Used literature
When you want to study the book of Revelation, it is hard to know where to start. There is so much material and so many different views. How do you begin? This guide will give you some direction. I will try to make things as transparent as possible so that you can also look at other views.
Principles of the interpretation
I try to make these articles not abstract but applicable to daily life, not as a list of instructions but more like awareness and guiding questions. Sorry, life is not that easy and you need the guidance of the Holy Spirit ;-)
I don’t claim to present the one and only truth about Revelation. This is the view that I have developed over several decades and I am still learning. So please feel free to challenge my arguments. If you have a good point, I will be happy to adjust the articles.
In my argumentation I try to be as transparent as possible and will not use power arguments (great and famous preacher x said so, so it must be true), but go with the following priorities
- What the Bible says to understand a passage
- Literature background: Read a letter differently than a prophetic book
- Historical background to better understand the daily life of the people
- References to Jewish or non-biblical Christian literature
The materials
My desire is that you be able to have this as a self-study. Therefore, I have tried to make as much of the material directly available as possible. So the main arguments are summarized in the articles with Bible references. Historical references I have tried to link to free web resources.
More complex Bible references are found in literature that you need to buy, where I have tried to keep this to a minimum so that you can afford to buy them.
In the reference articles you will find links to the respective sources. My job was just to read through them, choose the right material, and make an easy-to-read summary.
Key books
G. K. Beale: Revelation
This is a main reference but a 1000 pager. There is much more in there than I refer to. I am not agree with everything but follow mainly his argumentation. He goes deep into grammar and other texts. If this is to detailed you can also go for the smaller version.
Richard Bauckham: The theology of the book of Revelation
This is a very condense and useful reference. Rather easy to read and full of insights.
Good to read additionally
David Aune: Revelation
This is a huge work and also not cheap, but gives a lot of historical background, many theological positions and thorough grammatical analysis. It is sometimes hard to read and there is not always an answer on difficult passage but leaves the answer open. Definitely not to start with but an extensive library.
Michael Goreman: Reading Revelation Responsible
This is a good resource to get an understanding of the literature type of the book
Richard Bauckham: The climax of prophecy
A very good reading but again, not as a starter. He looks on different topics throughout the Revelation and brings in a lot of background knowledge.
Gordon Fee: Revelation
A good book, but not really a main source of content for me.
Köster, Revelation and the end of all things
Complementing topics
David Dorsey: The literary structure of the Old Testament
A great book about how to read literature in Hebrew.
Jerome T. Walsh, Biblical Hebrew Narrative
A more detailed book on the techniques about how to read literature in Hebrew.
G.K.Beale, Kim Mitchell: God dwells among us
A great book about the topic of the temple
Sandra L. Richter: The epic of Eden
A great book explaining what a covenant actually means.
G.K.Beale: A New Testament Biblical Theology
A great book showing the ongoing topics througout the bible.
Nahum Sarna: Understanding Genesis
If you want to know more about the creation story. He wrote a good book with lots of background information.
Nahum Sarna: Exodus
If you want to step deeper into the understanding of Exodus. He wrote an interesting book.
Wuppertaler Studienbibel: Der Prophet Daniel
A good base for my understanding of the book of Daniel
Dabarlines, The book Daniel
A good ressource to see different approaches to the book of Daniel
Barbara R. Rossing: The Rapture Exposed
This is critical evaluation of the rapture and a reflection of its consequences.
And there are also some online presentations:
A good online preaching series, good application
A good theological summary on some revelation related topics