Thoughts About the Book of Revelation (for Progressive Christians)

Here's a couple of pictures taken on the Greek Island of Patmos.

Prior to visiting Patmos on my sabbatical this summer, I didn't get what the big deal was with the Greek islands.  Now I get it; they are pretty incredible--at least the one I got to see.  I didn't visit any of the big tourist islands featured on travel web sites, which was fine by me.  Patmos only has about 3000 residents, and while cruise ships do disembark tourists there, it manages to hold onto a simple yet charming vibe.  I was only able to stay there for about 24 hours, but it felt like an escape from the cacophony of the rest of the world.

Patmos is a strange place to receive a vision about the end of the world, but the island's modern economy is based around tourism, largely driven by its only real claim to fame as the site where John received his vision of the Apocalypse, or as we English speakers call it, Revelation, the final book of the Christian Bible.  Today you can walk up the ridge from the bay to the Monastery of St. John the Theologian and visit the Cave of the Apocalypse where tradition says John had the revelation. The cave is a lovely place, as religious sites go, but I kept looking out the windows at the vistas of the island and sea around it.  I'm not sure what Patmos was like 1900 years ago, but 21st century Patmos is so quaint that nobody on it should be thinking about a cataclysm.   Yet, John, did have a vision or revelation and western civilization hasn't been the same since.

Among the many beautiful paintings on the walls of the chapel connected to the Cave of the Apocalypse  is this one of John receiving  his vision.  As with a lot of Greek Orthodox religious sites, no photography was allowed inside.    I purchased this icon of it at the monastery gift shop.

The book of Revelation--note there is no "S" at the end of the title!--is titled in Greek "Apokalypsis".  Although the modern English word "apocalypse" has come to mean a world-ending cataclysm (e.g. "zombie apocalypse"), the Greek word means only "revelation".  There's very little certain about John's Revelation; even the identity of John is debatable.  Christian tradition says that the John who had the revelation was John, the son of Zebedee, one of the twelve apostles, but the writing itself makes no such claim.  Most scholars today, believe John of Patmos and John the apostle were not the same person.  Who was John of Patmos?  As with so many things about Revelation, anybody who says they know for sure shouldn't be trusted.

If you grew up Catholic or Mainline Protestant, you may have little experience with Revelation.  I grew up Southern Baptist, so my childhood and teen years were filled with it.  My father might have been a Southern Baptist minister, but he was a moderate educated one.  He steered me away from the popular books of the time that claimed to know the date of the end of the world, such as Hal Lindsey's The Late Great Planet Earth.  I can recall sharing with him some wild interpretation of Revelation I had read somewhere and having him patiently explain how the symbolism of Revelation had more to do with the first century Roman Empire than it did a nuclear war with the Soviet Union.  I recall being disappointed that I didn't have the secret to understanding the end of the world.  In spite of my father's tame interpretations of Revelation, I couldn't help but be exposed to all kinds of fanciful theories about the identity of the Antichrist (Mikhail Gorbachev? Ronald Reagan?), the "mark of the beast" (ATM codes? Social Security Numbers?) and depictions of Jesus as a blood-soaked warrior riding to the Battle of Armageddon.  Sunday School classes, church camps and zealous revival preachers all offered me tantalizing images of the end times.  It was like a Christian science fiction novel, except I believed it was real.

As I grew older, I majored in religion in college, went to seminary and spent three years in a New Testament Ph.D. program before leaving to become a pastor.  Along the way my theology changed and so did my opinion of the Book of Revelation.  I grew to dislike its violent imagery, often sexist depictions of women, and portrayal of Jesus not as a non-violent embodiment of love but a merciless warrior who cuts down God's enemies.  I wondered why Revelation was even in the Bible?  I learned that I'm in good company.  In the early centuries of the church many Christians did not consider Revelation to be scripture and it was a controversial decision to allow it into the Bible at all.  During the Protestant Reformation, no less than Martin Luther wanted to cut it from the canon.  Given the amount of trouble Revelation has caused from crusaders using it to justify massacres in the Middle Ages to complicating American Middle East policy today, I still find sympathy with Christians who would rather ignore the last book of the Bible.

