Revelation

In Revelation, Garrow makes an important contribution to the vexing problem of the literary structure of the book. The value of Garrow's study is enhanced by some of his suggestions for new approaches to various minor issues of interpretation. In chapter 1, Garrow emphasizes the need to pay attention to the "co-text" of Revelation (signals provided at various stages in the text to guide the interpretation of subsequent portions of the text), its "theater of reception" (the specific environment in which the text was actually read), and its historical context (the setting in which the original readers lived). In chapter 2, Garrow provides a survey of various approaches to the problem of the literary structure of Revelation. In chapter 3, he presents his own solution to this problem. In chapter 4, Garrow identifies Nero with the first king of Rev 17:10 and on this basis dates the book to the reign of Titus. In chapter 5, Garrow argues that the second beast of Revelation 13 is not the pro-Roman supporters of the imperial cult but rather Jezebel and Balaam, representatives of a subversive indigenous group that hoped for the return of Nero redivivus. In chapter 6, Garrow argues that John promoted exclusive allegiance to Christ by offering his readers an alternative to the visions of the future propagated by their enemies. The book ends with a brief conclusion, a list of Roman emperors, a bibliography, and indices. [Full Review]