Book review: Navigating Revelation

by Eugene E. Lemcio

★★★★

Filled not with answers but with questions, Lemcio’s “charts for the voyage” do little to illuminate. I therefore found its promise of a “pedagogical aid” to fall a little short.

What the book does provide, however, is page after page of interesting study foundations, that can lead to some interesting research topics. If you are a serious student of Revelation and wish to work from a concise, visual picture of a few of the Apocalypse’s interrelations and derivations from other scripture, this is a great starting point. For that purpose, I definitely recommend it. Some interesting chart titles (with little commentary) to give you an idea of the book’s content:

Revelation 6 & Isaiah 13: The Shaking of the Foundations

Revelation 8:1-5 & 1 Kings 18:16-40 (comparing Elijah’s contest with Baal to the 7th seal of Revelation)

Revelation 12: Satan’s Fall in Jewish Apocalyptic (comparing to Isaiah, Ezekiel, 1 and 2 Enoch, and Life of Adam & Eve)

Revelation 12 & Matthew 1-2 (Herod’s slaughter of the innocents and the dragon myth)

2 Comments

  1. Eugene E. Lemcio

    First, there seems to be an inherent contradiction between paragraphs one and two in your review. Second, in the first paragraph, you seem to suggest that questions are not appropriate to pedagogy. Did not Socrates seek to illuminate by asking them? Besides, I provided almost as many statements as questions in order to guide rather than to pontificate.

    Providing “study foundations [pedagogy?] that can lead to some interesting research topics” seems to be appropriate for “serious student[s] of Revelation”–which is what my preface describes as the audience: university and seminary level people.

    For another evaluation of the pedagogical potential of my endeavor, I refer to the review on the Amazon site by a recently-retired professor of English literature: http://www.amazon.com/review/R29E1JANT1LZFU/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R29E1JANT1LZFU.

    Finally, may I call attention to my similar publications for St. Mark (2012) and St. John (2013), also by Wipf and Stock. Another on Luke is in preparation—perhaps for 2014?

    Best regards,
    Eugene E. Lemcio (the Author)

    • Lee Harmon

      Hi Eugene, good to hear from you! I found your charting approach interesting, but not very enlightening. It was more like, “here are some fascinating parallels if you’d like to investigate them on your own.” So, for the driven scholar, it’s recommended as a starting point. I realize that’s your focus, and rated it as such! :)

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