Author: Cymene Howe
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 1950192555
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 546
Book Description
The idea of the Anthropocene often generates an overwhelming sense of abjection or apathy. It occupies the imagination as a set of circumstances that counterpose individual human actors against ungraspable scales and impossible odds. There is much at stake in how we understand the implications of this planetary imagination, and how to plot paths from this present to other less troubling futures. With Anthropocene Unseen: A Lexicon, the editors aim at a resource helpful for this task: a catalog of ways to pluralize and radicalize our picture of the Anthropocene, to make it speak more effectively to a wider range of contemporary human societies and circumstances. Organized as a lexicon for troubled times, each entry in this book recognizes the gravity of the global forecasts that invest the present with its widespread air of crisis, urgency, and apocalyptic possibility. Each also finds value in smaller scales of analysis, capturing the magnitude of an epoch in the unique resonances afforded by a single word. The Holocene may have been the age in which we learned our letters, but we are faced now with circumstances that demand more experimental plasticity. Alternative ways of perceiving a moment can bring a halt to habitual action, opening a space for slantwise movements through the shock of the unexpected. Each small essay in this lexicon is meant to do just this, drawing from anthropology, literary studies, artistic practice, and other humanistic endeavors to open up the range of possible action by contributing some other concrete way of seeing the present. Each entry proposes a different way of conceiving this Earth from some grounded place, always in a manner that aims to provoke a different imagination of the Anthropocene as a whole. The Anthropocene is a world-engulfing concept, drawing every thing and being imaginable into its purview, both in terms of geographic scale and temporal duration. Pronouncing an epoch in our own name may seem the ultimate act of apex species self-aggrandizement, a picture of the world as dominated by ourselves. Can we learn new ways of being in the face of this challenge, approaching the transmogrification of the ecosphere in a spirit of experimentation rather than catastrophic risk and existential dismay? This lexicon is meant as a site to imagine and explore what human beings can do differently with this time, and with its sense of peril. Cymene Howe is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and founding faculty of the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) at Rice University. She is the author of Intimate Activism (Duke, 2013) and Ecologics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene (Duke, 2019). Cymene was co-editor for the journal Cultural Anthropology and the Johns Hopkins Guide to Social Theory, and she co-hosts the weekly Cultures of Energy podcast. Anand Pandian is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. He is author of Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation (Duke, 2015) and Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India (Duke, 2009), among other book, as well as the co-editor of Race, Nature and the Politics of Difference (Duke, 2003) and Crumpled Paper Boat (Duke, 2017).
Anthropocene Unseen
Author: Cymene Howe
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 1950192555
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 546
Book Description
The idea of the Anthropocene often generates an overwhelming sense of abjection or apathy. It occupies the imagination as a set of circumstances that counterpose individual human actors against ungraspable scales and impossible odds. There is much at stake in how we understand the implications of this planetary imagination, and how to plot paths from this present to other less troubling futures. With Anthropocene Unseen: A Lexicon, the editors aim at a resource helpful for this task: a catalog of ways to pluralize and radicalize our picture of the Anthropocene, to make it speak more effectively to a wider range of contemporary human societies and circumstances. Organized as a lexicon for troubled times, each entry in this book recognizes the gravity of the global forecasts that invest the present with its widespread air of crisis, urgency, and apocalyptic possibility. Each also finds value in smaller scales of analysis, capturing the magnitude of an epoch in the unique resonances afforded by a single word. The Holocene may have been the age in which we learned our letters, but we are faced now with circumstances that demand more experimental plasticity. Alternative ways of perceiving a moment can bring a halt to habitual action, opening a space for slantwise movements through the shock of the unexpected. Each small essay in this lexicon is meant to do just this, drawing from anthropology, literary studies, artistic practice, and other humanistic endeavors to open up the range of possible action by contributing some other concrete way of seeing the present. Each entry proposes a different way of conceiving this Earth from some grounded place, always in a manner that aims to provoke a different imagination of the Anthropocene as a whole. The Anthropocene is a world-engulfing concept, drawing every thing and being imaginable into its purview, both in terms of geographic scale and temporal duration. Pronouncing an epoch in our own name may seem the ultimate act of apex species self-aggrandizement, a picture of the world as dominated by ourselves. Can we learn new ways of being in the face of this challenge, approaching the transmogrification of the ecosphere in a spirit of experimentation rather than catastrophic risk and existential dismay? This lexicon is meant as a site to imagine and explore what human beings can do differently with this time, and with its sense of peril. Cymene Howe is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and founding faculty of the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) at Rice University. She is the author of Intimate Activism (Duke, 2013) and Ecologics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene (Duke, 2019). Cymene was co-editor for the journal Cultural Anthropology and the Johns Hopkins Guide to Social Theory, and she co-hosts the weekly Cultures of Energy podcast. Anand Pandian is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. He is author of Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation (Duke, 2015) and Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India (Duke, 2009), among other book, as well as the co-editor of Race, Nature and the Politics of Difference (Duke, 2003) and Crumpled Paper Boat (Duke, 2017).
