Apocalypse and Allegiance


Book Description

In this lively introduction, J. Nelson Kraybill shows how the book of Revelation was understood by its original readers and what it means for Christians today. Kraybill places Revelation in its first-century context, opening a window into the political, economic, and social realities of the early church. His fresh interpretation highlights Revelation's liturgical structure and directs readers' attentions to twenty-first-century issues of empire, worship, and allegiance, showing how John's apocalypse is relevant to the spiritual life of believers today. The book includes maps, timelines, photos, a glossary, discussion questions, and stories of modern Christians who live out John's vision of a New Jerusalem.




Reading Revelation Responsibly


Book Description

Reading Revelation Responsibly is for those who are confused by, afraid of, and/or preoccupied with the book of Revelation. In rescuing the Apocalypse from those who either completely misinterpret it or completely ignore it, Michael Gorman has given us both a guide to reading Revelation in a responsible way and a theological engagement with the text itself. He takes interpreting the book as a serious and sacred responsibility, believing how one reads, teaches, and preaches Revelation can have a powerful impact on one's own--and other people's--well-being. Gorman pays careful attention to the book's original historical and literary contexts, its connections to the rest of Scripture, its relationship to Christian doctrine and practice, and its potential to help or harm people in their life of faith. Rather than a script for the end times, Gorman demonstrates how Revelation is a script for Christian worship, witness, and mission that runs counter to culturally embedded civil religion.







Allegiance


Book Description

Edited by Monique Happy Editorial Services 122,990 words. Approximately 490 pages Allegiance, Book 5 in the Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse series, picks up two days after "A Pound of Flesh: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse" left off. Outbreak - Day 1. Like a fragile house of cards in a hurricane, Presidents, Premiers, entire governments and their ruling bodies disappeared instantly. Some had ensconced themselves in deep underground bunkers or remained holed up in fortified strongholds, but history would tell that most had been swallowed up by the dead - never to be heard from again. Infection rates skyrocketed in the United States' largest cities the first days of the outbreak, as the rapacious dead delivered the Omega virus with emotionless efficiency. During the ensuing days, the rest of the country and the world shared the same fate as Omega spread exponentially from within the mega population centers, pulsing into the countryside, a rotten, shambling diaspora. It had taken 3.7 billion years for man to evolve from a universal common ancestor - to stop dragging his collective knuckles - finally to emerge the dominant species, complete with shiny new iPads, Smartphones, worldwide non-stop air travel, and all manner of high tech war machines. Yet it had taken one microscopic man-made virus only three days to deliver mankind, on its collective knees, to the doorstep of extinction. WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD Outbreak - Day 15. With an estimated ninety-nine percent of the United States' population having already succumbed to the rapidly spreading Omega virus, and countries and cities worldwide teeming with the dead, the struggle to survive the zombie apocalypse continues unabated in the high desert of Colorado. Having just returned from a hastily thrown together secret mission that saw Robert Christian-the self-proclaimed President of his "New America"-snatched from his mountain redoubt and delivered kicking and screaming to the justice awaiting him at Schriever Air Force Base, Cade Grayson, father, husband, and Delta Force operator is horrified to learn that during his absence the base had been compromised, putting his family in harm's way. Its inhabitants still reeling from Pug's act of terror, and recently rocked by an undead outbreak inside the wire, Schriever no longer seems an island of safety surrounded by a sea of dead, but more like a shadowy prison, danger lurking within its walls. So, with the Z-infested cities of Denver and Aurora to the north and a hundred thousand flesh eaters inhabiting Pueblo to the south, and all hope of a cure for Omega dwindling faster than the world's population, Cade uses a mandated two-day stand down to fully weigh out his options. With each passing day, he finds himself warming to Brook's stance that they pull up stakes and put the acres of squat buildings and fenced-in concrete in their rearview mirror for good. With his allegiance walking a tightrope between family and flag, will Cade appease Brook and move the family to Logan Winter's compound outside of Eden, Utah? Or will he lobby her to allow the family to stay at on Schriever, so that his Delta Team-still recovering from the recent loss of soft-spoken Sergeant Darwin Maddox and the Unit's longtime commander General Mike Desantos-will not find themselves undermanned and outgunned should another important mission crop up? Or will the talented Mister Murphy-of Murphy's Law fame-throw a monkey wrench into the equation and alter the best laid plans of mice and men?




