Introduction
Trinitarian theology within the book of Revelation is not at first sight easily recognisable amongst the plethora of images and prophecies that are recorded. The beauty of John’s theology is that the Trinity is deeply embedded in the text so that the reader must dissect the book in order to glimpse the theological beauty that is present. This essay will seek to explore the threads of the Holy Trinity that appear in the book of Revelation by looking at the characteristics of God, the specific Christology of John and the role of the Holy Spirit in the book of Revelation. In looking at each of these three areas as distinct yet overlapping threads I hope to give a succinct and scholastic Trinitarian theology of Revelation.
Characteristics of God in Revelation
According to Woodman, “the presence of God permeates the whole of the book of Revelation…God also features as a character within the narrative…God is presented as the one who lies behind the vision that Jesus communicates to John.” The vision Woodman speaks of originates in the very first verse of the book, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him (emphasis mine).” God is both behind the book as the vision giver, in the book as a character and within the whole narrative as a permeating figure. So, as I look at the characteristics of God it is important to digest this disclaimer that God is in fact in all of the book in some way, shape or form. It is however possible to give three groupings that may help in considering who God is within Revelation, these are:
I. How God is titled e.g. The Almighty, The Alpha and the Omega
II. How God is connected with things e.g. the temple of God
III. God’s being and attributes e.g. how God speaks, his power a...
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...ook of Revelation is not a black and white theological work, but a pastoral and visionary book.
Works Cited
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Carrell, Peter R. BIBX 224, Reading Revelation Course Reader. 2011
Carrell, Peter R. Jesus and the Angels: Angelology and the Christology of the Apocalypse of John. Cambridge, CUP, 1997.
Johns, Loren L. The Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse of John. Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003.
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Woodman, Simon. The Book of Revelation. London: SCM Press, 2008.
The medieval theologian Julian of Norwich was a mystic, writer, anchoress and spiritual director for her time. She is gaining in popularity for our time as she provides a spiritual template for contemplative prayer and practice in her compilation of writings found in Revelations of Divine Love. The insightful meditations provide the backdrop and basis for her Trinitarian theology’s embrace of God’s Motherhood found in the Trinity. Her representative approach of the all-encompassing unconditional love of a mother who nurtures, depicts Christ as our Mother ascending to the placement of Second hood within the Trinity while giving voice to the duality of God.
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"Revelation, n. A famous book in which St. John the Divine concealed all that he knew. The revealing is done by the commentators, who know nothing."1 The book of Revelation, the only apocalypse among the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, has always occupied a marginal role within the field of Biblical interpretation. Its bizarre visions of beasts, dragons, plagues, and cataclysms have inspired poets and artists while confounding more traditionally minded scholars for centuries. England in the early seventeenth century proved an exception to this rule. The flowering of apocalyptic exegesis in this period among academic circles bestowed a new respectability on the book of Revelation as a literal roadmap of church history from the time of Christ to the present, and on into the eschaton. The principal writers in this field, including Arthur Dent, Thomas Brightman, and Joseph Mede, have been dubbed "Calvinist millenarians" by modern historiography. They were certainly Calvinist in their views on doctrine, and also in their melioristic vision of England as the consummation of the Reformation, as an elect nation with the potential to recreate the true church of the early Christians. Their intense belief in the imminence of the end of the world, however, along with the mode of interpretation which they applied to the Revelation, reflected trends in Christian thought redirected by Martin Luther, and largely ignored by John Calvin.
Brown, Raymond. A Crucified Christ in Holy Week: Essays on the Four Gospel Passion Narratives. Collegeville, Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 1986.
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Revelation identifies itself as “both an “apocalypse”…and as prophecy”, making it distinctly different from the rest of the New Testament. “Jewish apocalyptic literature flourished in the centuries following the completion of the OT canon”, and it is scattered throughout the Old Testaments in books such as Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah. Apocalyptic literature is full of “visions that dramatize the prophet’s admission to God’s heavenly council”, and convey their meaning primarily through symbolism. John brings a “balanced message of comfort, warning, and rebuke” in Revelation, testifying to the end of the world and the second coming of Jesus Christ. Apart from the OT literature, Revelation shows a distinct optimism toward the end of days, for “Christ’s death has already won the decisive victory over evil”, with the Kingdom of God already among believers. This book was written in “approximately A.D. 95 on the island of Patmos”, which is still standing to this day. It was written under the emperor Domitian, with Roman authorities exiling John “to the island of Patmos (off the coast of Asia)”. The events in Revelation are also “ordered
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...those struggling and it shows the love of God. If these books had ended after judgment and fire it would have left only fear, but because they end with that bit light, it leaves hope. The authors are concerned about the horrors to come, but divinity did not allow their concerns to be the sole idea.
“The Mosaic Revelation, as compared with the cosmic revelation, represents a great advance in the knowledge of the true God; but it represents, nevertheless, nothing more than a stage” (Danielou, 121). This revelation reveals to us the term Trinity of Persons. The trinity of Persons is the mystery of God. The trinity is composed of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The three elements of the trinity are also seen as one. The oneness in three opens the door for the mystery in Christianity.
The author has tried something completely different in between the parts two to five. There is a sharp break from the earlier ways of writing the instructions. This book is one of the most important books ever written on theology. The scholarship is very much dazzling and gives a very balanced presentation of all the major issues that are there in biblical studies. There is also a certain breadth of vision that has taken the American scholarship far too seriously.