Cory, who teaches Scripture and chairs the theology department of the University of Saint Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, contributed this volume on Revelation to The New Collegeville Bible Commentary, a series aiming at publishing “complete biblical texts with sound, scholarly based commentary that is written at a pastoral level.” The commentary follows a conventional approach in its pursuit of these aims. It interprets Revelation historically by reading it in terms of a first-century author, context, and place. It is traditional also in its literary approach, stressing the need to account for Revelation’s genre in order to interpret it adequately. Revelation, according to Cory, was written by an early Jewish Christian prophet (named “John”) in the eastern Mediterranean in Domitianic times. Its genre as an apocalypse must be understood in the light of biblical prophecy and wisdom literature as its precursors. All these works share the common feature that they cannot be used to speculate about the future. Revelation thus has a threefold function: to console amidst persecution, to interpret history in terms of God’s justice and sovereignty, and to persuade readers to remain faithful. [Full Review]

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