Publisher: punctum books
ISBN: 1950192555
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 546
Book Description
The idea of the Anthropocene often generates an overwhelming sense of abjection or apathy. It occupies the imagination as a set of circumstances that counterpose individual human actors against ungraspable scales and impossible odds. There is much at stake in how we understand the implications of this planetary imagination, and how to plot paths from this present to other less troubling futures. With Anthropocene Unseen: A Lexicon, the editors aim at a resource helpful for this task: a catalog of ways to pluralize and radicalize our picture of the Anthropocene, to make it speak more effectively to a wider range of contemporary human societies and circumstances. Organized as a lexicon for troubled times, each entry in this book recognizes the gravity of the global forecasts that invest the present with its widespread air of crisis, urgency, and apocalyptic possibility. Each also finds value in smaller scales of analysis, capturing the magnitude of an epoch in the unique resonances afforded by a single word. The Holocene may have been the age in which we learned our letters, but we are faced now with circumstances that demand more experimental plasticity. Alternative ways of perceiving a moment can bring a halt to habitual action, opening a space for slantwise movements through the shock of the unexpected. Each small essay in this lexicon is meant to do just this, drawing from anthropology, literary studies, artistic practice, and other humanistic endeavors to open up the range of possible action by contributing some other concrete way of seeing the present. Each entry proposes a different way of conceiving this Earth from some grounded place, always in a manner that aims to provoke a different imagination of the Anthropocene as a whole. The Anthropocene is a world-engulfing concept, drawing every thing and being imaginable into its purview, both in terms of geographic scale and temporal duration. Pronouncing an epoch in our own name may seem the ultimate act of apex species self-aggrandizement, a picture of the world as dominated by ourselves. Can we learn new ways of being in the face of this challenge, approaching the transmogrification of the ecosphere in a spirit of experimentation rather than catastrophic risk and existential dismay? This lexicon is meant as a site to imagine and explore what human beings can do differently with this time, and with its sense of peril. Cymene Howe is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology and founding faculty of the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences (CENHS) at Rice University. She is the author of Intimate Activism (Duke, 2013) and Ecologics: Wind and Power in the Anthropocene (Duke, 2019). Cymene was co-editor for the journal Cultural Anthropology and the Johns Hopkins Guide to Social Theory, and she co-hosts the weekly Cultures of Energy podcast. Anand Pandian is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University. He is author of Reel World: An Anthropology of Creation (Duke, 2015) and Crooked Stalks: Cultivating Virtue in South India (Duke, 2009), among other book, as well as the co-editor of Race, Nature and the Politics of Difference (Duke, 2003) and Crumpled Paper Boat (Duke, 2017).
Apocalyptic Tremors
Author: C.R. Chapman
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 1449719600
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 264
Book Description
Apocalyptic Tremors is an artistic design of : Justice -- wild yet divine Images -- complex yet meaningful Conflicts -- dreadful yet wonderful Earthquakes -- yet miracles Judgment -- yet glory Kingdoms rise and fall Satan vs. The Lamb of God Tribulation yet victory for the believer Over 20 reasons for a Harvest Rapture. Does God have the right to be so wrathful? Will the church see tribulation and why?
Publisher: WestBow Press
ISBN: 1449719600
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 264
Book Description
Apocalyptic Tremors is an artistic design of : Justice -- wild yet divine Images -- complex yet meaningful Conflicts -- dreadful yet wonderful Earthquakes -- yet miracles Judgment -- yet glory Kingdoms rise and fall Satan vs. The Lamb of God Tribulation yet victory for the believer Over 20 reasons for a Harvest Rapture. Does God have the right to be so wrathful? Will the church see tribulation and why?
