The Revelation of St. John the Divine

About this book

From the dust This commentary has been written in the conviction that the Revelation is not only a great work of art but a profoundly Christian book which can speak as eloquently to the world of today as it did to the world of Johns own time. The untutored reader of the Apocalypse is often puzzled by the diverse array of interpretations available to him. Symbolically the Revelation describes visions for the benefit of seven a throne and a scroll; seals trumpets and bowls; horsemen locusts and scorpions; a dragon and a monster; two women and two cities. Do these symbols correspond to anything past present or future in our experience? Professor Caird stresses that John was a pastor writing with a passionate concern for ordinary men and women to understand what he had been charged to tell them. If only we could put our- selves in the place of those early Christians we would find that John said exactly what he meant and that he is his own best interpreter. The purpose of this commentary is to carry the reader back to the end of the first century A.D. to hear what the Spirit was saying to the churches then so that returning to the present he may be better able to hear what the Spirit is saying to the churches of our own day. Accompanied by Dr. Cairds own fresh translation from the original Greek this work provides a wealth of historical and linguistic information as the author examines the nature of Johns experience the structure of the book and its theological message. THE G. B. Caird an eminent New Testament scholar is senior tutor at Mansfield College Oxford University. He is the author of several books and articles on New Testament interpretation.