¶ … Book of Revelations
As the last book of the New Testament, the Book of Revelations, attributed to John the Apostle, abounds in metaphor and symbolism of a type that is generally not in use today and to which the key to understanding these literary devices no longer exists. At the time it was written, the symbolism was understood by its author which explains why explanations for it have not been provided. As a literary work, Revelations is an example of what is known as apocalyptic literature and is the only New Testament book of its type. It is also unique in its use of prophetic content, meaning that outside of the text, there appears to be warnings of things yet to come or perhaps of things which have already occurred (Wilson, 356).
In terms of subjective human experience, the Book of Revelations provides messages which can be interpreted in four specific ways. First, the preterist view describes past events recording the author's conviction that God would judge the Roman Empire for its evil ways, rooted in the author's own time period. Second, the historicist view sees Revelations as "a sweeping panorama of ancient history between the first and second comings of Jesus Christ" (Wilson, 357). Third, the futurist view maintains that Revelations deals with end times which in essence removes the text from the author's own time period. And fourth, the idealistic or poetical view suggests that Revelations is purely subjective in nature and encourages Christians to endure their sufferings until the end of time by employing symbolic language as a way to imaginatively describe God's victory over Lucifer. In addition, Revelations, from a subjective standpoint, means to reveal as a form of literature rampant with subjective dreams and visions, often centered upon God and his heavenly majesty and man's future salvation which transcends ordinary human experience. As Thomas K. Wilson puts it, Revelations "stresses that God is in
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control of mankind and his history and that the end of the world will come at a time which He has appointed" (358).
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Wilson, Thomas K., ed. The Holy Bible and New Testament. New York: G.P. Putnam & Sons, 1998.
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