chp2: John not catastrophic

2 files changed, 77 insertions, 1 deletions

diff --git a/bibliography.bib b/bibliography.bib
index 0caa8fc..10e59ed 100644
--- a/bibliography.bib
+++ b/bibliography.bib
@@ -1,3 +1,12 @@
+@book{ncbc-rev,
+    title={Revelation},
+    subtitle={The New Cambridge Bible Commentary},
+    author={Witherington III, Ben},
+    publisher={Cambridge University Press},
+    address={Cambridge},
+    date={2003},
+}
+
 @inbook{poverty-nomenclature,
     title={On the Poverty of Our Nomenclature},
     author={Crist, Eileen},
diff --git a/chapter2.md b/chapter2.md
index bd4e1a4..05c285e 100644
--- a/chapter2.md
+++ b/chapter2.md
@@ -251,11 +251,78 @@ Apocalypse. Then, in chapter 3, I will aim to show that green rhetors even now
 must make use of those radical possibilities of apocalyptic language in order to
 be politically effective, and suggest some ways how they might do that.
 
-For St John, there is no impending catastrophe that his audience can avert. The
+The first thing to notice is that, while the first three criticisms enumerated
+above all assume that apocalyptic language is catastrophic, the Apocalypse
+itself is not catastrophic. For St John, there is no impending catastrophe. The
 tribulations have already begun, and are largely in the hands of cosmic forces
 far bigger than his audience. The exhortation is not to avert the bad thing, but
 to endure it.
 
+Rev 2-3 opens John's vision with Jesus' address to seven churches in Asia Minor.
+He exhorts them all to be faithful. For example, to the church in Ephesus, he
+implores:
+
+> I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not
+> bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are
+> apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne, and hast
+> patience, and for my name’s sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
+> Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first
+> love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the
+> first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy
+> candlestick out of his place, except thou repent. (Rev 2:2-5)
+
+What are those trials which the churches might be patiently enduring? John
+doesn't give us the full picture, but there are windows, such as this complaint
+against the church in Pergamum:
+
+> But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold
+> the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the
+> children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit
+> fornication. (Rev 2:14)
+
+In contemporary Greek society, temple sacrifices were important civic events,
+and upstanding citizens were expected to show face and take the meat which had
+been sacrificed. \[CITE SCHOLAR]\ Jews were exempted from eating the meat, but
+as early Christian communities sometimes had difficult relationships with local
+Jewish leaders, they may have struggled to benefit from the Jewish exemption,
+and therefore had to face a serious dilemma in whether or not to eat the meat.
+\[CITE SCHOLAR\] John is not the only New Testament author to grapple with this
+issue. Paul seems to have taken an irenic approach in 1 Cor 8, Rom 14, while the
+author of the Epistle to the Hebrews suggests a stricter approach in Heb
+13:8-16. The reference to 'fornication' in Rev 2:14 may be a literal reference
+to fornication, but it may also be symbolic, echoing prophets such as Ezekiel
+who used fornication as an image for idol worship. \[CITE SCHOLAR\]
+
+So it seems that John is taking a hardline stance on the issue of eating food
+sacrificed to idols. As Schüssler Fiorenza points out \[CITE\], failing to fully
+participate in the imperial cult could be costly, particularly for rich
+Christians who had the most to benefit from fitting in to mainstream Greek
+society. In this context, it makes sense that John's Jesus has the most praise
+for the poorest churches, such as Smyrna and Philadelphia, and the harshest
+condemnation for the richest, such as Pergamum and Thyatira \[CITE\].
+
+John's stance on food sacrificed to idols also makes sense of the vision of two
+beasts in Rev 13. The second beast instructs people to worship an image of the
+first, and to receive a mark of the beast on their right hand or forehead. If
+they refuse to take the mark, they aren't able to buy or sell. The number of the
+beast is 666. The number 666 is most likely a reference to the emperor Nero
+\[CITE\], and the references to buying and selling suggest the difficulties a
+rich Christian might have had doing business unless they participated fully in
+the imperial cult \[CITE\].
+
+From this, it seems that the visions John relates are not, or at least not
+merely, about an impending catastrophe, but about events which are already
+unfolding. John's mythological language, among other things, may have functioned
+to situate the local, present contexts of John's audiences within a larger
+cosmic context, covering the whole of both space and time. Thus, as Ben
+Witherington III puts it:
+
+> This material is not _just_ about the future, nor should we have expected it
+> to be since it is narrative forensic rhetoric meant to prepare and exhort
+> John's audience. \[…\] It is hard to escape the impression that John believed
+> he was living in the midst of the inauguration of these judgments or put
+> another way in the age when the seals were being unsealed. [@ncbc-rev, p. 131]
+
 St John uses mythological language to place the present tribulations of his
 community in a cosmic and eschatological context. This is how the call to endure
 can make sense to his audience. In contrast, mere catastrophism does not do