Alif the Unseen
Author: G. Willow Wilson
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 0802194621
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
“[A] Harry Potter-ish action-adventure romance” set during the Arab Spring, from the New York Times–bestselling author of the Ms. Marvel comic book series (The New York Times). In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker, who goes by Alif, shields his clients—dissidents, outlaws, revolutionaries, and other watched groups—from surveillance, and tries to stay out of trouble. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the state’s electronic security force, putting his clients and himself on the line. Then it turns out his lover’s new fiancé is the “Hand of God,” as they call the head of state security, and his henchmen come after Alif, driving him underground. When Alif discovers The Thousand and One Days, the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen. This “tale of literary enchantment, political change, and religious mystery” was a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (Gregory Maguire). “Wilson has a deft hand with myth and with magic.” —Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
ISBN: 0802194621
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 412
Book Description
“[A] Harry Potter-ish action-adventure romance” set during the Arab Spring, from the New York Times–bestselling author of the Ms. Marvel comic book series (The New York Times). In an unnamed Middle Eastern security state, a young Arab-Indian hacker, who goes by Alif, shields his clients—dissidents, outlaws, revolutionaries, and other watched groups—from surveillance, and tries to stay out of trouble. The aristocratic woman Alif loves has jilted him for a prince chosen by her parents, and his computer has just been breached by the state’s electronic security force, putting his clients and himself on the line. Then it turns out his lover’s new fiancé is the “Hand of God,” as they call the head of state security, and his henchmen come after Alif, driving him underground. When Alif discovers The Thousand and One Days, the secret book of the jinn, which both he and the Hand suspect may unleash a new level of information technology, the stakes are raised and Alif must struggle for life or death, aided by forces seen and unseen. This “tale of literary enchantment, political change, and religious mystery” was a New York Times Notable Book and winner of the World Fantasy Award for Best Novel (Gregory Maguire). “Wilson has a deft hand with myth and with magic.” —Neil Gaiman, author of American Gods
The Unseen
Author: Roy Jacobsen
Publisher: Biblioasis
ISBN: 1771963204
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 269
Book Description
Shortlisted for the 2017 International Man Booker Prize • Shortlisted for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award • "Even by his high standards, his magnificent new novel The Unseen is Jacobsen's finest to date, as blunt as it is subtle and is easily among the best books I have ever read."―Eileen Battersby, Irish Times Born on the Norwegian island that bears her name, Ingrid Barrøy’s world is circumscribed by storm-scoured rocks and the moods of the sea by which her family lives and dies. But her father dreams of building a quay that will end their isolation, and her mother longs for the island of her youth, and the country faces its own sea change: the advent of a modern world, and all its unpredictability and violence. Brilliantly translated into English by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, The Unseen is the first book in the Barrøy Chronicles and a moving exploration of family, resilience, and fate.
Publisher: Biblioasis
ISBN: 1771963204
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 269
Book Description
Shortlisted for the 2017 International Man Booker Prize • Shortlisted for the 2018 International Dublin Literary Award • "Even by his high standards, his magnificent new novel The Unseen is Jacobsen's finest to date, as blunt as it is subtle and is easily among the best books I have ever read."―Eileen Battersby, Irish Times Born on the Norwegian island that bears her name, Ingrid Barrøy’s world is circumscribed by storm-scoured rocks and the moods of the sea by which her family lives and dies. But her father dreams of building a quay that will end their isolation, and her mother longs for the island of her youth, and the country faces its own sea change: the advent of a modern world, and all its unpredictability and violence. Brilliantly translated into English by Don Bartlett and Don Shaw, The Unseen is the first book in the Barrøy Chronicles and a moving exploration of family, resilience, and fate.
After They're Gone
Author: Peter Marren
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1529393418
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
'Wise, challenging and offering some unexpected laughter in the dark, this is a rational and insightful account of the sixth great extinction event. Peter Marren is a brilliant writer and a national treasure.' PATRICK BARKHAM 'Thoughtful, fascinating and very timely.' STEPHEN MOSS 'Important and thought-provoking.' CAROLINE LUCAS, GREEN PARTY MP 'Essential reading. Marren makes a page-turner out of Armageddon.' SIMON BARNES 'In his characteristic style Peter Marren has humanised the story of wildlife losses with humour and wit but also with his enormous knowledge and deep love for the living world.' MARK COCKER We are in the midst of an extinction event: the sixth mass extinction on earth and one entirely caused by mankind. All species become extinct sooner or later, but we have accelerated that natural process several hundredfold and now, it is happening right in front of our eyes. Extinction has a terrifying finality to it. And many species have already been lost to us forever; there is little we can do about that. What we can do, however, is reflect, remember, and ultimately acknowledge the unvarnished truth. We must see the natural world as it is, and not as we might want it to be. Our trajectory is one that has benefited one species alone - humankind. For all other beings, from mammals to fish, from birds to insects and coral, from plants to lichens and fungi, the future, for better or worse, is in our hands.
