Richard B. Hays (his 2020 collection of essays on Bible & Theology)
Who is Jesus in the Apocalypse
of John? This visionary book deploys
a kaleidoscopic profusion of imagery
to depict its chief protagonist. Jesus
is portrayed as exalted revealer of
prophetic mysteries, faithful witness
and martyr, first-born from the dead,
Son of God, the Coming One,
the Son of Man, the future Judge
of the world and giver of life,
the Lion of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David,the Lamb who
was slaughtered, the child given birth
by the woman clothed with the sun,
the conquering rider on a white horse,
the bright morning star, the Lord
of Lords and King of kings, the one
who is Alpha and Omega and much more.
I do not deny that John the Seer draws upon sources and
traditions. I do not deny that some images in the book
(e.g. the Lamb) are weightier than others. Nor do I deny that
some of the images stand in a certain tension with others. I would
suggest, however, that it is most theologically fruitful to read
the Apocalypse's christological imagery as manifesting a complex
unity. Its christological unity is best grasped through a reading
that treats the book as a literary whole, acknowledges diversity
and intertextual interplay, and lets the tensions stand -- just as
wise readers do when encountering any complex work of
literature. Jesus in the book of Revelation is a multifaceted
character whose identity unfolds gradually within the work
as a whole; to understand his identity, we are required to absorb
the full range of representations that we encounter throughout
the book; to interpret those representations, insofar as we are
able, within the imaginative frame of reference (encyclopedia
of reception) of the Christian communities of Asia Minor at the
end of the 1st Century C.E.; and to ask how the complex person
we encounter in this complex text might engage or challenge
the symbolic world in which we live and move.
pages 285-86 -- R. Hays' anthology published by Eerdmans, 2020
ISBN 9780802878458
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