Historical Readings Flashcards
What are the four readings of Revelations?
Futurist, Preterist, Idealist, Historicist
What is the Idealist reading?
Using allegorical method, does not claim that images are tied to any one historical event - they refer to general themes.
What does the Idealist William Milligan believe the images of Rev are?
‘great principles and not special incidents’
What are the strengths of an Idealist reading of Rev?
Does not apply to any specific event - therefore has universal applicability
Does not suffer from consistency issues
What are the weaknesses of an Idealist reading?
The text itself states the imminence of the coming - suggesting a temporal dimension
Denies the potential of a fulfillment of Rev
Ignores the authorial context and intention
What is the Preterist view? (Full/partial)
That the Revelation is symbolic of the events of AD70 and has thus been fulfilled; allegorical method tied to one specific historical event. Believes it was written before AD70 and John was addressing ONLY the churches of his day.
What is the difference between a Full and Partial Preterist belief?
Full - All the prophecies were fulfilled; we are now living in the ‘new heaven and new earth’
Partial: most prophecies fulfilled, but events of Ch20-22 still to come (resurrection of believers, return of Christ to the Church)
What are some strengths of the Preterist view?
Gives heavy importance to authorial context; John does not mention the fall of the Jerusalem Temple supporting a pre-70AD dating
What are some weaknesses of the Preterist view?
Historical inaccuracies - in Matthew, Jesus likens his return to ‘lightening cometh out of the east’ - Roman armies advanced on Jerusalem from west to east, and the attack took years (not a quick lightening strike)
Historical inaccuracies force allegorical intepretation, which the Preterist view explicitly tries to avoid
Not all academic evidence agrees with pre-AD70 dating
How does Robert Mounce criticise the Preterist view?
“It is difficult to believe that John envisioned anything less than the complete overthrow of Satan, the final destruction of evil, and the eternal reign on God. If this is not to be, then either the Seer was essentially wrong in the major thrust of his message or his work was so helplessly ambiguous that its first recipients were all led astray”
What is the Historicist view?
Believes that the Bible shows the entirety of human history from C1st to its ending; prophecies of the book are seen as fulfilled in various historical events using the allegorical method.
View taken by Luther and Calvin - protestant reformation.
What is a notable Historicist reading?
Luther and Calvin in the Protestant Reformation - e.g. interpreted Ch17-19 as depicting the overthrow of Catholicism
What are the strengths of historicist readings?
Religious fervour encouraged - often places Millenial events close to their own times
Immediate relevance fits with the epistolary claims of the narrative
What are some weaknesses of the Historicist readings?
Very contextually variant, thus inconsistent
Tends to focus on Western events; ignoring the church in the East (which is where the churches addressed were)
John directly addresses the churches of the 1st Century - how is this relevant to them?
What is the Futurist view?
Literally interprets the events of Revelation to occur some time in the future