Over the years, I've found that most of the time when I have a problem with something in the Bible, it's not the actual scripture itself I don't like but rather the popular interpretation of that scripture.  The same is true for Revelation.  When understood in its own historical context, a time when Christians felt under attack by a society and government hostile to their view of reality, (whether John of Patmos and his audience were actually persecuted or just felt that way is something scholars debate today) rather than as a road map to an immanent end of time, this obscure piece of writing has gems of wisdom to offer us.

In recent decades, scholars have come to understand the imagery of John's Revelation as referring to the Roman Empire.  Specifically John's vision offers a counter-narrative to the idea ever-present in his time that Caesar, emperor of the Roman Empire, was not just a god but THE God.  Everything in culture from coins to art to civic ceremonies emphasized the worldview that Caesar stood above all.  John's Revelation declares that God is over all and God is creating a new world based on righteousness and equality rather than on exploitation and greed.  Many scholars have said Revelation pits Christ against empire.

Mennonite Bible scholar, J. Nelson Kraybill, says this about empires, ancient and contemporary:

"Empires seduce and intimidate because they are beautiful and powerful. They also generate rituals, symbols, and icons that reinforce their aura of legitimacy. Rituals and symbols of empire, such as coins, flags, patriotic events, and national heroes, become so pervasive in the culture that they unconsciously shape our attitudes and actions. Christian worship of God and the Lamb is essential to counter the spirit of violence, greed, and arrogance that undergirds empire. Worship reminds us that our allegiance is to the global reign of God, not primarily to nation, ethnic group, or class."

I began to take note of these more recent interpretations of Revelation in the early 2000's when during the George W. Bush presidency the United States launched two simultaneous wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.  In a time when those who questioned the validity of going to war were called unpatriotic, if not traitors, I heard echoes of Roman authorities disparaging the early Christians' pacifism.  As evidence mounted that our government had instigated a horrifying regime of torture and its defenders justified it on the grounds of national security, I heard echoes of Roman governors use of violence to enforce the Pax Romana or "Roman Peace".  

The echoes of Revelation's rejection of the world most understood in its day continue to strike a chord in me when I struggle to move against the tide of our culture today.  As our nation continues to make both income inequality and climate change worse around the globe, I have grown to long for the new world being created by God.  Like John's audience, I feel like this vision of a world where balance with nature is restored and all are welcome in God's kin-dom can be pretty hard to believe in.  Yet, when I'm looking for hope I begin to see the appeal of John's Revelation not only as a refutation of the Roman Empire of his day but also a rejection of the American Empire of our day.

There's another way to read the Book of Revelation besides as a bloody cataclysm where God delights in the earth's destruction at some not too distant future date.  We can read it as an invitation to work for a better world here and now.  We can see in it an expression of hope for a better world by the oppressed in every time.  We can hold fast to its declaration that no human ruler, president or dictator has the final word on the fate of our world, but rather that power  only belongs to God.  

Beginning Sunday, October 6, Rev. Bethany Meier and I will present a sermon series for progressive Christians on the Book of Revelation.  

• This Sunday I will talk about Revelation as a refutation of "empire, both the Roman Empire and the ways our nation functions as an empire today.  
• On October 13, I'll preach about the modern belief in "The Rapture" (that Jesus will come and take up to heaven all the good Christians as in The Left Behind series books) is really not biblical at all.  
• On October 20, I'll share about Christ's letters to the Seven Churches in Asia Minor, modern day Turkey, and imagine what a letter from Jesus to contemporary American Christians might be like.  
• Finally, on October 27, Bethany will preach on how the message of Revelation does not promote the idea of letting our current world burn, but rather calls us to care for God's creation.  

I hope you will make a point of joining us and determine for yourself whether the problems you may have with Revelation really aren't with the book itself but with the lousy ways it has been interpreted.  (Our services are live streamed on our church's Facebook page, and if you're reading this post sometime after October 2019, you can still find videos of the sermons there as well.)

Grace and Peace,

Chase