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# Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation

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Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation [Pagels, Elaine] on desertcart.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation

Review: Exploring the story of the Book of Revelation - I have read Elaine Pagels' work before (Gnostic Gospels) and have admired her work. I am not an expert in this aspect of history, but her works read well and she shows much knowledge of the material. She also places the issues addressed in an historical context. Here, she explores the Book of Revelation, written, she says, by John of Patmos (an island off the coast of Turkey). She asks a number of questions in this book and strives to answer each (Page 3): "Who wrote this book? Why--and how--do so many people still read it today?" Pagels suggests that John began writing the book in 90 AD, probably after having fled his homeland in Judea. Pagels discusses revelatory works, showing how John's book fit into this tradition. She also notes that, from the documents from Nag Hammadi, John's was not the only work of revelation. Why did his become part of the Biblical canon and not some other? She discusses the history and politics of the time and how the emerging church hierarchy wanted a definitive "Bible." She outlines the logic that ended up locating John's Book of Revelation within the canon. This volume is well written, albeit a bit short. But it takes on a big subject and does not disappoint.
Review: Somewhat disappoionting - Elaine Pagels is learned, interesting, and careful. Unfortunately, her work on the Book of Revelation has a number of flaws. First, it is not well-edited. Ms. Pagel repeats herself several times, including offering a nearly identical synopsis of the Book of the book in separate chapters. This is the sort of thing that careful editing should catch. And sometimes the footnootes do not have much to do with the tesxt they are supposed to annotate. For example, Pagels notes that Revelation barely made it into the New Testament canon, while the footnote offers nothing about its inclusion -- where, when, and by how many votes it happened to be incorporated into the canon? There were come church councils that voted on the Canon (Pagels mentions the Council of Carthage). What happened there? By what process was it decided to include Revelation in the cannon. Second, this book is only loosely about the Book of Revelation itself. While the first two chapters are devoted to that Book, the remaining chapters include only tangentially related subjects, such as the fights in the early church and the conflicts between its bishops. These are interesting digressions, but they do not have much to do with Revelation. It is almost as if Ms. Pagels wrote six separate essays and justified their inclusion in one book by the fact that Revelation gets a mention in each of them. If her primary subject was Revelation itself, she would have been better off devoting her time to intepreting the book and noting the contemporary context of its writing. If her subject was the historical reaction and interpretation of that book, she should not have stopped at the fourth century. If I were to have one overarching criticism of her book, it is that it is a bit unfocused. Moreover, the quality of her text varies considerably. Her chapter on other extant apocalyptic literature is really excellent. While the Book of Revelation has been called the happy hunting ground for cranks, a reading of Ms. Pagel's analysis of similar writings makes it clear that John the Divine himself was not one of them. He was just a Jewish-Christian writer penning a particularly vivid example of a rather common literary genre. I would note, however, that her excellent exposition of precursors and contemporaries casts doubt on one of her conclusions -- that Revelation is largely to be interpreted as a cryptic reference to then-current events. Apocalyptic literature, Pagels' examples demonstrate, did have a large prophetic component, and a considerable "end of days" component, and these are often neither closely related to, nor cryptic references about, purely contemporary events. Moreover. the claim that John was writing in "code" because of fear of the authorities is suspect. What Roman magistrate bothered read this sort of stuff? Even Celsus, much less Pliny, demonstrated minimal familiarity which what are now the New Testament books. And if John was writing about the failings of some of his Christian contemporaries, what was there for him to worry about if he called them out by name? John just liked to be cryptic, like a number of other apocalyptic writers, because that is the way they wrote. Nor should it be discounted that writing Revelations may have been fun. It probably gives a fair amount of pleasure to a partisan to see his enemies blown up and thrown into the outer darkness. And the sheer power and imaginativeness of the narrative suggests a certain playfulness. Revelation may not be the best book of the Bible, but it is almost surely the most fascinating. Some of Ms. Pagels' claims are rather tenuous. For example, she argues that John was a Jewish follower of Jesus who was was writing against the "gentilizers" in the early church, particularly Paul and his followers. Pagels even suggests that John was not Christian, at least he did not call himself by the name "Christian." But John regularly mentions the church, and he nowhere mentions Paul. Nor does he have any direct criticism (or any obvious cryptic criticism) of gentile church members; much less does he suggest that gentile converts are not welcome in the church. Indeed, some of the churches in Asia Minor that he writes to had large gentile congregations, and he surely knew this. And the dates proposed by Pagels for Revelation's writing are suspect. Pagels believes that the book was written circa 95 A.D., although she acknowledges that some scholars would place it 30 years earlier. But Tacitus wrote that Nero blamed "the Christians" for the great fire at Rome, so the name "Christian" was surely widely known and used at the time. For John not to use it in the 90's would seem strange. Perhaps Revelation is a composit, which might account for the difference in tone between its first few chapters and the rest of the book and between the portions which seem to relate to current events and portions which relate to pure prophesy. Finally, Pagels does not spend nearly enough time on the text of Revelation itself. Although she contends that it relates principally to contemporary events, and analyzes the passages about the beast and the number of the beast and the destruction of God's enemies in some detail, she performs next to no exigesis of those passages which are more purely prophetic, such as Armageddon, the four horsemen (the third horseman being problematically denominated as "inflation" rather than the underlying famine which caused that inflation, which is what it primarily refers to), the Star Wormwood, the angel standing in the sun, the last trumpet, etc. While she is good about Revelations' roots, she is less helpful as a guide to the branches. Revelation is a treasure-trove of haunting and powerful images, which is probably why it is a happy hunting ground for cranks. If one is going to demystify it, it is very important to examine what the author was trying to mean rather than what the naked image conveys whoever happens to be reading it. This requires a careful exposition of the text, and Pagels does not always provide it. It is hard to criticize Pagels too much. It is generally a well-written book and a useful corrective for those who do not know much about Revelation. But for those who came to the book expecting to learn something new and revelatory about it, it is a bit problematical. Where it is really good, it does not have much to do with Revelation. And where it has a lot to say about Revelation, it is not particularly good.

