Revelations: Visions, Prophecy, and Politics in the Book of Revelation

Written by:
Elaine Pagels
Narrated by:
Lorna Raver

Unabridged Audiobook

Ratings
Book
9
Narrator
1
Release Date
March 2012
Duration
6 hours 27 minutes
Summary
Elaine Pagels explores the surprising history of the most controversial book of the Bible.
In the waning days of the Roman Empire, militant Jews in Jerusalem had waged an
all-out war against Rome’s occupation of Judea, and their defeat resulted in the desecration
of the Great Temple in Jerusalem. In the aftermath of that war, John of Patmos, a Jewish
prophet and follower of Jesus, wrote the Book of Revelation, prophesying God’s judgment
on the pagan empire that devastated and dominated his people. Soon after, Christians fearing
arrest and execution championed John’s prophecies as offering hope for deliverance from
evil. Others seized on the Book of Revelation as a weapon against heretics and infidels
of all kinds.
     Even after John’s prophecies seemed disproven—instead of being destroyed, Rome
became a Christian empire—those who loved John’s visions refused to discard them and
instead reinterpreted them—as Christians have done for two thousand years. Brilliantly
weaving scholarship with a deep understanding of the human needs to which religion speaks,
Pagels has written what may be the masterwork in her unique career.
Reviews
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Anonymous

Informatative, APA style Academic, GOD still thinks this. I've had an amazing awakening. STE OBE NDE AND DISTRESSING EXPERIENCE .think the narrator is a smoker.

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Theodore C.

I loved this book. It is written by a Professor at Princeton, so for a casual reader or listener--I think give yourself some background on the book before you take this scholarly read. For example, online you can find some amazing read aloud videos of the Book of Revelation. Listen to the book a couple of times. Then do like a reading on a plain article like Wikipedia. I think to get a lot out of this book, build a base of fundamental understanding unless your have a background in academic church history. After doing this, then reading her book or listening to it, one will have a pretty good understanding of the book. I listened to it, and when I get back to the states I will buy the hard copy and do internet searches on some of the ideas in it to get a deeper understanding. I think that I got the gist of what she is saying, "Throughout the ages we all have had our own personal and nightmares in our environments. This book offers hope against adversity--personal, political, etc as God prevails with the NEW CITY. If you believe Revelation is the Word of God, this book will enrich you. The scholarship doesn't demean one's personal feelings of the book as THE WORD OF GOD. Myself, I just think this, I believe in Christ, but I think we have meddled much into the Christian Religion which wasn't Christ's intent---at least to some degree.

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