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1529393418
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 262
Book Description
'Wise, challenging and offering some unexpected laughter in the dark, this is a rational and insightful account of the sixth great extinction event. Peter Marren is a brilliant writer and a national treasure.' PATRICK BARKHAM 'Thoughtful, fascinating and very timely.' STEPHEN MOSS 'Important and thought-provoking.' CAROLINE LUCAS, GREEN PARTY MP 'Essential reading. Marren makes a page-turner out of Armageddon.' SIMON BARNES 'In his characteristic style Peter Marren has humanised the story of wildlife losses with humour and wit but also with his enormous knowledge and deep love for the living world.' MARK COCKER We are in the midst of an extinction event: the sixth mass extinction on earth and one entirely caused by mankind. All species become extinct sooner or later, but we have accelerated that natural process several hundredfold and now, it is happening right in front of our eyes. Extinction has a terrifying finality to it. And many species have already been lost to us forever; there is little we can do about that. What we can do, however, is reflect, remember, and ultimately acknowledge the unvarnished truth. We must see the natural world as it is, and not as we might want it to be. Our trajectory is one that has benefited one species alone - humankind. For all other beings, from mammals to fish, from birds to insects and coral, from plants to lichens and fungi, the future, for better or worse, is in our hands.
The Apocalypse of St John
Author: Henry Barclay Swete
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Apostles
Languages : en
Pages : 582
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Apostles
Languages : en
Pages : 582
Book Description
The Apocalypse of St. John
Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Apocryphal books (New Testament)
Languages : en
Pages : 584
Book Description
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Apocryphal books (New Testament)
Languages : en
Pages : 584
Book Description
THE APOCALYPSE OF ST. JOHN
Author: HENRY BARCLAY SWETE, D.D.
Publisher: Christian Classics Reproductions
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
H.B. Swete’s Commentary on the Apocalypse of John receives the following comment from Don Carson in his New Testament Commentary Survey: Swete is normally stodgy and often dull, but although he never shakes of his pedestrianism, in this commentary there is some really useful and thorough material that helps the reader to see the depth of the book, page 162. No book of the New Testament has suffered so severely, as regards general reading and homiletic use, as the Apocalypse. The reason is quickly found. So long as the traditional views of inspiration and the canon stood intact, the very strangeness of the book made it fascinating. Taken not only as a divine philosophy of history, but as a philosophy of history packed with exact prediction of the unfolding future, it exercised an irresistible influence on the Christian consciousness. But, the doctrine of inspiration and the conception of the canon being in process of restatement, the elements in the book which are foreign to our taste stand out in bold relief. A part of its imagery belongs to a world, social and political, from which we are remote. Its continuous mystical use of numbers goes against our grain. The coloring is not always to our natural liking. And, deeper than all, the mighty grip of the conception of evolution on our minds and wills puts us out of instinctive sympathy with that highly visualized view of the kingdom of God which seems to bring it down into history with a plunge. So the Apocalypse has paid heavy taxes to criticism. But the times are ripe for a deeper appreciation. We possess a rapidly growing body of knowledge pertaining to the first century and to the life of the Christian church within that century. This enables us to place the Apocalypse in intimate and quickening relations with the Roman Empire on the one side and on the other with the inner mind, with the interior labor of the church viewed as an aggressive and heroic community devoted to supreme moral and spiritual ends. We may therefore look for increasing study of the Apocalypse. Ramsay's Letters to the Seven Churches (1905) and the book before us are in evidence. Swete's Commentary has already gone into a second edition. For a commentary which is in the best sense scholarly, in which the homiletical element, while strong, is controlled, this is a notable success. It is due in part to the fact that it is the first thoroughly critical commentary done in English. But in part it is due to the high merits of the book itself. The author takes a conservative position on the question of the unity of the Apocalypse. It is a natural and wholesome protest against the 73 74 THE BIBLICAL WORLD results of documentary analysis as practiced since the appearance of V61- ter's book in 1885. These results, whether imaginary or real, are tainted by a preconception in favor of documentary analysis borrowed from the Old Testament critic. The New Testament critic, while assuming the possibility of documentary strata, should hold his judgment in suspense until a long and patient study has brought all the qualities and idioms of the book to light. And beyond question, in some modern