Hi everyone,

For this first set of posts, I’ll write a response that picks up on several of the key issues you have raised, since they will continue to be points of discussion and debate throughout the term and they might also prompt you to choose one for further exploration for your research essay.  Only half of you have responded in time to be included in this response, so next week be sure to post according to the deadline (which may mean shuffling your reading time).

First, let me point out that Revelation in the title is singular—not plural—so whenever you refer to it, drop the s!

Eric and Anastassia raised the intertwined issues of orality and literacy.  As Eric notes, the poetic nature and repetition of key words in the Book of Revelation is an indicator that it was initially heard rather than read by communities of people.  The fact that we inherit it as a written text, as Anastassia points out, was due to decisions made by an elite group of male leaders a few centuries after John of Patmos traveled about preaching his vision.  This raises certain questions about the differences between primarily oral cultures and more widely literate ones, and also points us to ponder the effects of digital cultures today.  Walter Ong remains a key scholar for discussions of orality and there have been a number of studies since his pathbreaking works from the 1980s.  For our discussion Tuesday, consider the implications further of oral and written impact.  What is the main power relation involved in each?  What are the emotional and intellectual effects of each form?

One view that Ong argued is that orality tends to accentuate violent conflict posed through binary oppositions.  This relates to Amy’s discussion of violence and how the ideas in Revelation might contribute to what is regarded as righteous violence.  This is a theme that will certainly carry out throughout the readings and the films—and one we see repeated in instances of social life and conflict.  It is also one that Albert notes in his reference to the video game Halo, which draws on biblical scripture.  I have written about the use of Halo 3 as a “recruiting tool” (the minister’s term) for evangelical youth.  Here we might consider the ways in patriarchal values associated with orality continue to be reinforced through entertainment media.  That leads us to ask, with Alison, how the portrayal of female figures in Revelation might continue to script today’s portrayals, albeit with different implications involving gender and sexuality.

Colby’s post gets to one of the prime movers of apocalyptic belief—fear of death and desire to defeat it.   As she indicates through Kirsch’s discussion of the shift in views of God and Satan as sources of death and evil in the world, the way we think about death dramatically shapes the way we think about the value of life and the earth.  Kirsch doesn’t go into the more ancient belief systems about death and afterlife, in ancient Egypt for example, but that is a good topic for further research.   Norman Cohn’s book on the recommended list is a good place to start.  One point worth raising in class is how these beliefs vary if a culture is polytheistic versus one that is monotheistic.  That is a shift that took place of over centuries in the ancient world and there are glimpses of the defeat of polytheism and the rise of the Yahweh Only movement in the Hebrew Bible or what Christians call the Old Testament.  The desire to defeat death is also to be found in certain scientific efforts today.