Description
Book SynopsisThrough a daringly revisionist reading of the Revelation to John, The Walls of Babylon overthrows conventional assumptions, liberal and conservative alike, regarding Gnosticism and apocalyptic eschatology, and dismantles and reconstructs a received narrative of early Christian history. Scholars have long assumed that Revelation arose in response to a perceived crisis prompted by conflict between the emerging church and the Roman Empire, or more broadly, between the competing claims of religious allegiance and political authority. David Arthur’s careful analysis of the text shows, however, that the motivating circumstance was provided not by external oppression but by a fierce internal dispute between gnostic and proto-orthodox groups. In the ensuing controversy, John took up the cause of the persecuted outcasts. Following the precedent of the classical prophets, he speaks not on behalf of the dominant ecclesiastical hierarchy, but as a spokesperson for the downtrodden, defamed, and dispossessed. The message he has left us offers a fiery symbolic rebuke of proto-orthodox Christianity––and by extension, challenges and controverts normative religious paradigms at every level of belief and praxis.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Beating Heart Within Part I: Origins 1. The Clash and Fusion of Empires 2. Diversity and Conflict in the Early Church 3. Schism and Heresy 4. The Immediate Historical Context Part II: A Pilgrimage to Jerusalem 5. In the Throne Room of the Great King 6. The Seven Seals 7. The Seven Trumpets 8. The Rise of the Beast 9. The Seven Bowls 10. The New Jerusalem 11. The Great City Babylon 12. The Celestial Woman 13. Conclusion: Excelsior Revelation Reconsidered Epilogue: The Mark of Cain
