurist-in understanding the message of this book, or at least certain aspects of it.

Revelation is the last book of the Bible. It reveals important truths about the end times. But it is also last in another important sense-it calls on all the hermeneutical courage, wisdom, and maturity one can muster in order to be understood properly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

• Craig S. Keener (Ph.D. Duke University) is professor of New Testament at Eastern Seminary in Wynnewood, Penn. He is the author of the IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament and A Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew (Eerdmans).

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