instances, the brilliancy of documentary analysis has been disproportional to the depth and thoroughness of exegetical knowledge. Swete emphasizes the literary unity of the Apocalypse, and the operation clear through it of a creative imagination of the highest order. He recognizes the possibility of "fragments" of an older book (e. g., ii: i and i7: io). But regarding the Apocalypse as it lies before us, he is a thoroughgoing believer in its unity. One cannot but feel that he does not do full justice to the fact of corporate authorship in the first century. The heroic age of Christianity was brief. The creative imagination of the new prophetism soon lost its vigor. But during its prime it may well have had power to stamp upon the members of an apocalyptic brotherhood or "school" a degree of unity in conception and literary workmanship, to which modern standards present a very poor parallel. Swete also holds firmly to the traditional view that the Apostle John is the author of the Apocalypse, while regarding the Fourth Gospel he admits (p. civ) that the Johannine authorship "is open and perhaps will always be open to doubt." His position marks an interesting milestone in the progress of conservative English opinion. At this important point it adopts in large degree the opinion of Baur, against which for a long time it strongly and almost fiercely protested. He does not face or handle the Johannine problem in its entirety. In the present state of knowledge and opinion, that may not be possible. Perhaps it is not even desirable. Our greatest need in the New Testament field is the thorough monographing of individual books. We have had enough and more than enough of constructive generalization. Yet the argument for the Johannine authorship of the Apocalypse would have stood on solider ground, if he had given more space to the Johannine question as a whole. Regarding the date he is very positive, in favor of the reign of Domitian. As far as the choice between the Neronian date and the Domitian date is concerned, his certainty is within bounds. Our growing knowledge of the first century goes to the support of the early tradition which dated the book from Domitian's reign. But here again Swete pays too little BOOK REVIEWS 75 attention to the possible results of corporate authorship. The Apocalypse may have undergone a second edition in the reign of Trajan. The principle of interpretation adopted is an attempt at a compromise between the "futurists," or those who find a body of prediction in the book, and the "preterists," or those who take the book to be a religious philosophy of accomplished events (pp. ccxvi-ccxviii). But when we come to the application of the principle to specific exegesis, it may be doubted whether we find enough "futurism" to make the term worth while. If, for example, the comment on 6: 15 ("Not only officials will be terror-struck by the signs of an approaching end, but all classes of society; wealth and physical strength will afford no security") be "futurism," then the strictest "preterist" of an earlier day was also a "futurist." The "futurism" of Swete's interpretation comes close to being a negligible quantity. The question at stake between the two schools had its whole point here. Does the Apocalypse contain a body of specific tradition ? Put the question in this way and Swete answers no (p. ccxvi). To call what is left "preterism" and to put the result forward as a comprehensive principle doing justice to both of the schools, is a procedure that is not likely to contribute to clearness of thought or exactness in terminology. Swete does ample justice to the Caesar-cult both as an occasioning cause in the publication of the Apocalypse and as a continuous element in its thinking. He does not, however, do full justice to the heathen side of the great debate. He speaks (p. xc) of the refusal, on the part of Christians, to offer incense to the emperor's image, as exposing them "to the charge of disloyalty both to the provincial authority and to the emperor." As a matter of fact, the heathen were right in their charge. No matter how high the motive of the Christian was, it was an action that every levelheaded and deep-minded heathen must perforce regard as disloyalty. The worship of the emperor was an inevitable and instinctive action on the part of the empire. State and church being one, and religion being what it was, this was the only way in which the state could insure, in terms of religion, the public peace and common welfare. Although the movement began in Asia Minor, in the first century Italy was as far on as the provinces. Mau's fine book on Pompeii shows how large a part the worship of the Caesars played in an Italian town of possibly 20,000 people. It was the inevitable action of the whole empire. Christians, in refusing to share it, were actually guilty of high treason. The commentary abounds in happy and pregnant interpretations. Combining the standards of the general reader and the New Testament critic, it may be safely said to be the best commentary of our time upon 76 THE BIBLICAL WORLD the Apocalypse. But it has one serious defect. It does not, by its distribution of emphasis and book-space, bring out fully the genius of the book. The books of Scripture should be treated according to their kind. The Johannine Apocalypse belongs to the class of great poems. Under qualifications, it should be studied