THE-PEOPLE-OF-GOD-IN-THE-APOCALYPSE.pdf

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T H E P E O P L E O F G O D I N T H E A P O C A LY P S E

Stephen Pattemore examines passages within Rev. 4:1–22:21 that depict

the people of God as actors in the apocalyptic drama and infers what

impact these passages would have had on the self-understanding and

behaviour of the original audience of the work. He uses Relevance

Theory, a development in the linguistic field of pragmatics, to help

understand the text against the background of allusion to other texts.

Three important images are traced. The picture of the souls under the

altar (6:9–11) is found to govern much of the direction of the text with

its call to faithful witness and willingness for martyrdom. Even the

militant image of a messianic army (7:1–8, 14:1–5) urges the audience

in precisely the same direction. Both images combine in the final image

of the bride, the culmination of challenge and hope traced briefly in

the New Jerusalem visions.

Dr Pattemore is a translation consultant with United Bible Societies,

working with translation projects in New Zealand and Papua New

Guinea.


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S O C I E T Y F O R N E W T E S T A M EN T S T U D I E S

M O N O G R A P H S E R I E S

General Editor: Richard Bauckham

128

T H E P E O P L E O F G O D I N T H E A P O C A LY P S E


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S O C I E T Y F O R N E W T E S TA M E N T S T U D I E S

M O N O G R A P H S E R I E S

Recent titles in the series

117. Jesus and Israel’s Traditions of Judgement and Restoration

s t e v e n m . b r y a n

0 521 81183 X

118. The Myth of a Gentile Galilee

m a r k a . c h a n c e y

0 521 81487 1

119. New Creation in Paul’s Letters and Thought

m o y e r v . h u b b a r d

0 521 81485 5

120. Belly and Body in the Pauline Epistles

k a r l o l a v s a n d n e s

0 521 81535 5

121. The First Christian Historian

d a n i e l m a r g u e r a t

0 521 81650 5

122. An Aramaic Approach to Q

m a u r i c e c a s e y

0 521 81723 4

123. Isaiah’s Christ in Matthew’s Gospel

r i c h a r d b e a t o n

0 521 81888 5

124. God and History in the Book of Revelation

m i c h a e l g i l b e r t s o n

0 521 82466 4

125. Jesus’ Defeat of Death

p e t e r g . b o lt

0 521 83036 2

126. From Hope to Despair in Thessalonica

c o l i n r . n i c h o l l

0 521 83142 3

127. Trilogy of Parables

w e s l e y g . o l m s t e a d

0 521 83154 7

128. The People of God in the Apocalypses t e p h e n p at t e m o r e

0 521 83698 0


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The People of Godin the ApocalypseDiscourse, Structure, and Exegesis

S T E P H E N P A T T E M O R E


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Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo

Cambridge University Press

The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge , UK

First published in print format

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© Stephen Pattemore 2004

2004

Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521836982

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of

relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.

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Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of sfor external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does notguarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.

Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York

www.cambridge.org

hardback

eBook (EBL)

eBook (EBL)

hardback

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C O N T E N T S

List of figures and table page viii

Preface ix List of abbreviations xi

1 A question of relevance 1

2 Relevance Theory in biblical interpretation 13

3 A cognitive environment for the Apocalypse 51

4 Souls under the altar – a martyr ecclesiology 68

5 Companions of the Lamb – a messianic ecclesiology 117

6 The New Jerusalem, bride of the Lamb 197

7 Summary and conclusions 213

Appendix Abbreviated discourse outline 220

Bibliography 226

Index 246

vii


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F I G U R E S A N D T A B L E

Figure 5.1 Dialectic of naming/sealing/marking

in Revelation page 183Figure 5.2 Dialectic of sexual imagery in Revelation 188

Table 5.1 Narrative structure of Daniel 7 and Revelation 120

viii


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P R E F A C E

The book of Revelation, despite (or perhaps because of) the perplexing

nature of its imagery, continues to attract both academic and popularinterest in Western societies in the early years of a new millennium.

But the stimulus for this study has come from involvement in the task

of translating the scriptures into the languages of Asia and the Pacific.

The context of Bible translation has given a pragmatic edge to my study.

While I have focussed principally on understanding the text within its

original context, the goal and purpose has always been not only to add

to academic literature on the book of Revelation, but to provide a secure

basis for contextualizing its message in the vastly different languages and

thought worlds of contemporary societies.

This work has its origins in the major part of my Otago University

doctoral thesis, and my thanks go to Paul Trebilco, Tim Meadowcroft,

and Peter Carrell for their skilful supervision and advice and also for their

friendship and encouragement. Otago University (Dunedin), the Bible

College of New Zealand (Auckland), and Tyndale House (Cambridge,

UK) have all played a significant part in bringing this research to fruition.The research was carried out with the help of a scholarship provided

by the United Bible Societies, to whom my sincere thanks are due for

their generous sponsorship. In particular I wish to acknowledge the help

and encouragement of David Clark, for many years UBS Translation

Consultant to the Urak Lawoi’ New Testament translation project on

which I worked. Thanks also to Graham Ogden, and to his successor

as Asia-Pacific Regional Translations Coordinator, Daud Soesilo, and to

Basil Rebera, formerly UBS Translation Services Coordinator, for their

support. Part of my research, a discourse analysis of the entire book of

Revelation, which sets the stage for this present work, has recently been

published in the UBS Monograph Series. Thanks for financial help are

also due to the John Baldwin Memorial Scholarship Fund.

My thanks are due to John Court, and his predecessor as editor

of the SNTS Monograph Series, Richard Bauckham, for their advice

ix


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x Preface

and encouragement. I am also very grateful to the staff of Cambridge

University Press, in particular Kate Brett and Jackie Warren, and to

Pauline Marsh, for their help in bringing the typescript to publication.

My own family has been a loving and stimulating context in which tocarry out this study, keeping me firmly anchored to the reality of contem-

porary life. This volume is dedicated to my wife, Raewyn, who, having

endured an earlier thesis (in Physics, twenty-five years ago), not only

accepted another thesis into the family with good grace, but provided all

the personal encouragement and support I have needed. And it has been

an ever-present challenge to justify to teenage and young adult children

why “slaughtered souls under the altar” deserved so much time and atten-

tion. Thank you to Kerryn and Greg, to David, Rachel, and Brian, fellowpilgrims to the New Jerusalem.


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A B B R E V I A T I O N S

Periodicals, series and reference works

AB Anchor Bible

ACNT Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament

AnBib Analectica Biblica

AramBib The Aramaic Bible: The Targums

AUSS Andrews University Seminary Studies

AUSDDS Andrews University Seminary Doctoral Dissertation Series

BAGD W. Bauer, W. F. Arndt, F. W. Gingrich, and F. W. Danker, A

Greek–English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 2nd edn, 1958)

BAR Biblical Archaeology Review

BBS Behavioural and Brain Sciences

BETL Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium

BGBE Beiträge zur Geschichte der biblischen Exegese

BI Biblical Interpretation

Bib Biblica

BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of

Manchester

BR Biblical Research

BSac Bibliotheca Sacra

BT The Bible Translator

BTB Biblical Theology Bulletin

BTTB3 Bibliothèque de théologie. Théologie biblique, series 3BZNW Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche

Wissenschaft

CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CBQMS CBQ Monograph Series

CNT Commentaire du Nouveau Testament

ConBNT Coniectanea Biblica New Testament Series

xi


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xii List of abbreviations

CRINT Compendia Rerum Iudicarum ad Novum Testamentum

CT Cahiers théologiques

DSD Dead Sea Discoveries

EQ Evangelical Quarterly EstB Estudios B´ ıblicos

ETL Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses

EUS23 European University Studies, Series 23, Theology

ExpTim Expository Times

FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und

Neuen Testaments

GNS Good News Studies

GNTE Guides to New Testament ExegesisGTJ Grace Theological Journal

HAR Hebrew Annual Review

HBT Horizons in Biblical Theology

HDR Harvard Dissertations in Religion

HNT Handbuch zum Neuen Testament

HTR Harvard Theological Review

ICC International Critical Commentary

Int Interpretation

IVPNTC Intervarsity Press New Testament Commentary

JBL Journal of Biblical Literature

JECS Journal of Early Christian Studies

JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JNSL Journal of Northwest Semitic Languages

JPrag Journal of Pragmatics

JR Journal of Religion JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic

and Roman Period

JSJSup Journal for the Study of Judaism Supplement Series

JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSNTSup JSNT Supplement Series

JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement

Series

JSPSup Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplement

Series

JTS Journal of Theological Studies

KKNT Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament

Lang Language

LL Language and Literature

NA Neutestamentliche Abhandlungen


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List of abbreviations xiii

NA27 B. Aland, K. Aland, J. Karavidopoulos, C. M. Martini, and

B. M. Metzger (eds.), Novum Testamentum Graece

(Nestle–Aland) (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 27th

edn, 1993)NCB New Century Bible

Neot Neotestamentica

NICNT New International Commentary on the New Testament

NICOT New International Commentary on the Old Testament

NIGTC New International Greek Testament Commentary

NovT Novum Testamentum

NovTSup Novum Testamentum, Supplements

NRT La Nouvelle Revue th´ eologiqueNTC The New Testament in Context

NTL New Testament Library

NTM New Testament Message

NTS New Testament Studies

OTM Oxford Theological Monographs

PBNS Pragmatics and Beyond, New Series

RB Revue biblique

RevQ Revue de Qumran

RivB Rivista biblica

SacP Sacra Pagina

SBT Studies in Biblical Theology

SBT2 Studies in Biblical Theology, Second Series

SM Studia Missionalia

SNT Studien zum Neuen Testament

SNTSMS Society for New Testament Studies Monograph SeriesST Studia Theologica

STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah

TDNT G. Kittel and G. Friedrich (eds.), Theological Dictionary of

the New Testament , trans. G. W. Bromiley (10 vols.; Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964– )

TDOT G. J. Botterweck and H. Ringgren (eds.), Theological

Dictionary of the Old Testament (10 vols.; Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans, 1974–98), vol. IX, trans. D. E. Green

TrinJ Trinity Journal of Theology

TU Texte und Untersuchungen

TUGAL Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der

altchristlichen Literatur

TynB Tyndale Bulletin

TZ Theologische Zeitschrift


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xiv List of abbreviations

UBS4 B. Aland, K. Aland, J. Karavidopoulos, C. M. Martini, and

B. M. Metzger (eds.), The Greek New Testament (Stuttgart:

Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft/ United Bible Societies, 4th

edn, 1993)UCLWPL University College London Working Papers in Linguistics

UCOP University of Cambridge Oriental Publications

VC Vigiliae Christianae

VoxEv Vox Evangelica

VT Vetus Testamentum

WBC Word Biblical Commentary

WMANT Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum alten und neuen

TestamentWTJ Westminster Theological Journal

WUNT Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

ZNW Zeitschrift f ̈ ur die neutestamentliche Wissenschafte

Books of the Bible and Apocrypha

Gen. 1 Kings Eccl. Obad.

Exod. 2 Kings Song Jon.

Lev. 1 Chron. Isa. Mic.

Num. 2 Chron. Jer. Nah.

Deut. Ezra Lam. Hab.

Josh. Neh. Ezek. Zeph.

Judg. Esth. Dan. Hag.

Ruth Job Hos. Zech.1 Sam. Ps. (pl. Pss.) Joel Mal.

2 Sam. Prov. Amos

1 Esdr. Sir. 2 Macc.

4 Ezra (= 2 Esdr. 3–14) Bar.

Wisd. 1 Macc.

Matt. 2 Cor. 1 Tim. 2 Pet.

Mark Gal. 2 Tim. 1 JnLuke Eph. Tit. 2 Jn

John Phil. Phlm. 3 Jn

Acts Col. Heb. Jude

Rom. 1 Thess. Jas. Rev.

1 Cor. 2 Thess. 1 Pet.


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List of abbreviations xv

Ancient Jewish and Christian literature and texts

Adv. Marc. Tertullian, Against Marcion

Ap. Bar . 3 Baruch, Apocalypse of Baruch (Greek) Asc. Isa. The Ascension of Isaiah

2 Bar. = Bar. Syr . 2 Baruch, Apocalypse of Baruch (Syriac)

BW The Book of the Watchers, 1 Enoch 1–36

1 Enoch Ethiopic Enoch

Jos. As. Joseph and Asenath

JW Josephus, The Jewish War

LXX Septuagint (ed. A. Rahlfs)

MT Masoretic TextOdes Sol. Odes of Solomon

OG Old Greek version of Daniel

1QM The War Scroll, from Qumran Cave 1

Pss. Sol. Psalms of Solomon

Targ. Targum

Targ. Jer. Frag. Targum of Jerusalem (fragmentary)

Targ. Ps.-J. Targum Pseudo-Jonathan

Test. Jos. Testament of Joseph

Test. Lev. Testament of Levi

Test. Sim. Testament of Simeon

Th. Theodotion version of Daniel

Tos. Targ. Tosephta Targum


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1

A Q U E S T I O N O F R E L E V A N C E

1.1 The relevance of the Apocalypse

The Apocalypse of St John has always provoked the question of its own

relevance. In the second century its place in the canon was far from

assured, with questions raised about its apparent Jewish character, its

symbolism, and its apostolic authorship.1 By the 1990s it could still be

described as ‘only marginally canonical’.2 In between it has both influ-

enced art, literature, and politics and yet suffered from neglect and abuse.3

The Apocalypse has been the handbook for millenarian sects of many

shades throughout the past two millennia, with increasing frequency andintensity in the periods leading up to the years 1000 and 2000.4 But

it has also been used by those with power, to bolster their position by

1 On the early reception of the Apocalypse see R. H. Charles, The Revelation of St. John (2 vols., ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1920), vol. I, pp. xcvii–ciii; H. B. Swete,The Apocalypse of John (London: Macmillan, 1911), pp. cvi–cxix; N. B. Stonehouse, The

Apocalypse in the Ancient Church: A Study in the History of the New Testament Canon (Goes,

the Netherlands: Oosterbaan & Le Cointre, 1929), especially pp. 150–5. On authorship seeCharles, Revelation, vol. I, pp. xxxviii–l, and further below, Chapter 3, pp. 52–3.

2 T. Pippin, Death and Desire: The Rhetoric of Gender in the Apocalypse of John (LiteraryCurrents in Biblical Interpretation; Louisville: Westminster/ John Knox, 1992), p. 46.

3 See summaries in M. E. Boring, Revelation (Interpretation; Louisville: John KnoxPress, 1989), p. 61; J. Roloff, The Revelation of John, trans. John E. Alsup (A Continen-tal Commentary; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1993), pp. 1–3; and, in more detail, inR. K. Emmerson and B. McGinn (eds.), The Apocalypse in the Middle Ages (Thought,Art and Culture; Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1992). On the abuse of Revelationthrough history see K. G. C. Newport, Apocalypse and Millennium: Studies in Biblical

Eisegesis (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000). On the influence of theApocalypse on art see F. Carey (ed.), The Apocalypse and the Shape of Things to Come(London: British Museum, 1999).

4 See especially N. Cohn, The Pursuit of the Millennium (New York: Oxford UniversityPress, 1961). The influence of the Apocalypse on the Branch Dravidian cult of Waco,Texas has been discussed by J. M. Court, ‘A Future for Eschatology?’, in M. D. Carroll,D. J. A. Clines, and P. R. Davies (eds.), The Bible in Human Society: Essays in Honour of John Rogerson (JSOTSup, 200; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995), pp. 191–3;and especially Newport, Apocalypse, pp. 197–236.

1


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2 The People of God in the Apocalypse

marginalizing or demonizing others.5 Through the nineteenth and twen-

tieth centuries, millenarianism of one kind or another, usually formed

by an eclectic and harmonizing approach to the books of Revelation and

Daniel, has been an important focus, and sometimes a touchstone of orthodoxy, for evangelical Christianity.6 Millennial anxiety prior to the

year 2000, compounded by apocalyptic scenarios proposed for the Y2K

computer bug, led to an increase in interest in the Apocalypse and in

apocalyptic language and imagery, not only in evangelical circles but in

the popular press and media.7

Perhaps because of these phenomena, but also simply because of the

difficulty of the language and symbolism of the book, and its apparent

lack of connection with the modern world, the Apocalypse has, untilcomparatively recently, suffered considerable neglect in reformed, main-

stream, and liberal Christianity.8 But in scholarly circles the second half

of the twentieth century saw a remarkable recovery of interest in apoc-

alyptic literature in general, partly as a result of mid-century wars and

the possibilities of nuclear holocaust.9 The book from which the genre

takes its name has ridden the wave of interest, with considerable progress

made in understanding it in the context of its own socio-historical world.

But despite, or provoked by, this revival of interest there has also been a

stream of thought, drawing on reader-centred, deconstructionist method-

ologies, strongly antagonistic to the Apocalypse and the world-views it

allegedly promotes. Ethical problems such as anti-semitism, misogyny,

militarism, and patriarchal colonialism have been attributed to it, leading

one recent writer to hold that ‘Revelation is unreclaimable.’10

5 See Newport, Apocalypse, pp. 48–65; S. L. Cook, Prophecy and Apocalypticism: ThePost-Exilic Social Setting (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1995), pp. 55–84.

6 See E. R. Sandeen, The Roots of Fundamentalism: British and American Millenari-anism 1800–1930 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970); H. Dunton, ‘MillennialHopes and Fears: Great Britain, 1780–1960’, AUSS 37 (1999), pp. 179–208.

7 J. Paulien, ‘The Millennium is Here Again: Is it Panic Time?’, AUSS 37 (1999), pp.167–78, avoids the hysteria but retains focus on the hope of Christ’s return.