## Technical Specifications

| Specification | Value |
|---------------|-------|
| Best Sellers Rank | #70,695 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #120 in New Testament Criticism & Interpretation #154 in Christian Eschatology (Books) #213 in New Testament Commentaries |
| Customer Reviews | 4.4 out of 5 stars 743 Reviews |

## Images

![Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71ldiAnI8CL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Exploring the story of the Book of Revelation
*by S***N on April 8, 2012*

I have read Elaine Pagels' work before (Gnostic Gospels) and have admired her work. I am not an expert in this aspect of history, but her works read well and she shows much knowledge of the material. She also places the issues addressed in an historical context. Here, she explores the Book of Revelation, written, she says, by John of Patmos (an island off the coast of Turkey). She asks a number of questions in this book and strives to answer each (Page 3): "Who wrote this book? Why--and how--do so many people still read it today?" Pagels suggests that John began writing the book in 90 AD, probably after having fled his homeland in Judea. Pagels discusses revelatory works, showing how John's book fit into this tradition. She also notes that, from the documents from Nag Hammadi, John's was not the only work of revelation. Why did his become part of the Biblical canon and not some other? She discusses the history and politics of the time and how the emerging church hierarchy wanted a definitive "Bible." She outlines the logic that ended up locating John's Book of Revelation within the canon. This volume is well written, albeit a bit short. But it takes on a big subject and does not disappoint.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Somewhat disappoionting
*by J***K on April 9, 2012*

