Revelation In Recent Study
REVELATION IN RECENT STUDY
Scholarship on Revelation, in keeping with New Testament scholarship generally, has moved away from a concern with sources and historical background, to a concern with the final literary product and its setting. 71Attention has been given to the genre of Revelation (see above) and to the genre of the letters to the seven churches, 72as well as to the structure and literary techniques of the book. 73The social-theological setting out of which the book arose has also been investigated, one of the more interesting theories being that the Revelation is the product of a Christian "prophetic circle.” 74 Collins has used sociological theories to argue that John was writing to help his readers find a new identity and to learn to cope with their sense of having failed to meet their own expectations. 75 Study of the Revelation continues to be affected also by continuing research into apocalyptic, which is now focusing on the wider dimensions of the movement and on its social matrix. 76 Other studies, more traditional in their orientation, have also appeared. John’s Greek continues to be the subject of interest, with two recent monographs on the subject. 77 Alan James Beagley, in a monograph on the enemies of the church in Revelation, concludes that Jewish-Christian antipathy plays a key role in the book. 78 Two studies stand out in particular. The first is Colin J. Hemer’s study of the setting of the seven churches of the Revelation, in which the student of Revelation is provided with a cornucopia of background data that sheds new light on the text. 79 The second in the magisterial study by Gerhard Maier of the interpretation of, and attitude toward, Revelation in the history of the church. 80 His work puts to rest many of the theories about Revelation that tend to undercut its apostolic origin or canonical status.