8 See Roloff, Revelation, pp. 1–3. For strong reactions to conservative evangelical view-points see A. Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse (Philadel-

phia: Westminster Press, 1984), pp. 13–14; E. Schüssler Fiorenza, Revelation: Vision of a Just World (Proclamation Commentaries; Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1991), pp. 7–10.

9 See the introductory remarks by Hanson in P. D. Hanson (ed.), Visionaries and their Apocalypses (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983), p. 8.

10 A. M. Jack, Texts Reading Texts, Sacred and Secular (JSNTSup, 179; Sheffield:Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), p. 208. See also T. Pippin, ‘Eros and the End: Read-ing for Gender in the Apocalypse of John’, Semeia 59 (1992), pp. 193–210; S. D. Moore,‘The Beatific Vision as a Posing Exhibition: Revelation’s Hypermasculine Deity’, JSNT 60(1995), pp. 27–55; Pippin, Death and Desire; Schüssler Fiorenza, Revelation, pp. 117–39.A more measured approach to the book’s ethical problems is D. L. Barr, ‘Towards an Ethical


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A question of relevance 3

Questions of relevance have also been my own entry point into the study

of John’s Apocalypse, through involvement in the translation of the New

Testament into indigenous language of the Asia-Pacific region. Although

the language of Revelation presents surprisingly few translation problems,few communities possess the background knowledge needed to under-

stand the bizarre imagery. How responsible is it to give such a book to peo-

ple who can know so little of its origins, who are so remote from its world

of ideas? Yet the translator of the NT works under canonical constraints,

and this shifts the domain of questions of relevance back from the con-

temporary community to the community involved with the original com-

munication event. For the Apocalypse’s canonical status is evidence of its

relevance to that original community.11 How did it achieve that relevance?How did the original audience find themselves in the text? How did they

relate to ‘the souls of those who had been slaughtered’ or the 144,000 male

virgin followers of the Lamb? In what directions did the Apocalypse’s

text move them? Answering such questions should provide a basis from

which to address questions of relevance to the contemporary community.

The concept of ‘relevance’ has thus far remained undefined and yet

central to the discussion. What does it mean to be ‘relevant’? Can rele-

vance be measured so as to discriminate between things which are more

or less relevant? Relevant to whom? Relevance Theory, a development

in the linguistic field of pragmatics, offers a promising way forward.12

By defining ‘relevance’ precisely and locating its effect in the cognitive

processes of the human mind it provides a framework both for an expla-

nation of the process of understanding utterances and for measuring, at

least comparatively, the relevance of a particular concept in a particular

context. It is the burden of the central part of this study to investigate,using Relevance Theory, how the Apocalypse captured its audience, how

it led them to identify with characters in the drama being portrayed, and

in what directions it motivated them.

1.2 The people of the Apocalypse

Locating our interest in the relevance of the Apocalypse to its original

audience raises questions about the community that gave rise to the book,

Reading of the Apocalypse: Reflections on John’s Use of Power, Violence and Misogyny’,in SBL Seminar Papers 1997 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997), pp. 358–73.

11 D. L. Barr, ‘The Apocalypse as a Symbolic Transformation of the World: A LiteraryAnalysis’, Int 38 (1984), p. 39.

12 The seminal work is D. Sperber and D. Wilson, Relevance: Communication and Cognition (Oxford: Blackwell, 1st edn, 1986, 2nd edn, 1995). See p. 13 n. 2 below for abrief discussion of pragmatics.


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both in its geographical, social, and political context and in its world of

ideas. Both areas have received considerable attention. On the assumption

that the intended recipients of the book were the churches of Asia Minor

mentioned in chs. 1–3, Hemer has provided a detailed description, updat-ing the earlier work of Ramsay.13 Others have described in more general

terms the location of early Christian communities in the Greco-Roman

and Jewish Diaspora contexts of the first century.14

For the major part of the book, it is the thought-world of Jewish and

Christian traditions and literature that must provide the most important

clues to relevance. The relationship of Revelation to the Old Testament

has been an area of intensive research, and numerous approaches to under-

standing this relationship have been advanced.15 The influence of the OTbackground will play a major role in this study, but consideration must

13 W. M. Ramsay, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia and their Place in the Planof the Apocalypse (Reprint of 1904 edn; Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1979); C. J.Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting (JSNTSup, 11;Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1986). The view that the local references have little significanceand that John is opposing a single Gnostic sect is championed by P. Prigent, ‘L’Hérésieasiatique et l’Eglise confessante’, VC 31 (1977), pp. 1–22; P. Prigent, L’Apocalypse de

Saint Jean (CNT, 14; Geneva: Labor et Fides, 2nd corrected edn, 1988), pp. 25–6, 37–9,80. See also C. H. H. Scobie, ‘Local References in the Letters to the Seven Churches’, NTS 39 (1993), pp. 606–24; J. M. Court, Myth and History in the Book of Revelation (London:SPCK, 1979), pp. 20–42; J. R. Michaels, Interpreting the Book of Revelation (GNTE, 7;Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1992), pp. 35–42; S. J. Friesen, ‘Revelation, Realia,and Religion: Archaeology in the Interpretation of the Apocalypse’, HTR 88 (1995),pp. 291–314. My assumptions will be made explicit below, pp. 51–60.

14 S. E. Johnson, ‘Asia Minor and Early Christianity’, in J. Neusner (ed.), Christianity, Judaism and Other Greco-Roman Cults. Part Two: Early Christianity (Studies in Judaismin Late Antiquity; Leiden: Brill, 1975), pp. 77–145; D. Flusser, Judaism and the Origins of

Christianity (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1988); L. L. Thompson, The Book of Revelation: Apocalypse and Empire (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990); P. Trebilco, JewishCommunities in Asia Minor (SNTSMS, 69; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991);L. L. Thompson, ‘Mooring the Revelation in the Mediterranean’, in E. H. Lovering Jr (ed.),SBL Seminar Papers 1992 (Atlanta: Scholar’s Press, 1992), pp. 635–53; P. Borgen, EarlyChristianity and Hellenistic Judaism (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1996); R. Garrison, TheGraeco-Roman Context of Early Christian Literature (JSNTSup, 137; Sheffield: SheffieldAcademic Press, 1997).

15 On the location of Revelation in the first-century literary environment see D. E. Aune,The New Testament in its Literary Environment (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1987),

pp. 226–52. On the relationship with the OT see G. K. Beale, John’s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation (JSNTSup, 166; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1998); J.Cambier, ‘Les Images de l’Ancien Testament dans l’Apocalypse de saint Jean’, NRT 77(1955), pp. 113–22; A. Vanhoye, ‘L’Utilisation du livre d’Ezéchiel dans l’Apocalypse’, Bib43 (1962), pp. 436–76; A. Lancellotti, ‘L’Antico Testamento nell’ Apocalisse’, RivB 14(1966), pp. 369–84; G. K. Beale, ‘Revelation’, in D. A. Carson and H. G. M. Williamson(eds.), It is Written: Scripture Citing Scripture. Essays in Honour of Barnabas Lindars, SSF (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), pp. 318–36; J. Paulien, Decoding Reve-lation’s Trumpets: Literary Allusions and the Interpretation of Revelation 8:7–12 (AUS-DDS, 11; Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 1988); J.-P. Ruiz, Ezekiel in the


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also be given to the influence of later Palestinian Judaism and the traditions

stemming from (or reflected by) Qumran.16 Despite its heavy reliance on

Jewish traditions, the Apocalypse as it stands is unmistakably a Christian

document, and the connections it displays to the traditions, both textualand liturgical, of early Christianity have understandably attracted signif-

icant attention.17

Another world-view which contributes to the relevance of the Apoc-

alypse in its original context is that of Jewish and Christian apocalyp-

tic. Revived interest in apocalyptic literature and the communities that

produced it has had a vast and growing literary output.18 A significant

Apocalypse: The Transformation of Prophetic Language in Revelation 16, 17–19, 10(EUS23, 376; Frankfurt-on-Main: Peter Lang, 1989); J. Fekkes, Isaiah and Prophetic Tra-ditions in the Book of Revelation: Visionary Antecedents and their Development (JSNTSup,93; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1994); S. Moyise, The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation(JSNTSup, 115; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1995).

16 For the background in Palestinian Judaism see M. McNamara, The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch (AnBib, 27; Rome: Pontifical Biblical Institute,1966); M. McNamara, Palestinian Judaism and the New Testament (GNS; Dublin: Veritas,1983); P. Trudinger, ‘The Apocalypse and the Palestinian Targum’, BTB 16 (1986), pp.78–9. For Qumran see H. Braun, Qumran und das Neue Testament , vol. I (Tübingen: J.