Elaine Pagels is learned, interesting, and careful. Unfortunately, her work on the Book of Revelation has a number of flaws. First, it is not well-edited. Ms. Pagel repeats herself several times, including offering a nearly identical synopsis of the Book of the book in separate chapters. This is the sort of thing that careful editing should catch. And sometimes the footnootes do not have much to do with the tesxt they are supposed to annotate. For example, Pagels notes that Revelation barely made it into the New Testament canon, while the footnote offers nothing about its inclusion -- where, when, and by how many votes it happened to be incorporated into the canon? There were come church councils that voted on the Canon (Pagels mentions the Council of Carthage). What happened there? By what process was it decided to include Revelation in the cannon. Second, this book is only loosely about the Book of Revelation itself. While the first two chapters are devoted to that Book, the remaining chapters include only tangentially related subjects, such as the fights in the early church and the conflicts between its bishops. These are interesting digressions, but they do not have much to do with Revelation. It is almost as if Ms. Pagels wrote six separate essays and justified their inclusion in one book by the fact that Revelation gets a mention in each of them. If her primary subject was Revelation itself, she would have been better off devoting her time to intepreting the book and noting the contemporary context of its writing. If her subject was the historical reaction and interpretation of that book, she should not have stopped at the fourth century. If I were to have one overarching criticism of her book, it is that it is a bit unfocused. Moreover, the quality of her text varies considerably. Her chapter on other extant apocalyptic literature is really excellent. While the Book of Revelation has been called the happy hunting ground for cranks, a reading of Ms. Pagel's analysis of similar writings makes it clear that John the Divine himself was not one of them. He was just a Jewish-Christian writer penning a particularly vivid example of a rather common literary genre. I would note, however, that her excellent exposition of precursors and contemporaries casts doubt on one of her conclusions -- that Revelation is largely to be interpreted as a cryptic reference to then-current events. Apocalyptic literature, Pagels' examples demonstrate, did have a large prophetic component, and a considerable "end of days" component, and these are often neither closely related to, nor cryptic references about, purely contemporary events. Moreover. the claim that John was writing in "code" because of fear of the authorities is suspect. What Roman magistrate bothered read this sort of stuff? Even Celsus, much less Pliny, demonstrated minimal familiarity which what are now the New Testament books. And if John was writing about the failings of some of his Christian contemporaries, what was there for him to worry about if he called them out by name? John just liked to be cryptic, like a number of other apocalyptic writers, because that is the way they wrote. Nor should it be discounted that writing Revelations may have been fun. It probably gives a fair amount of pleasure to a partisan to see his enemies blown up and thrown into the outer darkness. And the sheer power and imaginativeness of the narrative suggests a certain playfulness. Revelation may not be the best book of the Bible, but it is almost surely the most fascinating. Some of Ms. Pagels' claims are rather tenuous. For example, she argues that John was a Jewish follower of Jesus who was was writing against the "gentilizers" in the early church, particularly Paul and his followers. Pagels even suggests that John was not Christian, at least he did not call himself by the name "Christian." But John regularly mentions the church, and he nowhere mentions Paul. Nor does he have any direct criticism (or any obvious cryptic criticism) of gentile church members; much less does he suggest that gentile converts are not welcome in the church. Indeed, some of the churches in Asia Minor that he writes to had large gentile congregations, and he surely knew this. And the dates proposed by Pagels for Revelation's writing are suspect. Pagels believes that the book was written circa 95 A.D., although she acknowledges that some scholars would place it 30 years earlier. But Tacitus wrote that Nero blamed "the Christians" for the great fire at Rome, so the name "Christian" was surely widely known and used at the time. For John not to use it in the 90's would seem strange. Perhaps Revelation is a composit, which might account for the difference in tone between its first few chapters and the rest of the book and between the portions which seem to relate to current events and portions which relate to pure prophesy. Finally, Pagels does not spend nearly enough time on the text of Revelation itself. Although she contends that it relates principally to contemporary events, and analyzes the passages about the beast and the number of the beast and the destruction of God's enemies in some detail, she performs next to no exigesis of those passages which are more purely prophetic, such as Armageddon, the four horsemen (the third horseman being problematically denominated as "inflation" rather than the underlying famine which caused that inflation, which is what it primarily refers to), the Star Wormwood, the angel standing in the sun, the last trumpet, etc. While she is good about Revelations' roots, she is less helpful as a guide to the branches. Revelation is a treasure-trove of haunting and powerful images, which is probably why it is a happy hunting ground for cranks. If one is going to demystify it, it is very important to examine what the author was trying to mean rather than what the naked image conveys whoever happens to be reading it. This requires a careful exposition of the text, and Pagels does not always provide it. It is hard to criticize Pagels too much. It is generally a well-written book and a useful corrective for those who do not know much about Revelation. But for those who came to the book expecting to learn something new and revelatory about it, it is a bit problematical. Where it is really good, it does not have much to do with Revelation. And where it has a lot to say about Revelation, it is not particularly good.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Revelations today
*by R***T on March 19, 2012*

The reviews of this masterful text cover background well. Well, except for the one who did not read it and would profit from the lengthy unbiased review of Paul's role in the early church. Revelations has had an important role in society in art and literature. That it is frightening to some today is balanced by those who believe they are chosen whether by faith alone or by works. The historical perspective of the series of "revelation" texts, many of which were removed from the accepted New Testament by the time of Constantine or before, helps us put the concepts in proper perspective. This fulfills the challenge given by Daniel Dennett that we include the study of Religion in all schools. While his approach is from that of a cognitive psychologist and philosopher, Pagels' is that of a historian. There is a new awakening of understanding of the gnostics in our recent scholarship. Her book avoids weighing us down with the heavy reasoning of the scholars; that she gives us ample references now gives the curious the opportunity to hoist the texts mentioned. The last few political campaigns and the wars throughout the world often seem to be related to how each group interprets the coming Armageddon. Judging others is part of the culture of Revelation and helps explain how so many religious wars and wars against heretics and fornicators have continued. Pagels list of actors is huge. I coupled this to two recent books. John Barry's "Roger Williams" points out how the marriage of religion and state resulted in persecution of Arians and others who debated the meaning of scripture. Not unlike Constantine era. "The Swerve" by Greenblatt points out how Monks in Europe saved Lucretius' essay, much like those in Egypt saved the Nag Hammadi texts. That these mystics and cloistered people of god were able to gather and save ideas inimical to the state and religious leaders is remarkable. This is a worthwhile text.

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