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Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Witness: Following the Lamb into the New Creation Paperback – Illustrated, October 28, 2010

by Michael J. Gorman (Author)
4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 526 ratings
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Reading Revelation Responsibly is for those who are confused by, afraid of, and/or preoccupied with the book of Revelation. In rescuing the Apocalypse from those who either completely misinterpret it or completely ignore it, Michael Gorman has given us both a guide to reading Revelation in a responsible way and a theological engagement with the text itself. He takes interpreting the book as a serious and sacred responsibility, believing how one reads, teaches, and preaches Revelation can have a powerful impact on one's own--and other people's--well-being. Gorman pays careful attention to the book's original historical and literary contexts, its connections to the rest of Scripture, its relationship to Christian doctrine and practice, and its potential to help or harm people in their life of faith. Rather than a script for the end times, Gorman demonstrates how Revelation is a script for Christian worship, witness, and mission that runs counter to culturally embedded civil religion.
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  1. Print length
    230 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    October 28, 2010
  4. Dimensions
    6 x 0.58 x 9 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1606085603
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1606085608
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Editorial Reviews

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""With an exceptional blend of scholarly insight and confessional grounding, this book restores Revelation to relevance for the mission of the church. Gorman joins John of Patmos to inspire us with a risky and lofty vision of following the Lamb in radical and nonviolent witness in the world. This accessible volume is a theological wellspring for preachers, teachers, and any disciples seeking a reliable alternative to the scare-mongering eschatology that clogs airwaves and bookstores."" --J. Nelson Kraybill author of Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation ""Sometimes I think there are only two kinds of Christians in America: those who've never read Revelation and those who read almost nothing else. This book can help either kind. With careful use of scholarship and an evident love for the Lamb who was slain, Michael Gorman demystifies a book that's meant to clarify what's at stake when we say, 'Jesus is Lord.'"" --Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove author of The Wisdom of Stability: Rooting Faith in a Mobile Culture

About the Author

Michael J. Gorman holds the Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland. His other Cascade books include Reading Paul (2008), The Death of the Messiah and the Birth of the New Covenant: A (Not So) New Model of the Atonement (2014), and Abide and Go: Missional Theosis in the Gospel of John (2018).

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cascade Books; Illustrated edition (October 28, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 230 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1606085603
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1606085608
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.1 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.58 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.7 4.7 out of 5 stars 526 ratings

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  1. Michael J. Gorman

    Michael J. Gorman

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    Michael J. Gorman is the Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA, where he has taught since 1991. He is a New Testament scholar who specializes especially in the letters, theology, and spirituality of the apostle Paul. His additional specialties are the gospel of John, the book of Revelation, theological and missional interpretation of Scripture, and early Christian ethics. In addition, he has a strong interest in the relationship between church and culture. From 1994 to 2012 he was Dean of St. Mary's Ecumenical Institute.

    He earned his B.A. degree summa cum laude in French from Gordon College in Massachusetts. He received the M.Div. and the Ph.D. cum laude in New Testament from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey, where he was also a teaching fellow in New Testament and an instructor in New Testament Greek. He has also been a visiting professor at Duke Divinity School, Regent College, Wesley Theological Seminary, Mars Hill Graduate School, and Grand Séminaire Notre Dame de l'Esperance in Cameroon.

    He is the author of nearly 20 books and numerous articles on biblical interpretation and on ethics. An avid traveler, he has also led numerous study trips to the cities of the apostles Paul and John in Greece, Turkey, and Italy.

    Michael Gorman was the 2005 recipient of The Fortress Press Award for Innovative Teaching in Graduate Schools and Seminaries, theological education's "teacher of the year" award. He also sits on several editorial councils and other professional committees. A United Methodist, he is an active layperson and a popular teacher at churches, institutions of higher education, and conferences representing many traditions, both in the U.S. and abroad.

