Essential Features of Apocalyptic



A word should be said about the essential features of apocalyptic. In the previous discussion [see under Apocalyptic Defined], it has been pointed out that scholars differ on what constitutes the true characteristics of this particular genre and what does not. Hanson's quotation (viz. "apocalyptic eschatology" under the link above) is clear evidence of that. So the questions buzz around the issue asking whether it is a genre, a mood, a social movement, an ideology, or a combination of any and all therein. The current investigation will not attempt to resolve such a complex issue. Rather, it will adopt as a template, the basic elements of the first verse of the only book in the New Testament that is acknowledged as an apocalypse. Revelation 1:1-3, according to the New International Version, reads:

There are five basic elements in this verse that may serve as a useful template for surveying the apocalyptic literature. The first is the idea of a revelation. The Greek word in Revelation 1:1 is apokalypsis, without the definite article. So the final book of the New Testament is a revelation of Jesus Christ. The second is the element of agency or the medium through which the revelation comes. This medium is not simply the personal agent (e.g.. an angel or a human), but also the communicative vehicle through which the message comes (e.g. signs and symbols). In the above passage, both the personal agency and the communicative vehicle can be seen. The personal agency is clearly evident as the message is generated from the Father to the Son to His angel to John and ultimately to John's readers and listeners. The communicative vehicle is more subtle, but still evident. John "bore witness" to "everything [hosa] he saw." The contents of the book demonstrate that one of the primary vehicles of communication was the visionary experience recorded by John through vehicles of expression sometimes very difficult to grasp.

The third and fourth elements are the temporal axis and the spatial axis upon which the revelation turns. These tandem axes necessarily include, respectively, both history ("what must soon take place" and "the time is near") and geography ("by sending his angel to... John"). This is only natural since the events of history unfold in time and space. Relatedly, a fifth element may be called relevance. Those events that take place in time and space have an impact upon the earth-dwellers. The apocalyptist is interested in relating those impending events to the life and culture of God's special people. For John, the revelation was designed specifically for Christ's "servants" - a term used eleven times in Revelation, each time with reference to God's elect people.1

The chart below illustrates these five features in the Similitudes of Enoch.



These features serve as the broad categories wherein the various literary phenomena found in much apocalyptic literature can be placed. In this way, it is not necessary to define apocalyptic genre by its descriptive literary employmments, but more by its structural features. This satisfies criticisms (such as Hanson's) that apocalyptic is too broadly defined and therefore is hopelessly elusive. By embracing the structural features only and by not elevating literary descriptions to the level of structure, there is room for much variety of content in this type of literature.

Notes

1 Alan F. Johnson, Revelation, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, vol. 12, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981): 417.

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This page is provided by Roger DePriest, M.A., Ph.D. student, as part of the "Apocalyptic and the New Testament" site project.