Waiting for Antichrist


Book Description

How can people believe that the supernatural end of the world lies just around the corner when, so far, every such prediction has been proved wrong? Some scholars argue that millenarians are psychologically disturbed; others maintain that their dreams of paradise on earth reflect a nascent political awareness. In this book Damian Thompson looks at the members of one religious group with a strong apocalyptic tradition--Kensington Temple, a large Pentecostal church in London--and attempts to understand how they reconcile doctrines of the end of the world with the demands of their everyday lives. He asks such questions as: Who is making the argument that the world is about to end, and on whose authority? How is it communicated? Which members are persuaded by it? What are the practical consequences for them? How do they rationalize their position? Based on extensive interviews as well as a survey of almost 3000 members, Thompson finds existing explanations of apocalyptic belief inadequate. Although they profess allegiance to millennial doctrine, he discovers, members actually assign a low priority to the "End Times." The history of millenarianism is littered with disappointment, Thompson notes, and the lesson has largely been learned: "predictive" millenarianism--with its risky time-specific predictions of the end--has been substantially supplanted by "explanatory" millenarianism, which uses apocalyptic narratives to explain features of the contemporary world. Most apocalyptic believers, he finds, are comfortable with these lower-cost explanatory narratives that do not require them to sell their houses and head for the hills. He does uncover a handful of "textbook" millenarians in the congregation--people who are confident that Jesus will return in their lifetimes. He concludes that their atypical beliefs were influenced by their conversion experiences, individual psychology, and degree of subcultural immersion. Although much has been written about apocalyptic belief, Thompson's empirically-based study is unprecedented. It constitutes an important step forward in our understanding of this puzzling feature of contemporary religious life.




Imperial Cult and Commerce in John's Apocalypse


Book Description

Drawing evidence from ancient literature, coins, inscriptions and artwork, Kraybill points to the penetration of the Roman imperial cult (emperor worship) into commercial settings as a primary concern of the Apocalypse. By the time John was on Patmos, people in Asia Minor could not 'buy or sell' without giving idolatrous allegiance to Rome. Imperial cult and commerce blended in guild halls, the banking industry and the market place. John calls readers to 'come out from' pagan loyalties of Roman imperial society and give full allegiance to a New Jerusalem of justice and equality under the rule of Christ.




Seeing Things John's Way


Book Description

The emotionally evocative power of the book of Revelation has been often noted and experienced by interpreters, but until now it has never been systematically explored. The strange visions of the book of Revelation provide some of the most difficult passages of the New Testament, yet Christians have long been fascinated by its power and provocative pronouncements. David deSilva analyzes how the book argues and persuades us to see the world through the eyes of John, and suggests that the study of ancient rhetoric is particularly valuable in understanding the book of Revelation. deSilva interprets the book of Revelation as a rhetorical and communicative strategy to persuade a particular audience for specific goals. Throughout this analysis, he pursues John's construction of his own authority, John's use of emotion and logic, and his attempt to shape the formation of the reader. Despite the complexities of Revelation, deSilva has produced a remarkably clear text sure to cause readers to rethink their view of Revelation.




