Both the introduction and the prophecy are saturated with allusions to Hebrew Scripture, which has been applied typologically to the situation at the time the documents were composed. Knowing the Scripture involved is basic to understanding the message of the Book of Revelation. Buchanan shows the text of Revelation in one column and the relevant passages to Hebrew Scripture in a parallel column. He calls it ""redemption literature"" rather than ""apocalyptic"" and compares it to Jewish redemption literature composed during the period from the Bar Cochba Revolt to the end of the Crusades, and with redemption literature found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Haggai, Daniel, and some of the Psalms.
""Buchanan challenges many of the assumptions and conclusions about the so-called genre 'apocalyptic' and how, if at all, the Book of Revelation relates to it . . . offers so many new insights and so many fresh interpretations, it will gain much attention and should have a major influence on scholarship concerned with the Book of Revelation.""
Craig A. Evans, Trinity Western University
George Wesley Buchanan is Professor Emeritus of New Testament at Wesley Theological Seminary and an ordained minister of the United Methodist Church. In addition to receiving numerous research grants and research fellowships, he has published widely, including Jewish Messianic Movements from AD 70 to AD 1300 and The Book of Daniel.
