Book Description

Is the book of Revelation the biblical book for the twentieth-first century due to the growing interest in apocalyptic? A fresh approach is needed to help access its symbolic mysteries, an approach that avoids fundamentalist, literal interpretation and the tendency in liberal thinking to doubt that God will act decisively in the future in some way. These meditations take us far and wide in an understanding of Christian apocalyptic thought--from the lived faith of refugee and oppressed communities, to traditions of the Orthodox Church. Emphasized throughout is a direction in modern scholarship that sees the catastrophes described in Revelation as symbolic of events that are already happening in the course of world history. It presents the bringing of the era to its end because of the victory of Christ over evil, which is to be finally vanquished with universal judgment and glorious consummation in store. The unfolding work of God's justice is displayed. Fellowship with the martyrs, the servants of the Lamb, is of special significance. The Apocalyptic Heart traces these themes based on particular moments in the text of Revelation and explores their meaning for the present.