Book Description

1. The Revelation of John exerts an almost irresistible attraction to those who are intrigued by its intricate and complex structure (JPR, p. vi). 2. Despite its name, appears to cancel as much as it reveals, disclosing its mysteries only to those patient enough to pore diligently over its every word, its every peculiar turn of phrase (JPR, p. vi) 3. The Book of Revelation is written now, in our own history and in our own city, in our own lives and in the lives of our children and our descendants in the pervasive emotional shadow of our failed responsibility and in the dependency of the evil acting on our behalf. The time for the Book of Revelation is "always"; the site for it is "everywhere"; the understanding of it is "impossible"; the feelings are overwhelming (Introduction). 4. A conflicted world of realities and an allegorical world of mental fantasies, like a popular TV reality show, are offering a kaleidoscopic framework of paradoxes: Chaos and order, helplessness and hope, destruction and justice, war and peace, insane devilish actions and healthy, spiritual goodness, unbalanced lives of people with mental and physical disabilities and their care providers, and the expression and context of the devil and the good- all these are the text and context of the Book of Revelation, the Apocalypse (Introduction) 5. The Book of Revelation, more than a strategy and form of communication, is a paradigm: It attends not only logical needs of comprehension but also structural human needs that are essential for interactions within a social and human context (p. 4). 6. The negative forces of the spirit fight against the positive forces within the same human individual in the struggle of eternal life. In fact, the earthly proximity of good and evil reverses the reality and frequently darkens the conscience and moral understanding. The essence of good is absurdly assaulted by the unscrupulous immoral acts of evil, an assault that leads our mind to the apocalyptical abysm of absolute failure and profound sickness, reflected in the confrontational experience of spiritual brightness versus material darkness, rational versus absurd behaviors, a natural saintly rapture of living versus a vulgarly immoral rupture of life, the functional beauty of sex versus the psychopathic abuse of lust. No religious institution and no sacred name is free of the human behaviors frequently possessed by the beast, such as within the Legionaries of Christ and the Holy See when both were profaned by the universal plague... pointing to... (the) spiritual massacre of many children through continual sexual abuse (p.14). 7. Evil reverses the world of reality, without reason and justice. Evil establishes an imaginary court with its own judgment and summary punishment in a realm of an obscure frame of racism and discrimination (p. 14) 8. The Apocalypse appears to be the framework of the paradoxical struggle between death and life, chaos and order, suffering and love, helplessness and hope. The transformative struggle is clearly illustrated in political history (15). 9. The consequences of this convoluted Johannine world... extends into the future (p.16). 10. The book is an attempt to connect in many trials humanity with God within a context of social, political, and cultural events in a history tinted with suffering and oppression. The scenes and motives complete the final step of the redemptive covenant and assure a human future that rewards the faithful worshippers of God with His heavenly presence (p.27).