Lifting the Veil on the Apocalypse

Abstract

Two books recently published on the book of Revelation offer a particularly clear snapshot of the current diversity of approaches to this enigmatic text. In terms of genre, of course, they are very different indeed. Stephen Moore’s 122-page volume offers an introduction and study guide to Revelation, in the T&T Clark ‘Study Guides to the New Testament’ series. The intended audience has little background knowledge of the biblical text and is offered a particularly clear, although concise, orientation into its genesis and reception history. Francis Moloney’s 432-page commentary offers a detailed narrative reading of the text, with the aim of bringing the particular approach of the biblical scholar Eugenio Corsini to a wider academic readership. There is deep engagement with modern and ancient scholarship, with extensive footnotes pointing the expert critical reader towards the debates underlying the argument presented. Although these generic differences are significant, Moore and Moloney’s approaches are worth comparing in a review such as this, as they illustrate important contemporary issues raised by the Apocalypse of John. Moore makes no reference to the work of either Moloney or Corsini, which is perhaps not surprising given the very short compass of his book. Moloney mentions Moore in a footnote as an example of a commentator who has engaged in feminist critique of Revelation, but only as someone who is included in the survey work of another: Moore’s earlier work on Revelation does not appear in his twelve-page bibliography. However, both explicitly share the personal situations which inform their readings. Moore admits that his Study Guide obliquely charts the story of his journey from believing in the coming of the end times, to his rejecting the notion. And Moloney highlights his theological commitment to the text, as a Roman Catholic priest, and to finding a way for it to make sense within the context of the Church’s witness. From these divergent perspectives come two honest responses to what both highlight is an immensely difficult and divisive text. One of the strengths of Moore’s book is its exploration of the reception history of Revelation, with a particular focus on its influence in modern American culture. As he demonstrates, Revelation ‘functions as part of a transnational cultural unconscious that spans and blurs the religious and the secular’ (p. 6). Significance is placed as much on what the text does not say, but has been attributed to it, as on a detailed overview of its contents. The ‘MicroCommentary’ in chapter 4 offers readings of isolated units which have caught Moore’s interest and raise issues of current concern. Lifting the Veil on the Apocalypse 1027456 EXT0010.1177/00145246211027456 research-article2021