    See more on the author's page
  2. Michael J. Gorman

    Michael J. Gorman

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    Michael J. Gorman holds the Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

    See more on the author's page
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Customer reviews

4.7 out of 5 stars
4.7 out of 5
526 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Allan H.
5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding message for today
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2024
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The author does a fine service with this work. It is probably easy to debunk the sadly influential "Left Behind" interpretations of the Book of Revelation, and there is some of that in this book. But Gorman mainly offers a positive vision of the real messages of the book, which is about encouraging the embattled minority Christians under the thumb of the Roman Empire and reminding them to continually choose the way of the Lamb and resist the temptation to worship the things of Empire and partake in its idolatrous "civil religion".
This social message is as relevant today as it was in the Roman Empire, especially for those of us who live in countries where too many Christians have succumbed to the idolatry of Christian Nationalism.

I read this book a few months before I read "Revelation for the Rest of Us" by Scot McKnight. Both of them get five stars -- well written and prophetic in their call to the Church and individual Christians to resist the temptations of Empire and live with allegiance to the Lamb today.
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Ryan Giffin
5.0 out of 5 stars An Excellent Guide to Revelation for Academics and Non-Specialists
Reviewed in the United States on April 2, 2014
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When a top-notch Bible scholar writes a book that is only 190 pages long, the reader is right to expect that the book will be learned while at the same time offering a measure of accessibility. This simultaneous presentation of astuteness and approachability is one of the truly great strengths of RRR. Somewhat rare is the work that may be read profitably by both academics and non-specialists, and as just such a work RRR is a welcome addition not only to Revelation scholarship, but also to a public readership whose primary interaction with Revelation outside of the text itself might be the Left Behind series and its literary cousins. For readers who fit the latter category, Gorman presents a number of helpful hermeneutical, theological, and even political correctives throughout the work (see esp. 70-73).

What Gorman offers as an alternative to irresponsible readings of John’s Apocalypse is a strong theological exposition of Revelation. In RRR Gorman pays careful attention to Revelation’s original historical and literary contexts in an attempt to discern the theological message for the original audiences and tease out the theological correlation to Revelation’s contemporary audiences. The result is compelling: a responsible reading of Revelation that results in hearing a clear call to follow the Lamb into the New Creation by joining the Lamb in resisting the violent, self-serving and ultimately defeated way of imperial power and embracing the cruciform, self-giving and ultimately victorious way of the slaughtered Lamb, even to death.

A common critique of shorter works like this in the field of biblical studies concerns what is left out. Gorman is transparent with his readers from the first page of the prelude about how “this book is not a detailed commentary” (xi), therefore he cannot be critiqued too heavily for any omissions. However, his devotion of a mere 21 pages to Revelation 6-20 was mildly disappointing. These are arguably the ripest chapters for irresponsible readings of the Apocalypse, and readers who pick up RRR seeking help in reading them responsibly will receive only broad (though helpful) brushstrokes, and may be dissatisfied with only one chapter devoted to 15 of the 22 chapters of Revelation.

With respect to the key interpretive issues familiar to Revelation scholarship, RRR appears to break no new ground. Gorman argues that the author is likely not the apostle John, accepts the traditional dating toward the end of Domitian’s reign (early-mid 90’s), and reads the primary issue as faithfulness to the gospel in the face of persecution. The dragon is understood to be Satan, the first beast as either the Roman Empire, the emperor himself, or imperial power in general, the second beast as those who promote the imperial cult, and “Babylon the Harlot” as Rome. All of these interpretations will continue to be debated, but none of them are new.

What might be new—and perhaps disconcerting—for both scholar and novice is the relentlessness with which Gorman reads Revelation at a theopolitical text. That Revelation serves as a critique of empire and a manifesto against religion that sacrilizes imperial symbols, rhetoric, history and personalities is a point Gorman wishes to make crystal clear to the reader. While nearly all interpreters of the Apocalypse recognize it as a text with strong anti-imperial overtones, few have been as explicit as Gorman to connect the message of Revelation to what he refers to as “the theology/ideology of American civil religion in the beginning of the 21st century” (48). In chapter three Gorman presents a three-page list containing at least 45 symbols and practices of “American Civil Religion,” including things such as national flags, state funerals, prayers in church services for “those serving our country,” and hymns with explicitly nationalistic and militaristic language such as “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” A strong argument is made for seeing such signs, symbols and practices as antithetical to the vision of Christian worship and witness presented in Revelation. I found Gorman’s exposition of Revelation’s critique of “civil religion” to be wholly compelling—and wholly unnerving (which is undoubtedly part of the point!).