C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 1966); F. Garcı́a Martı́nez, Qumran and Apocalyptic: Studieson the Aramaic Text from Qumran (STDJ, 9; Leiden: Brill, 1992); M. Chyutin, The New

Jerusalem Scroll from Qumran: A Comprehensive Reconstruction (JSPSup, 25; Sheffield:Sheffield Academic Press, 1997); D. E. Aune, ‘Qumran and the Book of Revelation’, in P. W.Flint and J. C. Vanderkam (eds.), The Dead Sea Scrolls after Fifty Years: A Comprehensive

Assessment , vol. II (Leiden: Brill, 1999), pp. 622–50.17 L. A. Vos, The Synoptic Traditions in the Apocalypse (Kampen: J. H. Kok, 1965); R.

J. McKelvey, The New Temple: The Church in the New Testament (OTM; Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press, 1969); A. A. Trites, The New Testament Concept of Witness (SNTSMS,31; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977); G. K. Beale, ‘The Use of Daniel in the

Synoptic Eschatological Discourse and in the Book of Revelation’, in D. Wenham (ed.),The Jesus Tradition Outside the Gospels (Gospel Perspectives, 5; Sheffield: JSOT Press,1984), pp. 129–53; A.-M. Enroth, ‘The Hearing Formula in the Book of Revelation’, NTS 36 (1990), pp. 598–608; M. E. Boring, The Continuing Voice of Jesus: Christian Prophecyand the Gospel Tradition (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1991); R. Bauckham, TheClimax of Prophecy: Studies in the Book of Revelation (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1993), pp.92–117; S. S. Smalley, Thunder and Love: John’s Revelation and John’s Community (MiltonKeynes: Word, 1994). Studies which trace the dependence of, for example, Revelation 4–5on early Christian liturgy include L. Mowry, ‘Revelation 4–5 and Early Christian LiturgicalUsage’, JBL 71 (1952), pp. 75–84; P. Prigent, Apocalypse et liturgie (CT, 52; Neuchatel:

Editions Delachaux et Niestlé, 1964); J.-P. Ruiz, ‘Revelation 4:8–11; 5:9–14: Hymns of theHeavenly Liturgy’, in E. H. Lovering Jr (ed.), SBL Seminar Papers 1995 (Atlanta: ScholarsPress, 1995), pp. 216–20. On supposed liturgical usage of the text of Revelation see U.Vanni, ‘Un esempio di dialogo liturgico in Ap 1, 4–8’, Bib 57 (1976), pp. 453–67; U.Vanni, ‘Liturgical Dialogue as a Literary Form in the Book of Revelation’, NTS 37 (1991),pp. 348–72; J.-P. Ruiz, ‘Betwixt and Between on the Lord’s Day: Liturgy and the Apoca-lypse’, in E. H. Lovering Jr (ed.), SBL Seminar Papers 1992 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1992),pp. 654–72.

18 See J. H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha, vol. I, Apocalyptic Lit-erature and Testaments (New York: Doubleday, 1983); J. J. Collins and J. H. Charlesworth


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outcome of this research for the present study has been the extension of

the definition of apocalyptic literature from a primarily formal one, to

include a statement about its function.19 The close relationship which has

emerged between form and function is illustrated by Aune’s definition of the function of an apocalypse:

Function: (a) to legitimate the transcendent authorization of the

message, (b) by mediating a new actualization of the original

revelatory experience through literary devices, structures and

imagery, which function to ‘conceal’ the message which the

text ‘reveals’, so that (c) the recipients of the message will be

encouraged to modify their cognitive and behavioral stance inconformity with transcendent perspectives.20

The applicability of this description to the book of Revelation may

be thought to hinge on the precise relationship of the book to the genre

(eds.), Mysteries and Revelations: Apocalyptic Studies since the Uppsala Colloquium (JSP-Sup, 9; Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1991); J. J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Intro-

duction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2nd edn, 1998); Cook,Prophecy and Apocalypticism; Hanson (ed.), Visionaries and their Apocalypses; H. H.Rowley, The Relevance of Apocalyptic: A Study of Jewish and Christian Apocalypses from

Daniel to the Revelation (London: Lutterworth Press, revised edn, 1963); D. S. Russell,The Method and Message of Jewish Apocalyptic (London: SCM Press, 1964); P. Vielhauer,‘Apocalyptic’, in E. Henneke (ed.), New Testament Apocrypha (London: Lutterworth Press,1965), pp. 587–94; K. Koch, The Rediscovery of Apocalyptic (SBT2, 22; London: SCMPress, 1972); P. D. Hanson, The Dawn of Apocalyptic: The Historical and Sociological

Roots of Jewish Apocalyptic Eschatology (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1975); D. Hellholm(ed.), Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East: Proceedings of the

International Colloquium on Apocalypticism, Uppsala, August 12–17, 1979 (Tübingen:J. C. B. Mohr (Paul Siebeck), 2nd edn, 1979); J. Lambrecht (ed.), L’Apocalypse johan-nique et l’Apocalyptique dans le Nouveau Testament (BETL, 53; Gembloux: J. Duculot,1980), J. C. VanderKam, Enoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic Tradition (CBQMS, 16;Washington: Catholic Biblical Association, 1984); H. S. Kvanvig, Roots of Apocalyptic:The Mesopotamian Background of the Enoch Figure and of the Son of Man (WMANT,61; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1988); P. Sacchi, Jewish Apocalyptic and its

History (JSPSup, 20; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1990); D. S. Russell, Prophecyand the Apocalyptic Dream: Protest and Promise (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994); J. C.VanderKam and W. Adler (eds.), The Jewish Apocalyptic Heritage in Early Christianity

(CRINT, 4; Assen: Van Gorcum, 1996).19 See the two issues of Semeia which focus on apocalyptic, J. J. Collins (ed.), Apoc-alypse: Morphology of a Genre (Semeia, 14; Missoula: Scholars Press, 1979), and A.Yarbro Collins (ed.), Early Christian Apocalypticism: Genre and Social Setting (Semeia,36; Decatur, GA: Scholars Press, 1986). The earlier formal definition is found in J. J. Collins,‘Introduction: Towards the Morphology of a Genre’, Semeia 14 (1979), p. 9.

20 D. E. Aune, ‘The Apocalypse of John and the Problem of Genre’, Semeia 36 (1986),p. 87. See also D. Hellholm, ‘The Problem of Apocalyptic Genre and the Apocalypse of John’, Semeia 36 (1986), pp. 13–64, and the evaluation by A. Yarbro Collins, ‘Introduction:Early Christian Apocalypticism’, Semeia 36 (1986), pp. 1–12.


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‘Apocalypse’.21 But this is to assume an understanding of genre which is

too deterministic, especially for a book which appears to claim member-

ship of three genres – apocalypse, prophecy, and letter.22 More helpful is

Schüssler Fiorenza’s pragmatic approach, speaking of the ‘generic tenor’of the book in a way that allows exploration of the contribution of elements

of each generic type to the function of the book.23 A number of studies,

reflecting this functional approach to apocalyptic genre but drawing also

on social-scientific methodology and on the study of ancient rhetorical

strategies, have attempted to explain how the Apocalypse might have

transformed the world-view and thus altered the behaviour patterns of its

audience.24

21 On the genre of Revelation see D. E. Aune, Revelation 1–5 (WBC, 52a; Dallas: Word,1997), pp. lxx–xc; G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (NIGTC; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,1999), pp. 37–43; R. Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation (Cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 1993), pp. 1–17; B. J. Malina, On the Genre and Messageof Revelation: Star Visions and Sky Journeys (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1995); F. D. Maz-zaferri, The Genre of the Book of Revelation from a Source-critical Perspective (BZNW,54; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1989); Thompson, Apocalypse and Empire, pp. 18–24. Stud-ies on apocalyptic genre with relationship to the Apocalypse include L. Hartman, ‘Formand Message: A Preliminary Discussion of “Partial Texts” in Rev 1–3 and 22, 6ff.’, in

Lambrecht, L’Apocalypse johannique, pp. 129–49; W. W. Vorster, ‘ “Genre” and the Rev-elation of John: A Study in Text, Context and Intertext’, Neot 22 (1988), pp. 103–23; J. J.Collins, ‘The Genre Apocalypse in Hellenistic Judaism’, in Hellholm, Apocalypticism inthe Mediterranean World , pp. 531–48; E. Schüssler Fiorenza, ‘The Phenomenon of EarlyChristian Apocalyptic: Some Reflections on Method’, in Hellholm, Apocalypticism in the

Mediterranean World , pp. 295–316; R. E. Sturm, ‘Defining the Word “Apocalyptic”: AProblem in Biblical Criticism’, in J. Marcus and M. L. Soards (eds.), Apocalyptic and the New Testament: Essays in Honour of J. Louis Martyn (JSNTSup, 24; Sheffield: JSOTPress, 1989), pp. 17–48; D. E. Aune, ‘Intertextuality and the Genre of the Apocalypse’,in E. H. Lovering Jr (ed.), SBL Seminar Papers 1991 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991), pp.

