Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by Craig R. Koester

Abstract

Reviewed by: Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary by Craig R. Koester Ian Boxall craig r. koester, Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AYB 38A; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014). Pp. xlii + 881. $125. The Anchor Bible (now Anchor Yale Bible) commentary series has a well-deserved reputation for excellent scholarship combined with accessibility. This new commentary by Craig Koester fits admirably into this tradition. The basic shape is set by the parameters of the series: an English translation of the text; a substantial introduction to its critical issues; a commentary on textual units, prefaced by general comments on major textual sections, and combining verse-by-verse "Notes" with a more holistic "Comment" section. Koester's introduction exemplifies his integrative methodology: sensitive to authorial context, narrative flow, theological vision, and reader reception. He devotes more attention than many to Revelation's history of influence, engaging artists and preachers alongside classical commentators. K. traces the book's role in patristic christological debates and medieval church reform, the latter laying foundations for Protestant anti-papal readings. His discussion continues with the Reformers, both magisterial and radical, as well as Catholic futurist and preterist alternatives, before describing the emergence of contemporary critical approaches. This reception-historical overview helps locate his discussion of standard critical questions within a wider framework. On authorship, he shares the consensus view that the author was a Jewish Christian prophet, though he gives a fair hearing to alternatives, including pseudonymity. K. favors textual integrity but explains alternative source-critical and multiple-edition theories. He cautiously opts for a general dating of 80–100 c.e. His account of the social setting is nuanced: though he gives prominence to the imperial cult, he also considers internal disagreements and external opposition from non-Christian Jews. His discussion of literary issues emphasizes how presuppositions regarding genre affect overall interpretation, and he explores the interplay of apocalyptic, prophetic, and epistolary features. Structurally, he prioritizes the septets (messages, seals, trumpets, bowls) to divide the book into six cycles of visions, framed by an introduction and conclusion. But he is also attentive to plot development, which he describes "as a forward-moving spiral" (p. 115). His introduction concludes with an overview of text-critical issues, and a substantial bibliography that includes pre-1750 commentaries. In his commentary proper, K. combines comprehensiveness with clarity and courtesy in setting out alternative options to disputed questions. Though he normally expresses his [End Page 145] preferred solution, there are occasions where he is persuaded that the text's polyvalency requires several possibilities to be held in tension. Thus, for example, the slaughter of the Lamb has at least three aspects: vulnerability, deliverance, and atonement. The kings of the east in Revelation 16 both threaten God's people and will be instrumental in Babylon's downfall. Those seated on thrones in Rev 20:4 are both the martyrs and the wider body of the faithful. His discussion contains a good balance of Jewish, early Christian, and Greco-Roman sources, as well as later receptions of Revelation. Indeed, K.'s attention to reception history is probably the most significant element of his commentary. He treats it not as an "add-on" to exegesis but as a fully integrated dimension of exploring textual meaning. Thus his overview of Revelation's history of influence comes at the beginning of his introduction, not at the end, and he locates historical criticism in its proper place, as a late strand in that history. One effect of this is to clarify how many of the questions and conclusions of modern scholars were shaped by their predecessors. Another noteworthy feature is K.'s relatively successful attempt at combining historical, literary, and theological dimensions. While acknowledging the primary referents to be first-century Christians, K. is also sensitive to the "world within the text": plot, characterization, and rhetorical argument. This leads to a very different reading of Revelation from that of earlier source-critical analyses. His own theological focus, no doubt partly informed by twenty-first century environmental concerns, gives the central place to God as Creator, the establishment of whose kingdom leads not to the destruction of the earth but to "destroying...