Revelation of Jesus Christ

Book excerpt: A new and transforming approach to the Book of Revelation. Margaret Barker bases her study on a fresh reading of the primary sources. As an Old Testament scholar, she can read Revelation as Hebrew prophecy - ancient temple oracles which inspired Jesus and his own prophecies, and influenced the whole Jerusalem Church. Jerusalem was waiting for their Great High Priest to return and complete the Atonement at the end of the Tenth Jubilee. This expectation fuelled the revolt against Rome. Josephus, who deserted to Rome, was the false prophet. John, who escaped to Patmos, compiled Revelation as a record of the first generation. In the future, he taught, the Lord would return to his people in the Eucharist.This work illuminates the formative years of Christianity, in the social, religious and political situation of mid-first-century Palestine, in a quite remarkable way. It will have profound implications for the understanding of Christian origins and the development of Christian liturgy.