142–60; G. Linton, ‘Reading the Apocalypse as an Apocalypse’, in E. H. Lovering Jr(ed.), SBL Seminar Papers 1991 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1991), pp. 161–86; J. J. Collins,‘The Christian Appropriation of the Apocalyptic Tradition’, in Seers, Sibyls and Sages in

Hellenistic-Roman Judaism (JSJSup, 54; Leiden: Brill, 1997), pp. 115–27.22 See Rev. 1:1–8. See Michaels, Interpreting, pp. 21–33; Beale, Revelation, pp. 37–43.

On the letter form of the Apocalypse see M. Karrer, Die Johannesoffenbarung als Brief (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1986).

23 Schüssler Fiorenza, Revelation, pp. 23–6.24 See Barr, ‘Symbolic Transformation’; D. L. Barr, ‘The Apocalypse of John as Oral

Enactment’, Int 40 (1986), pp. 243–56. Social-science approaches undergird Yarbro Collins,

Crisis and Catharsis; Thompson, Apocalypse and Empire; J. N. Kraybill, Imperial Cult and Commerce in John’s Apocalypse (JSNTSup, 132; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,1996); T. B. Slater, Christ and Community: A Socio-Historical Study of the Christology of

Revelation (JSNTSup, 178; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1999). Rhetorical strategyplays an important part in the approach of Schüssler Fiorenza, Revelation; J. T. Kirby, ‘TheRhetorical Situations of Revelation 1–3’, NTS 34 (1988), pp. 197–207; D. E. Aune, ‘TheForm and Function of the Proclamations to the Seven Churches (Revelation 2–3)’, NTS 36 (1990), pp. 182–204; R. M. Royalty Jr, ‘The Rhetoric of Revelation’, in SBL Seminar Papers 1997 (Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997), pp. 596–617; D. A. deSilva, ‘Honor Discourseand the Rhetorical Strategy of the Apocalypse of John’, JSNT 71 (1998), pp. 79–110.


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Yet for all this interest in the function of the Apocalypse, there is

surprisingly little written about the way in which the vision narratives,

particularly those that depict the people of God in some form or other,

interact with the audience’s self-understanding to motivate them towardsbelief and behaviour. In fact the visionary depictions of the people of God

themselves have received relatively little attention.25 Several important

studies must be noted, however, and their influence acknowledged. First,

Minear suggested that ‘John expressed a distinct hortatory intention in

at least eight different literary forms.’26 While explicit imperatives occur

mainly in the messages of chs. 2–3, the later visions contribute signifi-

cantly to several of the other forms.27 This study will have occasion to

explore how some of these work in greater detail. Trites’ The New Tes-tament Concept of Witness included a helpful chapter on ‘witness’ in the

book of Revelation.28 Trites emphasizes the forensic aspect of witness,

and the importance of this to the audience’s potential conflict with state

or civic law, but also presents a perceptive study on the two witnesses

in Revelation 11, and their importance to the audience’s understanding

of their responsibilities.29 Sweet also focusses on the idea of witness,

but emphasizes its inevitable outcome in suffering for the witnesses, and

the identification that this entails between them and their Lord. Further,

he interprets the victory of God’s people as a victory through suffering

and sacrifice.30 Schüssler Fiorenza and Aune have both published studies

which take as their starting point the 144,000 followers of the Lamb in

Rev. 14:1–5.31 But while Schüssler Fiorenza uses this as a springboard

25 J. L. Resseguie, Revelation Unsealed: A Narrative Critical Approach to John’s Apoca-

lypse (Biblical Interpretation Series, 32; Leiden: Brill, 1998) does not even list them amongthe main characters. John uses many terms to refer to God’s people – slaves of God, saints,witnesses, churches, prophets, and other descriptive phrases. Although with a posses-sive pronoun referring to God occurs only twice (18:4; 21:3), I shall use the phrase ‘peopleof God’ throughout this study as a conveniently inclusive expression.

26 P. S. Minear, I Saw a New Earth: An Introduction to the Visions of the Apocalypse(Washington: Corpus Books, 1968), p. 214.

27 Minear’s list, in brief, consists of phrases, beatitudes, conditional clauses,hortatory subjunctives, ‘he who conquers’ phrases, vice and virtue, lists and explicit imper-atives (ibid., pp. 214–223).

28

Trites, Witness, pp. 154–74. 29

See pp. 160–4 below.30 J. P. M. Sweet, ‘Maintaining the Testimony of Jesus: The Suffering of Christians inthe Revelation of John’, in W. Horbury and B. McNeil (eds.), Suffering and Martyrdom inthe New Testament: Studies Presented to G. M. Styler by the Cambridge New Testament Seminar (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), pp. 101–17. The results of thisseminal study will be seen to be largely borne out by my thematic investigations below.

31 E. Schüssler Fiorenza, ‘The Followers of the Lamb: Visionary Rhetoric and Socio-Political Situation’, Semeia 36 (1986), pp. 123–46; D. E. Aune, ‘Following the Lamb:Discipleship in the Apocalypse’, in R. N. Longenecker (ed.), Patterns of Discipleship inthe New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), pp. 269–84.


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for discussion of John’s rhetorical strategy, Aune focusses on the nature

of the discipleship to which John is urging his audience, with emphasis

on following Jesus through suffering, and discipleship as an expression

of sacrifice. A significant influence on Aune’s approach is Bauckham’streatment of the 144,000 as a messianic army.32 Bauckham’s work not

only identifies an extended military metaphor in the visions, but links

these visions to the theme of messianic fulfilment and highlights the

fact that the only warfare which this army engages in is ‘ironic warfare’

through its experience of suffering, and its victory is a victory through

death. The links between the Messiah and his people are further devel-

oped in a recent christological study, Slater’s Christ and Community.

Slater examines three primary christological images, the son of man, theLamb, and the Divine Warrior, and concludes each section with a dis-

cussion of the meaning of these images for the community to which the

book is addressed. This study is important for what it affirms about the

significance of the christology of Revelation for the people of God, and in

particular the relationship of the presentation of Christ as son of man with

the messages to the seven churches. But apart from this, and precisely

because his is a study of christology, he does not deal directly with the

ecclesiology of the book or with the images of the people of God in the

visionary accounts.33

1.3 Aims and scope of this study

Adela Yarbro Collins concluded a survey of twentieth-century interpreta-

tions of the Apocalypse with these words: ‘Revelation . . . provides a story

in and through which the people of God discover who they are and whatthey are to do.’34 My study aims to elucidate this process of discovery on

both fronts, identity and action.

The Apocalypse, however, is not one story but a nesting of embed-

ded stories. Kirby distinguishes three rhetorical situations involved in the

book, namely the communication situations between John and his readers,

32

Bauckham, Climax , pp. 210–37.33 See Slater, Christ and Community, pp. 116–53. Apart from Slater, the most significantlinks between christology and ecclesiology have been made by Bauckham in the studiesdiscussed here and in his Theology, pp. 66–108. A recent addition to works discussing thedepiction of the people of God is G. Stevenson, Power and Place: Temple and Identity inthe Book of Revelation (BZNW, 107; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2001), who also providesdetailed background to the significance of temple imagery in Jewish and Greco-Romancontexts.

34 A. Yarbro Collins, ‘Reading the Book of Revelation in the Twentieth Century’, Int 40(1986), p. 242.


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between Jesus and John, and between Jesus and the churches.35 But

this still does not adequately cover the difference in rhetorical situation

between, say, chs. 1–3 and chs. 4–22. Barr moves the discussion further

by distinguishing ‘three basic narrative levels, each with its own narra-tor and narratee’.36 On the outer level, the reader of the Apocalypse is

the narrator and his audience the narratee, whom Barr links most closely

with the implied audience. On the second level, John narrates his visions

to a narratee ‘named as the seven churches’.37 On the innermost level,

characters within John’s narrative themselves narrate to other characters.

Although technically distinct, from a pragmatic perspective Barr’s narra-

tees on the first and second levels are hard to separate from each other or

from the implied audience, since they share the same social location.We shall assume in this study that they represent real Christians in real

first-century churches in Asia Minor. Characters on the innermost level,

narrators and narratees, are elements of a vision, and it will be part of our

task to identify which of these are representing the people of God. Within

this framework, we shall seek to answer the following questions. How

do the narratees on Barr’s first and second levels relate to the characters

which depict the people of God on the innermost level, whether narrators

or narratees? Do the stories in which these characters participate reflect the

actual situation of the audience, or some hypothetical situation, whether

idealized or future? How does the depiction of the people of God in

the visions contribute to the self-understanding of the audience? And

finally, in what directions does it move them? What are the cognitive

and behavioural outcomes to which the narrative seeks to lead them? The

issue, then, is not the relationship of the first and second level narratees to a

real audience, about which we have virtually no independent knowledge.Rather, assuming that these narratees correspond in general (and perhaps

specific) social location to the real audience, how do the vision narratives,

in particular those described in Rev. 4:1–22:9, aid their discovery of ‘who

they are and what they are to do’?

