I feel as though throughout the second half of the novel, Kirsch is trying to set up the fact that the Book of Revelation’s place in the biblical canon is very controversial because it has impacted the world from the time it was written to what it is now today. One key example of my reasoning is when Kirsch quotes Jesus stating that there will never be a person who can predict the end of the world, not even himself. He even uses the author “John” to show that it’s mainly because of the name that it’s actually in the Cannon. He parallels the Gnostic Gospels and the Shepherd of Hermas with the Book of Revelation by showing how the former two were rejected from the cannon because of the origin of the author. He states that the name John could’ve caused many to think that he was once of the original 12 disciples thus automatically earning Revelation a spot in the cannon.Nevertheless after he establishes the fact that the book’s place is questionable, he moves on to how it has affected history.

The following chapters after chapter 4 reference various figures in history and their interpretation of the Book of Revelation ranging from criticisms to the church or a semi literal metaphor for the end of the world. For instance, Hildegard of Bingen interpreted the book metaphorically and believed that the antichrist will arise from the church because she thought the woman in labor symbolized the church and the beast inside her symbolized the antichrist. Brother John on the other hand, was able to use the Book of Revelation in order to tell people of the sins of the church in part due to the fact that indulgences were rather popular at the time. Nevertheless as the world modernizes, the Book of Revelation is used less for religious critique and more for a literal end of the world for its readers.