The People of God in the Apocalypse: Discourse, Structure and Exegesis (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series)

274 Pages·2004·2.45 MB·English

by  Stephen Pattemore

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THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN THE APOCALYPSE
StephenPattemoreexaminespassageswithinRev.4:1–22:21thatdepict
thepeopleofGodasactorsintheapocalypticdramaandinferswhat
impactthesepassageswouldhavehadontheself-understandingand
behaviour of the original audience of the work. He uses Relevance
Theory, a development in the linguistic field of pragmatics, to help
understandthetextagainstthebackgroundofallusiontoothertexts.
Threeimportantimagesaretraced.Thepictureofthesoulsunderthe
altar(6:9–11)isfoundtogovernmuchofthedirectionofthetextwith
its call to faithful witness and willingness for martyrdom. Even the
militantimageofamessianicarmy(7:1–8,14:1–5)urgestheaudience
inpreciselythesamedirection.Bothimagescombineinthefinalimage
of the bride, the culmination of challenge and hope traced briefly in
theNewJerusalemvisions.
DrPattemoreisatranslationconsultantwithUnitedBibleSocieties,
working with translation projects in New Zealand and Papua New
Guinea.

SOCIETY FOR NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES
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GeneralEditor:RichardBauckham
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THE PEOPLE OF GOD IN THE APOCALYPSE
SOCIETY FOR NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES
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The People of God
in the Apocalypse
Discourse,Structure,andExegesis
STEPHEN PATTEMORE
cambridge university press
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521836982
© Stephen Pattemore 2004
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2004
isbn-13 978-0-511-21130-0 eBook (EBL)
isbn-10 0-511-21307-7
eBook (EBL)
isbn-13 978-0-521-83698-2 hardback
isbn-10 0-521-83698-0 hardback
Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls
for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not
guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
CONTENTS
Listoffiguresandtable page viii
Preface ix
Listofabbreviations xi
1 Aquestionofrelevance 1
2 RelevanceTheoryinbiblicalinterpretation 13
3 AcognitiveenvironmentfortheApocalypse 51
4 Soulsunderthealtar–amartyrecclesiology 68
5 CompanionsoftheLamb–amessianicecclesiology 117
6 TheNewJerusalem,brideoftheLamb 197
7 Summaryandconclusions 213
Appendix Abbreviateddiscourseoutline 220
Bibliography 226
Index 246
vii
FIGURES AND TABLE
Figure5.1 Dialecticofnaming/sealing/marking
inRevelation page183
Figure5.2 DialecticofsexualimageryinRevelation 188
Table5.1 NarrativestructureofDaniel7andRevelation 120
viii