Description
Book SynopsisTrade Review"Lynn Huber is the ideal person to write Revelation’s first major feminist commentary in a generation. She grapples with Revelation’s most glaring theological and ethical liabilities yet persistently seeks its potential for resistance and hope. By blending queer and multicultural perspectives with attention to material culture, Huber shows us what’s at stake in interpreting the Apocalypse."
Greg Carey, Professor of New Testament, Lancaster Theological Seminary"This monumental book is a wonderful interdisciplinary and intersectional reading of Revelation, bringing much needed insights from feminist, womanist and queer theory. As engaging as it is accessible, this volume will surely become the go-to commentary for a notoriously rich and challenging text."
Meredith J. C. Warren, University of Sheffield
"If you have questions about the gendered imagery in Revelation (and who doesn’t?), now you have a reliable guide in Lynn Huber. In this commentary, Huber’s grasp of Roman history, Greek translation, and modern interpretations of Revelation illumine John’s vision at every turn. At the same time, she manages to avoid simplistic answers that flatten John’s layered imagery. Essential reading for anyone who wants to dive deeper into Revelation’s mysteries."
Susan E. Hylen, Almar H. Shatford Professor of New Testament, Candler School of Theology, Emory University“In this important and comprehensive volume, Lynn Huber unseals the scrolls of two thousand years of interpretations of this confusing and confounding biblical book. Huber stands firm in the messiness and chaos of the apocalypse, as a reliable guide through the rubble. Through the engagement with diverse approaches and voices, Huber shows us how to ‘see and hear’ this text in new ways, ways that matter in the present. She also provides us with ways to talk back to the text, questioning translation, metaphors, historical assumptions, and heteropatriarchal and political manifestations of Revelation in the world. Huber is a clear, competent, and creative translator of Revelation for our current time.”
Tina Pippin, Wallace M. Alston Professor of Bible and Religion, Agnes Scott College"Revelation is a demanding and sometimes dangerous text to which Huber brings great wisdom, indicative of someone who has wrestled deeply with Revelation in both its historical context and ours. Her feminist lens offers new insights that will surprise, disrupt, and challenge readers. All this is delivered with an inviting and approachable writing style. This critically important commentary is a brilliant resource for anyone, students and scholars alike, wanting to strengthen their understanding of the Book of Revelation."
Robyn Whitaker (Acting Head of College), Associate Professor of New Testament, Pilgrim Theological College, University of Divinity, AustraliaTable of ContentsContents Acknowledgments ix
List of Abbreviations xiii
List of Contributors xvii
Foreword: “
Come Eat of My Bread . . . and Walk in the Ways of Wisdom” xix
Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza
Editor’s Introduction to Wisdom Commentary: “
She Is a Breath of the Power of God” (Wis 7:25) xxiii
Barbara E. Reid, OP
Prologue xliii
Authors’ Introduction: Getting Our Bearings: Putting Revelation in Context lxi
Revelation 1 Introducing the Apocalypse 1
Revelation 2–3 To the Victor 25
Revelation 4–5 Who Sits upon the Throne? 57
Revelation 6 Revelation Unsealed 81
Revelation 7 Who Can Stand? 97
Revelation 8–9 Sounding the Alarm 117
Revelation 10 A Queer Prophetic Digression 135
Revelation 11 The Power of Witness 145
Revelation 12:1-17 Revelation of the Goddess 163
Revelation 12:18–13:18 Meeting the Beast at the Shore 185
Revelation 14 Following the Lamb 205
Revelation 15–16 Drowning in a Sea of Plague 225
Revelation 17 The Judgment of Babylon the Great Prostitute 241
Revelation 18 The Judgment of the Great City 263
Revelation 19 Here Comes the Bride and Bridegroom 281
Revelation 20 Millennial Hope? 305
Revelation 21–22:5 Unveiling the Bride 323
Revelation 22:6-21 Final Things? 345
Works Cited 351
Index of Scripture References and Other Ancient Writings 393
Index of Subjects 405
