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diff --git a/reading-log.md b/reading-log.md index 7192522..7a0a97b 100644 --- a/reading-log.md +++ b/reading-log.md @@ -6,6 +6,39 @@ author: Joe Carstairs ## 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 |