Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/95

* KEVELATION OF SAINT JOHN. and (litTercut types of religious and Cliristian tliijuglit appear to be indicated. These facts, to- gether with the brealcs in the phui of the book alread}' referred to and the composite character of some Jewish apocalypses, have led to the effort to solve the remaining obscurities by liter- ary analysis, and the theory of various dates and authors.' W'cizsiicker suggested in 18S2 that the writer incorporated some older oracles, Jewish or Christian, such as vii. 1-8, vii. 9-17, xi. 1-13, xii., xiii., xvii. Vischer, on the other hand, proposed the view that the book is a Jewish apoeahpse (iv. 1-xxii. 5, omitting obvious Chris- tian amendments), set in a framework (i.-iii., xxii. 6-21) and slightly revised by a Christian hand. This theorj' came out in ISSG with Harnack's indorsement and was accepted by sev- eral German critics, ilore elaborate analyses followed. Two Jewish apocalypses were found in the book by Weyland, and Spitta (1889) made the original book a Christian apocalypse by John Mark (a.d. 60), to which a later Christian added two .Jewish apocalyiises of the times of Caligula and Pompey. Against this method there has been a reaction in faor of the simpler view" of Weizsileker. The unity of the book is main- tained, but the writer is believed to have made use of materials already shaped by earlier hands, and in part Jewish in origin. The Jewish char- acter of vii. 1-S and of xi. 1-13, with its date be- fore A.D. 70 — Jewish oracles applied in a figura- tive sense to Christians as the true Israel — and some of the peculiarities of xii., xiii., xvii., and other passages, may thus be e.xplained in a way consistent with the ascription of the book to a Christian writer of Domitian's reign. The next problem naturally is concerned with the first meaning of these incorporated materials. The most important study in this direction is that of Gunkel in reference to chapter xii. (1895). His theory is that the dragon who seeks to kill the child and persecutes the mother is ultimately derived from a Babylonian account of the birth of JNlarduk, the sun-god, destined to destroy the chaos-dragon and to create the world, ilany who have not accepted Gunkel's recon- struction of an otherwise imknown part of the Babylonian myth have approved in general his emphasis on tradition as a great factor in the production of an apocal3'pse, and many have as- sented in particular to his theory that a sun- m;'th underlies chapter .xii., whether Babylonian or Greek (Dietcrich) or Egyptian (Bousset) in origin. Wellhausen has objected to the method and declared that the writer's own meaning is all we need to inquire after, and that he has shaped his figures to represent current events to a much greater degree than Gunkel allows. Bousset, one of the most important recent writers on the sub- ject, adheres in general to Weizsiicker's idea of the composition of the book and to Gunkel's view of the significance of tradition. He put forth the hypothesis that an apocalypse of Antichrist, of Jewish origin, was current in NeAv Testament times and on into the Jliddle Ages, that it was not dependent on Revelation, but that several of the fragmentary (.Jewish) traditions which Revelation incorporates were derived from it (vii. 1-8, xi. 1-13. xiii. 11-17. xiv. 14-20). Over against the fixity of apocalyptical tradi- tion, rightly emphasized by Gunkel and Bousset, it is necessary to recognize the fact that the writer of Revelation used Old Testament ma- 79 REVELATION OF SAINT JOHN. terial with much freedom, and in the spirit of a poet, rather than in that of u hide bound scrilic'. This is illustrated by such paswigo.s as i. 12-'20, iv., xviii., .xi.-.xii. 5. The author writes a.s one whose mind is tilled with Old Testament pro- phetic language; one who is almost limiti'd to it for the e.i)ression of his thoughts, yet u>es it freely and puts into it the emotions of hi* own soul. That his emotions wiTe intense is u fact that must be seriously rcikoncd with in studying his book, whatever one may think about the <|Ue8- tion of actual ecsta.sy. IV. lIiSTOKicAL Occasion, Pi:rpose, aso Date. The Seven Letters (chapters i.-iii.) are the most original part of the book and contain the moat specific references to concrete conditions. Tliouf;h addressed to actual churches whose conditions the writer knows, they are evidently meant, taken together, to give the message of the spirit of Christ to all His cluirches. The seven cities are named in geographical order, moving from Eplie- sus north, east, and south. The worship of the Emperor had been enforced in this region for a long time. Pergamum had a temple to Augustus in u.c. 29 and remained the centre of the cult in Asia (cf. Rev. ii. 13). The Book of Revelation was written chielly to encourage Christians to resist this worslii]) at whatever cost and to warn those who were falling away under its pressure and the enticements of the heathen thought and life that went with it. This cult is the sec<md beast of chapter xiii., and all who take part in it are threatened with the impending fate of Rome itself, while those who iesi.st it even to death will receive a glorious reward. Some persecu- tions of Christians had already been endured (ii. 3, 13, iii. 8), but far more severe trials were at hand (ii. 10, iii. 10) for which the book Aould i)repare the way. The glory and reward of martyrdom are its theme. An ollieial perse- cution of Christianity such as is here contem- plated points to a time not earlier than Domi- tian. 'The rela.ation of earlier zeal, the loss of love, the adoption of heathen ways of living, which the letters condenm. indicate the same period, as does the fact that Paul's position as founder of the church at Ephesus appears to be wholly a thing of the past. It is true that xi. 1-13 dates from before a.d. 70, but it is no less certain that it was originally a .Jewish oracle. Its application in a figurative sense to the safety of the true worshipers of God, that is Christians, in the approaching crisis shows that the literal siege and fall of Jerusalem had long ago proved the oracle to be in its literal sense — which was indeed contrary to the word of .fesus — untrue. In xvii. 10. Vespasian seems indicated, but verse 11 is probably meant to carry us over into Domi- tian's reign. If the Xero myth is referred to in chapter x-vii., this also, in this form, be- longs to the close of the century. W'v nniy there- fore conclude that the hook was written, as Ire- nitus savs, "near the end of the reig:n of Domi- tian," that is about a.d. 03-06. V. The Ciiristiaxity of thi! Book. The rela- tion of the book to Paulinism is an unsolved problem. The stress it lays upon the transcend- ence of God. and ipon the kingly and judicial functions of Christ, its view oif .salvation as a reward for overcoming the world and keeping the commands of God. are Judaistic aspects of the religion of the book. Its attitude toward Rome, also, is not that of Christ (Mark xii. 17) and