In the end, RRR deserves to be read broadly and received enthusiastically by academics, professional clergy, and educated lay people. Gorman has graced readers of Revelation with a helpful guide for navigating a text that has been irresponsibly navigated by far too many for far too long. That he has done this in a way that also offers seasoned students of Revelation an engaging theological reading of the text is perhaps RRR’s greatest contribution.
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Dillon
5.0 out of 5 stars A suberb handbook on the most difficult book of the Bible
Reviewed in the United States on July 24, 2013
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In the last semester of my undergrad degree in Theology I stumbled across a journal article on Revelation which cited Gorman as someone who promoted a "missional" reading of Revelation, which perplexed me because for several years after I became a Christian I was repeatedly told that it was a future map of sorts for what would soon be coming upon the world after myself and my fellow believers were spirited away (i.e. raptured) and the rest of the world was left to suffer Divine Wrath a la 'Left Behind.' I talked to my New Testament Professor about the book only to learn that he had recently reworked his Revelation and Johannene Literature class with this book as the textbook for the Revelation portion. Needless to say, I picked up the book and read it in tandem with the Book of Revelation.

Others have talked about the person Michael J. Gorman, and I won't discuss him other than to add that he has one of the de facto books on biblical exegesis which speaks to his ability and tact when it comes to Scripture. The book is organized very well, starting with introductions (both on the book and on aspects and themes Gorman deems important to understanding the actual text of Revelation), moves into exegesis on four sections of the book (1-3; 4-5; 6-20; 21-22 respectively), followed by a summary and application, and then a postlude to complete the book. The author maintains complimentary tones of conversation, teaching, and pastoral throughout most of the book, though at certain places (primarily where he is talking about dispensationalism or the Left Behind phenomena) the authoritative tone of someone who has worked diligently and consulted numerous other voices shines through far more powerfully than the other tones. He also concludes each chapter with questions for discussion and reflection, which allows the book to be used not only for personal/pastoral study, but also for small group discussion and classroom settings.

I found the book to be extremely compelling, and in a few places very convicting. Gorman cites several problems within the church at large that are very commonplace and are often encouraged and relies on the authority of Revelation itself to call Christians to change their behaviors regarding these problems. I had one minor disappointment with the book, although it wasn't severe enough to even consider removing a star, and that was that the most complicated portion of Revelation, chapters 6-20 (which have the vivid apocalyptic imagery) was largely ignored. The chapter that focused on this section spent most of its space on the last two or so chapters of the section, neglecting the rest. This is permissible in my opinion for two reasons: First, Gorman acknowledges quite rightly that there simply isn't space for him to cover all of the imagery. Each chapter in this book is packed (although not long) and making it through a single chapter can at certain points feel like a feat of accomplishment. The second, and better reason, is that the three chapters that serve as an introduction cover much of the hermeneutical (interpretive) tools that the reader will need to read through Revelation. Anyone who paid attention to the book up until that point shouldn't have a very hard time reading those chapters reasonably well.
Aside from this minor complaint I found the book virtually flawless for what it attempts to accomplish. The only conceivable reason I could see a person not liking this book is either they do not possess an awareness of what constitutes orthodox Christian theology and therefore don't understand why certain things are important to Gorman, or that his writing convicts them of sin/misconduct/irresponsibility in the eyes of Revelation and are unwilling to accept the conviction and consider changing their views and behaviors. A very easy to award, 5/5.
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DiaF
4.0 out of 5 stars excellent, well researched
Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2024
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This was a slow start for me. I would read small chunks and walk away feeling a bit overwhelmed. I felt I was not grasping all aspects of his arguments . However, I’m very happy I stuck with it. He ties it together beautifully, boils all his earlier points down to hope. Revelation is a book of hope that we can walk in now. Highly recommend.
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DGA Personal Development Systems
5.0 out of 5 stars Opened Eyes
Reviewed in Canada on September 24, 2023
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Our world today is topsy-turvy. Some might just say it's gone mad. It is increasingly difficult to know what is true. There seems to be significant fear-mongering and twists of what should be truths. Michael Gorman in this book, brings a level of clarity and perspective to what Revelation has to say to the church today and how it calls us to be faithful witnesses to God the Father and Jesus. The Lamb of God. I recommend this book to any true seekers of truth. It will challenge you and I believe, reliably guide you in a better understanding of what it means to be the Church in our world today.
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Josh Stadnik
5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning
Reviewed in Australia on November 12, 2020
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This book is seriously a must if you want to understand the overall message of Revelation. Revelation can definitely be a book many avoid because it is so mysterious and symbolic. Gorman does a superb job at breaking it down, and giving us practical application for the church today.
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Tristan Sherwin
5.0 out of 5 stars This book is profound, well written and essential reading for returning to a more biblical way of understanding Revelation
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 10, 2016
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With clarity and conviction, Michael J. Gorman offers a better framework for reading Revelation; a counter-framework to the popular “Rapture” ideas perpetuated by the Hal Lindsey’s tracts and Tim LaHaye’s *Left Behind* series that have spilled over and stained a large host of Christian (and non-Christian) mind-sets.