The methodology distinctive of this study will be the use of Relevance

Theory (RT) to investigate these questions. To my knowledge, among

writers on the Apocalypse, only Garrow shows the influence of Sperber

and Wilson’s cognitive approach.38 The intention is not to put forward

RT as a stand-alone alternative to existing hermeneutical strategies, but

to use insights from it to sharpen the interpretive focus. The extensive

35 Kirby, ‘Rhetorical Situations’, pp. 198–9.36 Barr, ‘Ethical Reading’, p. 372. 37 Ibid.38 A. J. P. Garrow, Revelation (New Testament Readings; London: Routledge, 1997).

See especially the summary of his approach, p. 2.


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commentaries of Aune and Beale provide an invaluable mass of data,

background information, and bibliographical leads with which to work.39

But the very volume of information in these commentaries also highlights

the need for a discriminatory hermeneutic criterion by which to evaluatethe significance of proposed background information for the understand-

ing of the text. This study will show that Relevance Theory provides such

a criterion.

In Chapter 2, therefore, I summarize Relevance Theory as proposed

by Sperber and Wilson, and discuss its application to the interpretation

of texts. I then examine implications of RT for the study of biblical text

in general and the Apocalypse in particular, in interaction with other

pragmatic approaches including Speech Act Theory, and discussions of intertextuality. The chapter concludes with a definition of the relevance-

theoretic methodology to be used.

Chapter 3 discusses both the external and the internal context of the

book of Revelation. First, it provides a summary of the assumptions about

the historical, social, and literary context of the book which underlie the

subsequent work. And secondly, it summarizes the results of an analy-

sis of the discourse structure of the book from a Relevance-Theoretic

perspective.40 This analysis identifies three roles in which the people of

God are present in the Apocalypse, as addressees of the prophetic letter, as

audience of the vision narration, and as actors within the visionary drama.

Further, it locates each of these appearances in textual units defined by

relevance criteria, and relates these textual units hierarchically within the

overall structure of the book. Thus it locates the passages of greatest

interest within the vision narration of 4:1–22:9.

The ensuing three chapters contain the central exegetical treatment,tracing connected themes relating to the people of God as actors through

the vision narrative, and exploring their impact on the audience and

addressees. Chapter 4 begins with the first actual visionary depiction

of the people of God, as the souls of the slaughtered under the altar (Rev.

6:9–11), and follows themes relating to martyrdom through the book.

Chapter 5 traces what might be labelled militaristic depictions of the

39 Aune, Revelation 1–5; D. E. Aune, Revelation 6–16 (WBC, 52b; Dallas: Word, 1998);D. E. Aune, Revelation 17–22 (WBC, 52c; Dallas: Word, 1998); Beale, Revelation.

40 My doctoral dissertation, S. W. Pattemore, ‘The People of God in the Apocalypse:A Relevance-Theoretic Study’ (Unpublished Ph.D. thesis, Dunedin: University of Otago,2000), addressed both discourse-structural and exegetical issues. The structural studieshave been published as S. W. Pattemore, Souls under the Altar: Relevance Theory and the

Discourse Structure of Revelation (UBS Monograph Series, 9, New York: UBS, 2003),while the present volume contains the exegetical work. To avoid confusion with Chapter 4of the present volume, the UBS publication will be abbreviated as Discourse Structure.


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people of God, from Revelation 7 forwards. These turn out to paint, not a

triumphalistic picture, but one of victory through suffering after the pat-

tern of the Messiah. Chapter 6 briefly shows how the various threads are

woven together in the picture of the New Jerusalem. Finally, Chapter 7summarizes the results of the study and evaluates the part that Relevance

Theory has played in it.


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2

R E L E VA N C E T H E O R Y I N B I B L I C A L

I N T E R P R E T A T I O N

2.1 Introduction

How do humans communicate their thoughts to one another? An influ-

ential paradigm over several decades has been the code model, whereby

a sender encodes a thought in a linguistic message which is transmitted

by some medium to a receiver, who decodes the message to produce a

replication of the original thought.1 While this model may accurately rep-

resent some physical communication processes, it has at best only partial

success with the psychological dimensions of human communication. In

particular, it offers no adequate explanation for the importance of infer-ence at all levels (from simple gestures, through figures of speech such

as hyperbole and irony, all the way to complex symbolic representation

and institutional language), whereby what is communicated is something

other than what is encoded in the message. Relevance Theory (RT), as

developed by Sperber and Wilson, provides a rigorous, pragmatic account

of the process of communication, including especially the role of infer-

ence.2 In this chapter I shall summarize the theory, note some reactions

1 Since C. E. Shannon and W. Weaver, The Mathematical Theory of Communication(Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1949), especially pp. 5, 95–113. A modified versionof their diagram is presented by Sperber and Wilson, Relevance, pp. 4–5. For the remainder of this chapter, the latter work will be referred to simply as Relevance. Page referencesapply to both first and second editions, except for the Postface to the second edition (1995),pp. 255–79. References to this will be noted explicitly.

2 Pragmatics was defined by Charles W. Morris in 1938 as ‘the relations between signsand interpreters’, or later in 1946 as ‘that branch of semiotics which studies the origin,

the uses and the effects of signs’. See C. W. Morris, Writings on the General Theory of Signs (The Hague: Mouton, 1971), pp. 6, 365. Modern linguistic accounts of pragmaticsbegin here, but the precise definition is problematical. See the long discussion in S. C.Levinson, Pragmatics (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 1–35. My useof the term in this chapter assumes such working concepts as ‘language in use’ or ‘languagein context’ (see Levinson, Pragmatics, p. 32). Levinson clearly distinguishes this linguisticsense fromphilosophical pragmatism (p. 1). A finer, but no less critical, distinction is impliedby Thiselton’s critique of what he calls ‘socio-pragmatic hermeneutics’. See, for example,A. Thiselton, New Horizons in Hermeneutics: The Theory and Practice of Transforming

Biblical Reading (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992), pp. 6–7.

13


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to it, and then discuss its application to the interpretation of literary texts,

with particular focus on its implications for understanding the Bible. This

will lead to a summary of how RT might be used to investigate the Apoc-

alypse.

2.2 Relevance Theory

Background

Sperber and Wilson, while acknowledging that encoding and decoding

take place in communication, hold that these processes are inadequate to

explain how communication works, unless supplemented by, or subordi-nated to, a process of implication and inference:

[T]he linguistic meaning of an uttered sentence falls short of

encoding what the speaker means: it merely helps the audience

infer what she means. The output of decoding is correctly treated

by the audience as a piece of evidence about the communica-

tor’s intentions. In other words, a coding–decoding process is

subservient to a Gricean inferential process.3

RT is grounded on the inferential theory of H. P. Grice, who proposed

a ‘principle of co-operation in conversation’: ‘Make your conversation

contribution such as is required, at the stage at which it occurs, by the

accepted purpose of direction of the talk exchange in which you are

engaged.’4 This he filled out with nine maxims setting guidelines for

quantity, quality, relevance, and manner of a conversational contribution.

The importance of Grice’s work is not that the various maxims provide

rules or codes for successful communication but that they describe how

communication creates the conditions for its own success. ‘Grice put

forward an idea of fundamental importance: that the very act of commu-

nicating creates expectations which it then exploits.’5

Successful communication depends on shared information, but what

is the nature of this shared information? Rejecting ideas of ‘mutual

knowledge’ and ‘shared knowledge’ as either empirically or conceptually

3 Relevance, p. 27. Note the convention of assuming a female speaker/author and malelistener/reader.

4 H. P. Grice, ‘Logic and Conversation’, in H. P. Grice (ed.), Studies in the Ways of Words(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1989), p. 26. The quotation is from a reprintof his 1975 paper, ‘Logic and Conversation’.

5 Relevance, p. 37.


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Relevance Theory in biblical interpretation 15

deficient, Sperber and Wilson fix on the concept of manifestness and use

it to define a cognitive environment :

A fact is manifest to an individual at a given time if and only if

he is capable at that time of representing it mentally and accept-ing its representation as true or probably true . . . A cognitive

environment of an individual is a set of facts that are manifest to

him . . . [Which assumptions are more manifest to an individual

during a given period or at a given moment is again a function

of his physical environment on the one hand and his cognitive

abilities on the other.]6

Two or more people can share a cognitive environment. This does notimply that they do make the same assumptions but that they can do so.

Thisleadstotheideaofa mutual cognitive environment – one in which it is

manifest which people share it. ‘In a mutual cognitive environment every

manifest assumption is . . . mutually manifest .’7 This concept is consid-

erably weaker than ‘mutual knowledge’ and in addition cannot guarantee

that communicator and audience will make a symmetrical choice of con-

text and code to use in a communication situation. But Sperber and Wilsonassert that this asymmetry is inherent in communication anyway:

It is left to the communicator to make correct assumptions about

the codes and contextual information that the audience will have

accessible and be likely to use in the comprehension process.