as the Prometheus of Aeschylus is studied. Swete says with truth (Preface, p. ix) "that the Apocalypse offers to the pastors of the Christian church an unrivaled store of materials for Christian teaching." But the true way to bring the Apocalypse once more close to the heart of Christians is to study it as the expression of the creative imagination serving the creative moralizing will. The will and the imagination are inseparable. It is through the imagination that the will asserts its right of way through history. The emphasis should therefore fall upon the imagination. But Swete, in the distribution and economy of his space, keeps within the conventional lines and bounds of exegesis. For example, more space is given to the question of the Nicolaitans than to the incomparable imagery of 12: I ff. In more than one place we look for an imaginative interpretation of a supreme imagination and find, in its stead, accurate archaeology. But no amount of archaeology will render the Apocalypse, what it must become in order to be appreciated, inevitable, as all great poetry is inevitable. HENRY S. NASH CAMBRIDGE, MASS
Publisher: Christian Classics Reproductions
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 377
Book Description
H.B. Swete’s Commentary on the Apocalypse of John receives the following comment from Don Carson in his New Testament Commentary Survey: Swete is normally stodgy and often dull, but although he never shakes of his pedestrianism, in this commentary there is some really useful and thorough material that helps the reader to see the depth of the book, page 162. No book of the New Testament has suffered so severely, as regards general reading and homiletic use, as the Apocalypse. The reason is quickly found. So long as the traditional views of inspiration and the canon stood intact, the very strangeness of the book made it fascinating. Taken not only as a divine philosophy of history, but as a philosophy of history packed with exact prediction of the unfolding future, it exercised an irresistible influence on the Christian consciousness. But, the doctrine of inspiration and the conception of the canon being in process of restatement, the elements in the book which are foreign to our taste stand out in bold relief. A part of its imagery belongs to a world, social and political, from which we are remote. Its continuous mystical use of numbers goes against our grain. The coloring is not always to our natural liking. And, deeper than all, the mighty grip of the conception of evolution on our minds and wills puts us out of instinctive sympathy with that highly visualized view of the kingdom of God which seems to bring it down into history with a plunge. So the Apocalypse has paid heavy taxes to criticism. But the times are ripe for a deeper appreciation. We possess a rapidly growing body of knowledge pertaining to the first century and to the life of the Christian church within that century. This enables us to place the Apocalypse in intimate and quickening relations with the Roman Empire on the one side and on the other with the inner mind, with the interior labor of the church viewed as an aggressive and heroic community devoted to supreme moral and spiritual ends. We may therefore look for increasing study of the Apocalypse. Ramsay's Letters to the Seven Churches (1905) and the book before us are in evidence. Swete's Commentary has already gone into a second edition. For a commentary which is in the best sense scholarly, in which the homiletical element, while strong, is controlled, this is a notable success. It is due in part to the fact that it is the first thoroughly critical commentary done in English. But in part it is due to the high merits of the book itself. The author takes a conservative position on the question of the unity of the Apocalypse. It is a natural and wholesome protest against the 73 74 THE BIBLICAL WORLD results of documentary analysis as practiced since the appearance of V61- ter's book in 1885. These results, whether imaginary or real, are tainted by a preconception in favor of documentary analysis borrowed from the Old Testament critic. The New Testament critic, while assuming the possibility of documentary strata, should hold his judgment in suspense until a long and patient study has brought all the qualities and idioms of the book to light. And beyond question, in some modern instances, the brilliancy of documentary analysis has been disproportional to the depth and thoroughness of exegetical knowledge. Swete emphasizes the literary unity of the Apocalypse, and the operation clear through it of a creative imagination of the highest order. He recognizes the possibility of "fragments" of an older book (e. g., ii: i and i7: io). But regarding the Apocalypse as it lies before us, he is a thoroughgoing believer in its unity. One cannot but feel that he does not do full justice to the fact of corporate authorship in the first century. The heroic age of Christianity was brief. The creative imagination of the new prophetism soon lost its vigor. But during its prime it may well have had power to stamp upon the members of an apocalyptic brotherhood or "school" a degree of unity in conception and literary workmanship, to which modern standards present a very poor parallel. Swete also holds firmly to the traditional view that the Apostle John is the author of the Apocalypse, while regarding the