The Revelation to John: A Case Study in Apocalyptic Propaganda and the Maintenance of Sectarian Identity

Abstract

Sociologists of religion and biblical scholars often define the function of apocalpyses and apocalyptic eschatology as a means of comforting the oppressed, a form of otherworldly theodicy in Berger's terminology. Careful scrutiny of the circumstances surrounding the writing and transmission of the Revelation of John leads to another possibility - apocalyptic literature and ideology may serve as a call to action and to protest of the dominant societal institutions and values. In this study, I examine the tensions weighing on the Christian communities at the close of the first century C.E. and explore Revelation's interaction with these circumstances, particularly the imperial cult, as a summons to the churches to choose a path that will maintain the integrity of the subgroup's boundaries. Rather than comfort the disenfranchised, Revelation appears to have set the Christians on a course of action that would lead to ultimate disenfranchisement. Apocalpytic literature here displays itself as revolutionary in character and intention.