The responsibility for avoiding misunderstandings also lies with

the speaker, so that all the hearer has to do is go ahead and use

whatever code and contextual information come most readily tohand.8

On this basis, communication is seen as the attempt to change the cog-

nitive environment of another person, and thus to enlarge the scope of

what is mutually manifest to both communicator and audience. Clearly no

audience can explore and classify all possible contextual implications of a

given utterance.9 There must be a selecting and limiting process. Informa-

tion which is totally new, with no connection to the audience’s existing

cognitive environment, will have no contextual implications.10 Neither

will old information. It is information that is new but has connections

6 Ibid., p. 39. 7 Ibid., p. 42. 8 Ibid., p. 43.9 A contextual implication is a conclusion derived from a combination of existing

assumptions and new information. It is formed by the interpretation of new propositionswithin a particular context. See ibid., pp. 107–8.

10 It may have its own logical implications.


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with the existing environment which will have the greatest contextual

effects (including negating, strengthening, extending, or enriching exist-

ing assumptions). This is relevant information in Sperber and Wilson’s

terminology.Before defining ‘relevance’ more precisely we should note a further

underlying concept, ostension. ‘Ostensive behaviour is behaviour which

makes manifest an intention to make something manifest.’11 This has

to do with the self-conscious nature of human communication. It not

only conveys information, but conveys the intention to convey informa-

tion. This allows for weaker or non-verbal communication as well as

communication by structured propositional language. Thus communica-

tion consists of two levels of intention: ‘ Informative intention: to makemanifest or more manifest to the audience a set of assumptions { I } . . .

Communicative intention: to make it mutually manifest to audience and

communicator that the communicator has this informative intention.’12

These ideas combine to give the following definition:

Ostensive-inferential communication: the communicator pro-

duces a stimulus which makes it mutually manifest to communi-

cator and audience that the communicator intends, by means of this stimulus, to make manifest or more manifest to the audience

a set of assumptions { I }.13

Relevance

Relevance, if it is to provide an account of human communication which

is not only descriptive but explanatory, must be defined in a quantifiableway. Different contextual effects and implications have to be able to be

judged more or less relevant. This does not require an absolute scale of

relevance, but a comparative one. For this purpose Sperber and Wilson

define ‘extent conditions’:

Extent condition 1: an assumption is relevant in a context to the

extent that its contextual effects in this context are large.

Extent condition 2: an assumption is relevant in a context to

the extent that the effort required to process it in this context is

small.14

11 Ibid., p. 49. 12 Ibid., pp. 58, 61.13 Ibid., p. 61. A similar idea was stated much earlier (1969) by Quentin Skinner, ‘Mean-

ing and Understanding in the History of Ideas’, in J. Tully (ed.), Meaning and Context:Quentin Skinner and his Critics (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1988), p. 63.

14 Relevance, p. 125.


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These two conditions illustrate the fundamental insight of Relevance

Theory – that human cognition takes place in a balancing act between pro-

cessing effort and contextual effect. Communication works because the

audience make the assumption that the communicator intends to commu-nicate and intends to be relevant. The audience do not need to determine

in advance the context within which to process a communication. Sperber

and Wilson suggest that the choice of an appropriate context continues

through the comprehension process and is governed by the search for

relevance. The immediate context in which an utterance occurs is only

a starting point, and the context for comprehension can be extended in

one or more different directions throughout the comprehension process.

These include short-term memory of earlier parts of the conversation(often referenced by anaphoric pronouns), encyclopaedic entries on par-

ticular words retrieved from memory, or features of the physical environ-

ment (often indicated by deictic pronouns). ‘These factors determine not

a single context but a range of possible contexts. What determines the

selection of a particular context . . . is . . . the search for relevance.’15 The

audience does not take a particular context as given and proceed to assess

the relevance of the communication. Instead relevance is taken as given

and a context selected to justify that assumption.

This leads Sperber and Wilson to enunciate what they call ‘the pre-

sumption of optimal relevance’, which, as modified in the second edition

of Relevance, states:

Presumption of optimal relevance (revised)

(a) The ostensive stimulus is relevant enough for it to be worth

the addressee’s effort to process it.

(b) The ostensive stimulus is the most relevant one compatible

with the communicator’s abilities and preferences.16

An audience understands a communication by bringing to it the most

accessible elements of the mutual cognitive environment and decid-

ing on the meaning that produces the best contextual effects for the

least processing effort. The communicator, knowing this, produces the

stimulus which will lead the receptor to his intended meaning. This

explanation is summarized by two principles of relevance.17 The ‘First

15 Ibid., pp. 141. See pp. 137–41 for the discussion.16 Sperber and Wilson, Relevance, 2nd edn, p. 270. Compare the original statement in

Relevance, p. 158. The modified statement allows that the actual relevance may not be theabsolute maximum, but may be influenced by the speaker’s aims, priorities, and abilities.

17 Relevance, 2nd edn, pp. 260–1. In the first edition, Relevance, p. 158, there was onlyone principle, the second of these. The first was an underlying assumption. The change is‘expository and not substantive’ (p. 271). By the ‘principle of relevance’ I normally intend

the second.


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(or Cognitive) Principle’ is the fundamental claim: ‘Human cognition

tends to be geared to the maximisation of relevance.’ The ‘Second (or

Communicative) Principle’ encapsulates the nature of ostensive commu-

nication: ‘Every act of ostensive communication communicates a pre-sumption of its own optimal relevance.’

Language usage

In order to show how the principle of relevance explains a range of human

language use, Sperber and Wilson first distinguish between the explicit

and implicit assumptions conveyed by an utterance. Explicit assump-

tions (explicatures) are only those that are a development of the logicalform encoded in the utterance – all others are implicit (implicatures).

The understanding of both implicit and explicit assumptions involves an

inferential process governed by the principle of relevance.

To understand the explicatures of an utterance it is necessary to identify

its propositional form. Relevance Theory accepts that often this will be

simply derived from its syntactic and semantic form. But the audience

may need to process this surface form in order to achieve relevance.Ambiguities must be resolved using contextual clues, pronouns must be

assigned referents, and the connotations of semantically incomplete items

must be enriched.

At every stage in disambiguation, reference assignment and

enrichment the hearer should choose the solution involving the

least effort, and should abandon this solution only if it fails

to yield an interpretation consistent with the principle of rele-vance.18

The search for relevance by a trade-off between contextual effects and

processing effort can also explain the way in which stylistic features

of an utterance affect the meaning. Sperber and Wilson examine such

features as word order and placement of focal stress, backgrounding and

foregrounding, and structural features such as topic–comment, given–

new, and focus–presupposition distinctions. They conclude:Given that utterances have constituent structure, internal order

and focal stress, and given that they are processed over time,

the most cost-efficient way of exploiting these structural fea-

tures will give rise to a variety of pragmatic effects. There is a

18 Relevance, p. 185.


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natural linkage between linguistic structure and pragmatic inter-

pretation, and no need for any special pragmatic conventions or

interpretation rules: the speaker merely adapts her utterance to

the way the hearer is going to process it anyhow, given the exist-ing structural and temporal constraints.19

Turning to implicatures, Sperber and Wilson make the hermeneutically

significant assertion that there is no sharp division between strong impli-

catures of an utterance which are clearly intended by the speaker and

weak implicatures for which the hearer ‘takes the entire responsibility’.

Clearly the weaker the implicatures the less confidence the

hearer can have that the particular premises or conclusions hesupplies will reflect the speaker’s thoughts and this is where

the indeterminacy lies. However, people may entertain differ-

ent thoughts and come to have different beliefs on the basis of

the same cognitive environment. The aim of communication in

general is to increase the mutuality of cognitive environments

rather than guarantee an impossible duplication of thoughts.20

This sliding scale of implicatures with corresponding movement of responsibility from speaker to hearer is interestingly illustrated by the

spectrum of contemporary hermeneutic strategies. But it should be noted

that it is only in the limiting cases that the hearer assumes full responsibil-

ity. Weak implicatures are significantly exploited by the communicator to

achieve, amongst other things, a wide range of poetic effects. This too is

a reflection of the principle of relevance, as a speaker can often achieve a

large degree of relevance ‘through a wide array of weak implicatures’.21

To analyse some of these poetic effects and to account for the pragmat-

ics of speech acts, Sperber and Wilson make a further important distinc-

tion: between descriptive and interpretive use of language. An utterance

is used descriptively if it ‘represent[s] some state of affairs in virtue of its

propositional form being true of that state of affairs’.22 It is used inter-

pretively if it represents some other utterance in virtue of a resemblance

between the propositional forms of the two utterances. Now every utter-

ance is already an interpretation of a thought of the speaker. This thoughtmay be either a description of an actual state of affairs or of a desirable

state of affairs, or an interpretation of an attributed thought or a desirable

thought (of the speaker or some other person). This schema, together with

the principle of relevance, is capable of explaining metaphor, irony, and

the whole range of speech acts.