Allegiance


Book Description

Allegiance, Book 5 in the Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse series, picks up two days after "A Pound of Flesh: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse" left off. Outbreak - Day 1. Like a fragile house of cards in a hurricane, Presidents, Premiers, entire governments and their ruling bodies disappeared instantly. Some had ensconced themselves in deep underground bunkers or remained holed up in fortified strongholds, but history would tell that most had been swallowed up by the dead - never to be heard from again. Infection rates skyrocketed in the United States' largest cities the first days of the outbreak, as the rapacious dead delivered the Omega virus with emotionless efficiency. During the ensuing days, the rest of the country and the world shared the same fate as Omega spread exponentially from within the mega population centers, pulsing into the countryside, a rotten, shambling diaspora. It had taken 3.7 billion years for man to evolve from a universal common ancestor - to stop dragging his collective knuckles - finally to emerge the dominant species, complete with shiny new iPads, Smartphones, worldwide non-stop air travel, and all manner of high tech war machines. Yet it had taken one microscopic man-made virus only three days to deliver mankind, on its collective knees, to the doorstep of extinction. WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD Outbreak - Day 15. With an estimated ninety-nine percent of the United States' population having already succumbed to the rapidly spreading Omega virus, and countries and cities worldwide teeming with the dead, the struggle to survive the zombie apocalypse continues unabated in the high desert of Colorado. Having just returned from a hastily thrown together secret mission that saw Robert Christian-the self-proclaimed President of his "New America"-snatched from his mountain redoubt and delivered kicking and screaming to the justice awaiting him at Schriever Air Force Base, Cade Grayson, father, husband, and Delta Force operator is horrified to learn that during his absence the base had been compromised, putting his family in harm's way. Its inhabitants still reeling from Pug's act of terror, and recently rocked by an undead outbreak inside the wire, Schriever no longer seems an island of safety surrounded by a sea of dead, but more like a shadowy prison, danger lurking within its walls. So, with the Z-infested cities of Denver and Aurora to the north and a hundred thousand flesh eaters inhabiting Pueblo to the south, and all hope of a cure for Omega dwindling faster than the world's population, Cade uses a mandated two-day stand down to fully weigh out his options. With each passing day, he finds himself warming to Brook's stance that they pull up stakes and put the acres of squat buildings and fenced-in concrete in their rearview mirror for good. With his allegiance walking a tightrope between family and flag, will Cade appease Brook and move the family to Logan Winter's compound outside of Eden, Utah? Or will he lobby her to allow the family to stay at Schriever, so that his Delta Team-still recovering from the recent loss of soft-spoken Sergeant Darwin Maddox and the Unit's longtime commander General Mike Desantos-will not find themselves undermanned and outgunned should another important mission crop up? Or will the talented Mister Murphy-of Murphy's Law fame-throw a monkey wrench into the equation and alter the best laid plans of mice and men?




A Pound of Flesh


Book Description

A Pound of Flesh, Book 4 in the Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse series, picks up the day after "In Harm's Way: Surviving the Zombie Apocalypse" left off. Outbreak - Day1 Like a fragile house of cards in a hurricane, Presidents, Premiers, entire governments and their ruling bodies disappeared instantly. Some had ensconced themselves in deep underground bunkers or remained holed up in fortified strongholds, but history would tell that most had been swallowed up by the dead - never to be heard from again. WARNING - SPOILERS AHEAD Outbreak - Day 9 Reeling from a surprise attack, and with two fires burning out of control, Schriever AFB goes on high alert. Former CDC Scientist Sylvester Fuentes, the apparent target, is killed along with his assistant Jessica Hanson, Brook's brother Carl and a handful of others. Destroyed in the conflagration was the Omega antiserum Fuentes had been working to perfect, and just hours prior had tested successfully on one of the newly infected. Meanwhile, returning prematurely from a mission to set off two nukes in the path of an advancing horde of living dead numbering several hundred thousand strong, and with his Delta Force commander Mike Desantos infected and dying from the Omega virus, Cade Grayson was forced to do something no friend should have to. Then, shortly after taking Desantos's life, and while still cradling the hard charging operator's corpse, the low rumble of the two nuclear detonations signaling the mission's likely success rolled over Schriever. Immediately, Delta Force Captain Cade Grayson begins to formulate a plan that will send him hurtling on a collision course with the parties responsible for the terrorist attack. Six hundred miles away in Eden, Utah, Duncan Winters, Vietnam-era aviator, hopes to recuperate and ride out the apocalypse in his survivalist/ Doomsday prepper brother Logan's compound. In Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the New American capitol and fiefdom of Robert Christian, well-connected billionaire and self-appointed President, Daymon Bush, former BLM firefighter, bides his time with one burning desire: to find his girlfriend Heidi even if it ultimately kills him. Will Cade successfully lobby President Clay and embark on a new mission in order to extract a pound of flesh for Carl and Mike Desantos? Will Brook Grayson and her eleven-year-old daughter Raven continue to temper themselves against the new dangers inside and outside the wire at Schriever? Will Daymon accomplish his goal and survive Jackson Hole? Can the much older Duncan find a way to fit in with his younger brother Logan's prepper friends? Will newly promoted General Ronnie Gaines fit in with the late Commander's fractured Delta team? Can the human race find a way to survive the legions of migrating zombies?




Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John


Book Description

After more than a century of debate about the significance of imperial cults for the interpretation of Revelation, this is the first study to examine both the archaeological evidence and the Biblical text in depth. Friesen argues that a detailed analysis of imperial cults as they were practiced in the first century CE in the region where John was active allows us to understand John's criticism of his society's dominant values. He demonstrates the importance of imperial cults for society at the time when Revelation was written, and shows the ways in which John refuted imperial cosmology through his use of vision, myth, and eschatological expectation.