reading log: ultimate things

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 ## 2026-04-22
 
+### @{ultimate-things}
+
+Different Jewish and Christian apocalypses have different rhetorical strategies
+and goals.
+
+11 key features of apocalypses:
+
+1. Alternative (spatial, temporal) worlds
+2. Visions/auditions (often dreams)
+3. Heavenly intermediaries (often angels, tour guides)
+4. Symbolism (often conventional)
+5. Pseudonymity (Rev exceptional)
+6. Cosmic catastrophe followed by ultimate deliverance
+7. Moral dualism (alongside call to repentance)
+8. Determinism (the future is set by God)
+9. Judgement and the afterlife
+10. Ex eventu prophecy
+11. Cosmic speculation (moon, stars, calendar)
+
+John's rhetorical goal is to get his audience to resist and stop participating
+in a corrupt society in order to subvert it. Neither waiting for God to fix
+everything, nor abandoning the world completely. Rev is much more political,
+anti-imperial, than the Shepherd of Hermas or the Apocalypse of Peter (which
+competed with Rev for canonisation), while the latter emphasise individual
+morality and perseverance.
+
+Violence is a big issue for today's interpreters, though one should note that
+violence is led by the Beast and the Whore; violence against them and their
+followers is portrayed as the natural backlash or righteous judgement for their
+wickedness; and the saints never commit violence.
+
+Not much here about how John achieves his rhetorical goals, so of limited use.
+
 ### @{silent-spring}
 
 Her big idea: don't trust the USDA or the chemical companies, they are at best