19 Ibid., p. 217. 20 Ibid., pp. 199–200. 21 Ibid., p. 222. 22 Ibid., p. 228.


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Metaphor is towards the end of a sliding scale of language use which

begins with ‘literal use’ and proceeds through various degrees of ‘loose’

uses. Most utterances have some degree of looseness, and ‘the hearer

should take an utterance as fully literal only when nothing less than fullliterality will confirm the presence of relevance . . . the element of indi-

rectness in an utterance must be offset by some increase in contextual

effects’.23 Not only metaphors, but also a wide range of related figures of

speech, are interpreted by a hearer on the basis of the search for optimal

relevance.

Irony is similarly treated, not as a special case but as an example of

echoic utterance – a re-expression of another thought or utterance with

the expression of an attitude (of disapproval or ridicule) towards it. Onceagain the linguistic and extra-linguistic contexts provide the clues in the

search for relevance.24

Sperber and Wilson accept the usefulness of Speech Act Theory as a

descriptive tool, but argue against the necessity for any special explanatory

framework for the operation of speech acts. Speech acts do not have to

be recognized as such in order to be effective, but ‘[a] speaker who wants

to achieve some particular effect should give whatever explicit cues are

needed to ensure that the interpretation consistent with the principle of

relevance is the one she intended to convey’.25

Reactions and development

Relevance Theory has proved to be a robust and seminal theory, as evi-

denced by the amount and diversity of continuing work based on it. While

it has from its introduction stirred lively debate within the linguisticscommunity, it stands as the most significant development since Grice

in understanding the pragmatics of human communication.26 The fun-

damental insights from RT have been applied and developed in areas

23 Ibid., p. 234. Similarly G. Lakoff and M. Johnson, Metaphors we Live by (Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1980), pp. 166–9, argued that the process of understanding even

a simple sentence as true shows the importance of inference and contextual assumptions,even when the only metaphors are institutionalized or dead ones.

24 For developments in the RT treatment of irony see D. Wilson and D. Sperber, ‘OnVerbal Irony’, Lingua 87 (1992), pp. 53–76, and contributions to the ‘Symposium on Irony’included in R. Carston and S. Uchida (eds.), Relevance Theory: Applications and Implica-tions (PBNS, 37; Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1998), pp. 239–95.

25 Relevance, p. 249.26 A convenient summary of the theory, followed by an ‘Open Peer Commentary’, which

contains a range of responses, positive and negative, can be found in D. Sperber and D.Wilson, ‘Précis of Relevance: Cognition and Context’, BBS 10 (1987), pp. 697–754.


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as diverse as anthropology, psychology, pragmatics, stylistics, discourse

structure, computer modelling, literary interpretation, and translation.27

But of greatest significance for the application of the theory to the

interpretation of biblical texts is the continuing work in the areas of prag-matics, literary style, discourse structure, and translation.28 The second

edition of Relevance, as well as revising the way in which some of the

main propositions are expressed, also contains extensive bibliographic

notes and references, charting the reactions to and developments arising

from the original publication of the theory.29 Apart from conventional

bibliographic sources on relevance, note should be made of several rep-

utable world-wide web sites which maintain up-to-date information on

RT and papers available for download.30Several areas touched on by Sperber and Wilson in the course of their

treatment of relevance would seem to offer potentially important insights

into the study of biblical texts. The first arises from the fact that contempo-

rary study of the biblical text takes place in an interlingual environment.

Scholars working in the original languages are nevertheless bringing their

understanding into their own language environment. Thus consideration

of interlingual interpretive usage and translation are of significance. But

this issue is part of a wider question, the applicability of RT to the interpre-

tation (whether inter- or intralingual) of literary texts, which has engen-

dered considerable debate. Section 2.3 will seek to address this question,

27 Linguistic applications include several contributions in F. J. Newmeyer (ed.), Lin-guistics: The Cambridge Survey (4 vols., Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988):R. M. Kempson, ‘Grammar and Conversational Principles’, in vol. II, pp. 139–63; R.

Carston, ‘Language and Cognition’, in vol. III, pp. 38–68; D. Blakemore, ‘Organisationof Discourse’, in vol. IV, pp. 229–50. Note also D. Blakemore, Understanding Utterances(Oxford: Blackwell, 1992); V. Rouchota and A. H. Jucker (eds.), Current Issues in RelevanceTheory (PBNS, 58; Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 1998).

28 Literary interpretation will be the focus of section 2.3, pp. 22–31, and discourseanalysis will be treated in section 3.3, pp. 60–7. Note the recent collection of papers relatingto applications of RT, Carston and Uchida, Relevance Theory p. 22. This contains a usefulglossary of RT terms (pp. 295–9). There are also valuable surveys of the developments andapplications of RT, with extensive bibliographies, in the introduction to a special issue of the journal Lingua, N. Smith and D. Wilson, ‘Introduction’, Lingua 87 (1992), pp. 1–10,

and in F. Yus, ‘A Decade of Relevance Theory’, JPrag 30 (1998), pp. 305–45.29 Sperber and Wilson, Relevance, 2nd edn, pp. 255–60, 295–8. See also the discussionof the changes made to the presentation, in I. Higashimori and D. Wilson, ‘Questions onRelevance’, UCLWPL 8 (1996), pp. 111–24.

30 Relevance Home Page, UCL (http://www.phon.ucl.ac.uk/home/robyn/relevance/ home.htm); Department of English, University of Alicante, Spain (http://www.ua.es/ dfing/rt.htm); Department of Foreign Languages, Guangxi Normal University, Guilin, China(http://www.gxnu.edu.cn/personal/szliu/RT cognitprag.html); Dan Sperber’s home page(http://www.dan.sperber.com/); and a site for academic publications on cognitive sciences(http://cogprints.soton.ac.uk/).


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examining ways in which RT has been applied to literary interpretation,

and the objections raised, before drawing some conclusions about the

benefits of and constraints on the use of RT in literary interpretation. Sec-

tion 2.4 will bring the discussion closer to our focal text, by examiningsome of the implications of RT for study of biblical documents. Then

there are significant links between structure and pragmatic effects of a

text. This implies that discourse analysis of any text should be done with

respect to the principle of relevance. This issue will be further discussed

in Chapter 3, section 3.3.

2.3 Relevance and literary interpretation

Preliminary considerations

Relevance Theory claims not so much to be a ‘better theory’ for the

understanding of human cognition as to provide the underlying pathway

for all theories. The search for relevance is thus a criterion at all levels of

language analysis including the interpretation of literary texts.

Sperber and Wilson developed RT largely with reference to short utter-

ances of spoken language, in face-to-face contexts, and their sponta-

neous interpretation. Our interests are in the study and interpretation of

(ancient) texts, extended written documents. The use of RT on such mate-

rial involves a leap in scale, medium, and communication situation and

raises questions of the validity of relevance in this new environment. A

few quotations illustrate the fact that the authors of the theory saw no

intrinsic problem with making this leap:

When communication is non-reciprocal, there are various pos-

sible situations . . . The communicator may be in a position of

such authority over her audience that success of her informative

intention is mutually manifest in advance. Journalists, profes-

sors, religious or political leaders assume, alas often on good

grounds, that what they communicate automatically becomes

mutually manifest.31

We assume . . . that the lengthy and highly self-conscious pro-

cesses of textual interpretation that religious or literary scholars

engage in are governed just as much by the principle of relevance

as is spontaneous utterance comprehension.32

The addressees of an act of ostensive communication are the

individuals whose cognitive environment the communicator is

31 Relevance, p. 61. 32 Ibid., p. 75.


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trying to modify . . . they may be individuals falling under a

certain description, as when we address the present paragraph to

all individuals who have read the book so far and found it relevant

to them. In broadcast communication, a stimulus can even beaddressed to whoever finds it relevant. The communicator is

then communicating her presumption of relevance to whoever

is willing to entertain it.33

The change in scale would appear to present no intrinsic obstacle to the

applicability of RT given the power of human cognition to grasp and con-

duct a sustained argument. Nor is the change to text as medium a problem –

the main implication is that the text itself becomes the most accessiblecontext (or concentric set of contexts) within which the search for rele-

vance takes place. It is the change to a communication situation that is

non-immediate and non-reciprocal which presents the greatest challenge

to the relevance of relevance. It is suggested by some that literary texts

are in some way different from other modes of communication, in such

a way that relevance no longer applies or is no longer a useful concept in

interpreting them.34 In particular it is alleged that RT tends to indulge the

‘intentional fallacy’.35 These are issues of central importance which weshall continue to address over the following paragraphs, but there are at

least three valid lines of approach. First, intentionality is a presumption

made before interpreting any communication and is consistently used

in the ‘trivial’ pursuit of comprehension, by disambiguation, reference

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