Revelation

The book of Revelation is full of symbolism. It is a book that you must use your imagination to be able to interpret some of the things that St. John writes about. Many of the discussions allow the reader to interpret many controversial topics, some of which are mentioned by Barbara Rossing in her article. She discusses an ecological stance on the future of the earth. Rossing begins her article by looking at a river in Boston and compares it to the river that runs through New Jerusalem mentioned in Revelation 22:1-2 “Then the angel showed me the river of life-giving water, shining like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the city’s main street.” She wants us to imagine these rivers with a Christian vision. She mentions that if we maintain a Christian ecological vision when looking at a river we will feel and see ourselves as part of God’s holy city that Revelations discusses (Rossing 205). Rossing supports her claim throughout the article by introducing the two contrasting cities, Babylon and New Jerusalem. In her discussion of these cities she makes note of the importance of the sea in both cities. Violence against women and ecology are an interesting parallel that she makes and is one that a reader can interpret many ways. She uses New Jerusalem for the readers to vision what the “perfect” world would look like. Like the study Beth Utto-Galarneau held for her Bible study to imagine what the new Boston would look like (Rossing 219). Rossing focuses on the differences between the beginning to the end or in other words, eschatology.

I had multiple preconceptions about this article and the book of Revelation. Before reading the book I just thought of it as strictly apocalyptic. In church that...

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...ny scholar would be why does she say the disputation of Babylon isn’t gendered toward the female (209)? She does introduce a point with the word, erémoo, to make a wasteland (211). Erémoo does not infer actions against people and their bodies (211). If you look at the verse, “And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the whore; they will make her desolate and naked; they will devour her flesh and burn her up with fire” (Revelation 17:6). Her translation is different than mine; I looked at many versions and used the New Revised Standard Version for the verse. Babylon is clearly depicted as a female, one who has been unfaithful or prostituted against the church. The city has been stripped of its religion just as the land goes through deforestation. Rossing makes good connections throughout but I believe Babylon is visualized as a woman, not a city.