Fourth Gospel he admits (p. civ) that the Johannine authorship "is open and perhaps will always be open to doubt." His position marks an interesting milestone in the progress of conservative English opinion. At this important point it adopts in large degree the opinion of Baur, against which for a long time it strongly and almost fiercely protested. He does not face or handle the Johannine problem in its entirety. In the present state of knowledge and opinion, that may not be possible. Perhaps it is not even desirable. Our greatest need in the New Testament field is the thorough monographing of individual books. We have had enough and more than enough of constructive generalization. Yet the argument for the Johannine authorship of the Apocalypse would have stood on solider ground, if he had given more space to the Johannine question as a whole. Regarding the date he is very positive, in favor of the reign of Domitian. As far as the choice between the Neronian date and the Domitian date is concerned, his certainty is within bounds. Our growing knowledge of the first century goes to the support of the early tradition which dated the book from Domitian's reign. But here again Swete pays too little BOOK REVIEWS 75 attention to the possible results of corporate authorship. The Apocalypse may have undergone a second edition in the reign of Trajan. The principle of interpretation adopted is an attempt at a compromise between the "futurists," or those who find a body of prediction in the book, and the "preterists," or those who take the book to be a religious philosophy of accomplished events (pp. ccxvi-ccxviii). But when we come to the application of the principle to specific exegesis, it may be doubted whether we find enough "futurism" to make the term worth while. If, for example, the comment on 6: 15 ("Not only officials will be terror-struck by the signs of an approaching end, but all classes of society; wealth and physical strength will afford no security") be "futurism," then the strictest "preterist" of an earlier day was also a "futurist." The "futurism" of Swete's interpretation comes close to being a negligible quantity. The question at stake between the two schools had its whole point here. Does the Apocalypse contain a body of specific tradition ? Put the question in this way and Swete answers no (p. ccxvi). To call what is left "preterism" and to put the result forward as a comprehensive principle doing justice to both of the schools, is a procedure that is not likely to contribute to clearness of thought or exactness in terminology. Swete does ample justice to the Caesar-cult both as an occasioning cause in the publication of the Apocalypse and as a continuous element in its thinking. He does not, however, do full justice to the heathen side of the great debate. He speaks (p. xc) of the refusal, on the part of Christians, to offer incense to the emperor's image, as exposing them "to the charge of disloyalty both to the provincial authority and to the emperor." As a matter of fact, the heathen were right in their charge. No matter how high the motive of the Christian was, it was an action that every levelheaded and deep-minded heathen must perforce regard as disloyalty. The worship of the emperor was an inevitable and instinctive action on the part of the empire. State and church being one, and religion being what it was, this was the only way in which the state could insure, in terms of religion, the public peace and common welfare. Although the movement began in Asia Minor, in the first century Italy was as far on as the provinces. Mau's fine book on Pompeii shows how large a part the worship of the Caesars played in an Italian town of possibly 20,000 people. It was the inevitable action of the whole empire. Christians, in refusing to share it, were actually guilty of high treason. The commentary abounds in happy and pregnant interpretations. Combining the standards of the general reader and the New Testament critic, it may be safely said to be the best commentary of our time upon 76 THE BIBLICAL WORLD the Apocalypse. But it has one serious defect. It does not, by its distribution of emphasis and book-space, bring out fully the genius of the book. The books of Scripture should be treated according to their kind. The Johannine Apocalypse belongs to the class of great poems. Under qualifications, it should be studied as the Prometheus of Aeschylus is studied. Swete says with truth (Preface, p. ix) "that the Apocalypse offers to the pastors of the Christian church an unrivaled store of materials for Christian teaching." But the true way to bring the Apocalypse once more close to the heart of Christians is to study it as the expression of the creative imagination serving the creative moralizing will. The will and the imagination are inseparable. It is through the imagination that the will asserts its right of way through history. The emphasis should therefore fall upon the imagination. But Swete, in the distribution and economy of his space, keeps within the conventional lines and bounds of exegesis. For example, more space is given to the question of the Nicolaitans than to the incomparable imagery of 12: I ff. In more than one place we look for an imaginative interpretation of a supreme imagination and find, in its stead, accurate archaeology. But no amount of archaeology will render the Apocalypse, what it must become in order to be appreciated, inevitable, as all great poetry is inevitable. HENRY S. NASH CAMBRIDGE, MASS