Although there are a few paragraphs within the book dedicated to demonstrating the many problems with (and caused) by the ideas of a Left Behind style “Rapture theology”, the main thrust of *Reading Revelation Responsibly* is not to criticise but to lay-down a more solid ground-work for understanding and applying the message of this complex piece of writing.

Gorman illustrates that Revelation should be read as a Theopoetic, Theopolitcal and Pastoral-Prophetic text calling the church to be faithful to the “Lamb-Power” way of God in contrast to colluding with the way of Empire (Rome, Babylon or any other sacralised human power-house). That is, to paraphrase Gorman, instead of reading Revelation as a chronological coded-script about future events it should be read as a spiralling (repeating) script to the church, a call to faithful witness in following the Lamb into the renewal of all creation.

I should mention here that this is not a commentary to Revelation, even though the grand narrative and theme of the book (along with a good number of it’s more well-known and misunderstood scenes) are looked at closely. But what Gorman offers through his key chapters provides a better theological, literary, and historical lens in which to view this heavily symbolic text through. This I feel is important, as it’s the understanding that we bring to the text that dictates how we read it--and it is this which needs to be challenged and reshaped. For me, those key chapters are as follows;

2. What Are We Reading? The Form of Revelation
3. What Are We Reading? The Substance of Revelation
4. How Do We Read It? Interpreting Revelation
7. Conflict and Characters: The Drama of Revelation

Through the lens of these chapters, Gorman, within the remaining chapters, enables us to glimpse the text of Revelation through first century vision; seeing it’s politically loaded symbols and their referents in their original context, before drawing its relevance back into the present.

And Gorman is not on his own as he does this. Reading Revelation Responsibly draws heavily on other biblical texts, and scholars such as Eugene Peterson, Richard Bauckham, N. T. Wright and Barbara Rossing (to name a few). There’s also a good bibliography offering plenty of further reading.

In particular, I enjoyed Gorman’s consistent reminder that God is “Lamb like” and God’s way is the “Lamb’s Way”, a cruciform God, who has already won the victory through his death and resurrection. Thus, the vision of Christ which is presented in Revelation is not at odds with the suffering servant presented in the gospels. As such, aligning and nuancing the theopolitical critique of Revelation, the way in which God rules and conquers is the antithesis of the way of Empire; the blood that soaks the white riders cloak is his own sacrificial blood, not his enemies; and justice is brought with the sword from his mouth (his word), not through wielding a sword in his hand with a militaristic agenda. With this in mind, Gorman does an excellent job of helping us to de-literalise the violent passages of Revelation, seeing their symbolic significance as judgement (empire’s judgement of itself) and justice (the self-exhaustion of evil and the prevailing of God’s flourishing intent for creation).

Personally, I feel this book is profound, well written and essential reading for returning to a more biblical way of understanding this remarkable and beautiful piece of writing.

-Tristan Sherwin, author of *Love: Expressed*
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Anthony Hendriks
5.0 out of 5 stars Good Overview
Reviewed in Canada on October 2, 2023
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Michael J. Gorman does a good job of revealing the main features of Revelation in a manner accessible to the average reader. He also discusses popular authors and books like the Late Great Planet Earth and the Left Behind series. He shows how they misrepresent the Scriptures and lead to a lot of confusion amongst Christians. Worth a read!
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Sue
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 17, 2015
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Very interesting
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