The Revelation to John
A Case Study in Apocalyptic Propaganda and the Maintenance of Sectarian Identity
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3166382 |
|---|---|
| Authors | David A Desilva (0000-0002-2544-9408, Emory University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1992 |
| Volume | 53 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 375 |
| Publication date | 1992-01-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociological Analysis (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0210 • E-ISSN: 2325-7873 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3711434 |
| OpenAlex | W2346360268 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 7 |
| References cited | 13 |
Sociologists of religion and biblical scholars often define the function of apocalpyses and apocalyptic eschatology as a means of comforting the oppressed, a form of otherworldly theodicy in Berger's terminology. Careful scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding the writing and transmission of the Revelation of John leads to another possibility — apocalyptic literature and ideology may serve as a call to action and to protest of the dominant societal institutions and values. In this study, I examine the tensions weighing on the Christian communities at the close of the first century C.E. and explore Revelation's interaction with these circumstances, particularly the imperial cult, as a summons to the churches to choose a path that will maintain the integrity of the subgroup's boundaries. Rather than comfort the disenfranchised, Revelation appears to have set the Christians on a course of action that would lead to ultimate disenfranchisement. Apocalpytic literature here displays itself as revolutionary in character and intention
Action (physics) · Aesthetics · Art · Cult · Eschatology · Identity (music) · Ideology · Literature · Political science · Revelation · Scrutiny · Sociology · Theology · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Biblical Studies and Interpretation · Law · Philosophy · Religion and Society Interactions
The elementary forms of the religious life
Rituals and power
The Date of John's Apocalypse. The Evidence of some Roman Historians Reconsidered
Christianity and the Roman Imperial Cult
Pliny's Prosecutions of Christians
The Imperial Cult under the Flavians
An Analysis of Sect Development
The Christians and the Roman Empire
The Christians and the Roman Empire
Of Churches, Sects, and Cults
Christian Origins in Sociological Perspective
Church and Sect Revisited
| Citations per year | 0.22 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1994 - 2020 (27) |
| Highly cited | No |