Notes from an Apocalypse
Author: Mark O'Connell
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 052543531X
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • An absorbing, deeply felt book about our anxious present tense—and coming to grips with the future, by the author of the award-winning To Be a Machine. “Deeply funny and life-affirming, with a warm, generous outlook even on the most challenging of subjects.” —Esquire We’re alive in a time of worst-case scenarios: The weather has gone uncanny. A pandemic draws our global community to a halt. Everywhere you look there’s an omen, a joke whose punchline is the end of the world. How is a person supposed to live in the shadow of such a grim future? What might it be like to live through the worst? And what on earth is anybody doing about it? Dublin-based writer Mark O’Connell is consumed by these questions—and, as the father of two young children, he finds them increasingly urgent. In Notes from an Apocalypse, he crosses the globe in pursuit of answers. He tours survival bunkers in South Dakota. He ventures to New Zealand, a favored retreat of billionaires banking on civilization’s collapse. He engages with would-be Mars colonists, preppers, right-wing conspiracists. And he bears witness to places, like Chernobyl, that the future has already visited—real-life portraits of the end of the world as we know it. What emerges is an absorbing, funny, and deeply felt book about our anxious present tense—and coming to grips with what’s ahead.
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 052543531X
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 290
Book Description
AN NPR BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR • An absorbing, deeply felt book about our anxious present tense—and coming to grips with the future, by the author of the award-winning To Be a Machine. “Deeply funny and life-affirming, with a warm, generous outlook even on the most challenging of subjects.” —Esquire We’re alive in a time of worst-case scenarios: The weather has gone uncanny. A pandemic draws our global community to a halt. Everywhere you look there’s an omen, a joke whose punchline is the end of the world. How is a person supposed to live in the shadow of such a grim future? What might it be like to live through the worst? And what on earth is anybody doing about it? Dublin-based writer Mark O’Connell is consumed by these questions—and, as the father of two young children, he finds them increasingly urgent. In Notes from an Apocalypse, he crosses the globe in pursuit of answers. He tours survival bunkers in South Dakota. He ventures to New Zealand, a favored retreat of billionaires banking on civilization’s collapse. He engages with would-be Mars colonists, preppers, right-wing conspiracists. And he bears witness to places, like Chernobyl, that the future has already visited—real-life portraits of the end of the world as we know it. What emerges is an absorbing, funny, and deeply felt book about our anxious present tense—and coming to grips with what’s ahead.
Apocalypse Against Empire
Author: Anathea Portier-Young
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 080287083X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 487
Book Description
The year 167 B.C.E. marked the beginning of a period of intense persecution for the people of Judea, as Seleucid emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted -- forcibly and brutally -- to eradicate traditional Jewish religious practices. In Apocalypse against Empire Anathea Portier-Young reconstructs the historical events and key players in this traumatic episode in Jewish history and provides a sophisticated treatment of resistance in early Judaism. Building on a solid contextual foundation, Portier-Young argues that the first Jewish apocalypses emerged as a literature of resistance to Hellenistic imperial rule. In particular, Portier-Young contends, the book of Daniel, the Apocalypse of Weeks, and the Book of Dreams were written to supply an oppressed people with a potent antidote to the destructive propaganda of the empire -- renewing their faith in the God of the covenant and answering state terror with radical visions of hope.
Publisher: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing
ISBN: 080287083X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 487
Book Description
The year 167 B.C.E. marked the beginning of a period of intense persecution for the people of Judea, as Seleucid emperor Antiochus IV Epiphanes attempted -- forcibly and brutally -- to eradicate traditional Jewish religious practices. In Apocalypse against Empire Anathea Portier-Young reconstructs the historical events and key players in this traumatic episode in Jewish history and provides a sophisticated treatment of resistance in early Judaism. Building on a solid contextual foundation, Portier-Young argues that the first Jewish apocalypses emerged as a literature of resistance to Hellenistic imperial rule. In particular, Portier-Young contends, the book of Daniel, the Apocalypse of Weeks, and the Book of Dreams were written to supply an oppressed people with a potent antidote to the destructive propaganda of the empire -- renewing their faith in the God of the covenant and answering state terror with radical visions of hope.