Key Words, Chapter 11

Question 1

Allusion

Answer 1

an authorially intended reference to a preceding text of Scripture involving verbal or, at a minimum, conceptual similarity

Question 2

Apocalypse

Answer 2

a genre of revelatory literature, written between approximately 200 B.C. and A.D. 200, depicting the end times in highly symbolic language and imagery

Question 3

Apocalyptic

Answer 3

an adjective used when describing either the literary genre or the worldview

Question 4

Apocalypticism

Answer 4

denotes a worldview, ideology, or theology merging the eschatological aims of particular groups into a cosmic and political arena

Question 5

Eclectic approach

Answer 5

interpretation of Revelation combining insights from the preterist, historicist, idealist, and futurist approaches

Question 6

Emperor cult

Answer 6

the mandated, enforced worship of the Roman emperor as deity

Question 7

Eschaton

Answer 7

the end times

Question 8

Futurist approach

Answer 8

interpretation of Revelation as primarily depicting future events

Question 9

Historicist approach

Answer 9

interpretation of Revelation as forecasting the course of history in Western Europe

Question 10

Idealist approach

Answer 10

interpretation of Revelation focusing on the symbolic portrayal of spiritual and timeless truths regarding the end times

Question 11

Inaugurated eschatology

Answer 11

aspects of the end times that have already begun to be a present reality in the lives of believers

Question 12

Interlude

Answer 12

a literary feature interspersing additional material into a given unit

Question 13

Intertextuality

Answer 13

relationship between texts

Question 14

Millennium

Answer 14

the 1,000-year reign of Christ at the end of time depicted in Revelation 20

Question 15

Nero redivivus myth

Answer 15

the belief that the Roman emperor Nero (A.D. 54-68) did not truly die but was stilll alive and would return

Question 16

Preterist approach

Answer 16

interpretation of Revelation that focuses on the book’s message to its contemporary, first-century readers

Question 17

Progressive dispensationalism

Answer 17

belief that the various eras of salvation history (dispensations) progressively overlap in keeping with the “already/not yet” tension of inaugurated eschatology

Question 18

Prophetic-apocalyptic

Answer 18

the likely genre of the book of Revelation, combining prophetic and apocalyptic features

Question 19

Theodicy

Answer 19

the justification of God’s righteous purposes, particularly in judgment of rebellious people

Question 20

Transitivity

Answer 20

the ability of the audience to grasp and comprehend an allusion and its source text