Editor’s Note: This annotated bibliography was created by Kendra Haloviak Valentine and is shared here with permission. Click on the titles for more information about each book.
I would strongly recommend the reading Michael Gorman’s “Reading Revelation
Responsibly: Uncivil Worship and Worship”.
Its premise calls for the worship of the Creator of the Universe as opposed to
worshiping Civil Empires or Religious Empires.
I believe it maintains its focus on the True Message of John to the churches of
his time, and to the Worshipers of God through the coming ages until the “I come
quickly” becomes a reality.
Thekey and assurance in Revelation is found in Chapters 4 and 5. The Lamb is the victor. With that victory one can read of principalities and powers of darkness without fear.
Amen, Tom.
That is why I took such vigorous issue with Sigve when he said, “John’s tears are not tears wept for himself — or about the future, or about assurance of salvation. They are tears of grief over God’s predicament,” as if John’s grief was not immediately assuaged by the words of the Elder about the Lamb being worthy.
The Lamb was slain before the foundation of the world.
There was no “predicament.”
I hoped, after the David Koresh disaster, that Adventists would be extremely careful about how they handled the Seven Seals.
While we’re reading all those books about the book of Revelation let’s remember to look at what the text actually says.
And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?.
And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;
—Revelation 5
I have my reasons to be hypervigilant about the Seven Seals.
The Gospel can disappear down a black hole precisely there.
We need to watch and pray that we don’t go wrong about the Seven Seals…AGAIN!
THE DAVID KORESH MANUSCRIPT: EXPOSITION OF THE SEVEN SEALSCopyright 1994 by Phillip Arnold and James Tabor
(Reunion Institute, PO Box 981111, Houston TX 77098).
I don’t believe we know the meaning of the Seven Seals, but we know Who prevailed to open them, and it wasn’t my friend David Koresh. (Though he did, in my opinion, possess spiritual insight, he took a terrible turn with it.)
Confusion can be a fruitful state.
Weep not.
Interestingly, the book The Great Controversy by Ellen G White is not listed.
Of making books there is no end; Ellen White’s understanding of the Seven Seals:
I have a deep sense that what Ellen White said here, quoted in Tuesday’s Sabbath School lesson, is profound beyond all we presently imagine:
I think what Ellen White (or whoever wrote that) intimated there shows understanding beyond that which could possibly be exegeted by scholars, if all their combined knowledge were compiled in one weighty tome.
In reality, what she was pointing at is
inexpressible—just as the 1888 Message remains inexpressible, I believe.
Fear God and Keep His Commandments
And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs.
The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.
The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd.
And further, by these, my son, be admonished: of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.
For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.
—Ecclesiastes
Elaine Pagels, author of Revelations is an American religious historian who writes on the Gnostic Gospels. She is the Harrington Spear Paine Professor of Religion at Princeton University.
Her take on the book of Revelations.
http://longnow.org/seminars/02012/aug/20/truth-about-book-revelations/
Namaste
The other revelations are universal, instead of being about the saved versus the damned.http://longnow.org/seminars/02012/aug/20/truth-about-book-revelations/
Ah yes, universal in the relative sense.
Relatively universal. 
War in heaven“The Book of Revelation is war literature,” Pagels explained.
http://longnow.org/seminars/02012/aug/20/truth-about-book-revelations/
The Bhagavad Gita comes to mind, in that regard.
War and Peace in the Bhagavad GitaHow did Indian tradition transform the Bhagavad Gita (the “Song of God”) into a bible for pacifism, when it began life, sometime between the third century BC and the third century CE, as an epic argument persuading a warrior to engage in a battle, indeed, a particularly brutal, lawless, internecine war?
It has taken a true gift for magic—or, if you prefer, religion, particularly the sort of religion in the thrall of politics that has inspired Hindu nationalism from the time of the British Raj to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi today.
The Gita (as it is generally known to its friends) occupies eighteen chapters of book 6 of the Mahabharata , an immense (over 100,000 couplets) Sanskrit epic.
The text is in the form of a conversation between the warrior Arjuna, who, on the eve of an apocalyptic battle, hesitates to kill his friends and family on the other side, and the incarnate god Krishna, who acts as Arjuna’s charioteer (a low-status job roughly equivalent to a bodyguard) and persuades him to do it.
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2014/12/04/war-and-peace-bhagavad-gita/
Maybe there is something else afoot…?
Just my opinion.
If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
—Jesus
Pagels on the Gita:
Reading the Bhagavad Gita , one might sometimes mistake it for a Gospel:
I am the Way, and the Master who watches in silence; thy friend and thy shelter and thy abode of peace. I am the beginning and the middle and the end of all things: their seed of Eternity, their Treasure supreme.
[9:18, Juan Mascaró translation, Penguin, 1962]
…
Revelation 22:
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the last, the beginning and the end.
I am wondering how Kendra decided on her list of Revelation commentaries.
Craig Koester’s Revelation and the End of All Things, is a good introductory read. He’s also authored the Anchor Bible Commentary volume on Revelation. Would like to pick that up, as well.
Thanks…
Frank
Super interesting…thanks for posting. What do you think about her POV?
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