Difference between revisions of "Category:John of Patmos (subject)"
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==John of Patmos in Scholarship== | ==John of Patmos in Scholarship== | ||
In the ''New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible'' (s.v. 'Patmos'), Christopher Rowland writes | |||
''Patmos is the AEGEAN island where the visionary called John received and recorded his vision, the book of Revelation (Rev 1:9). Patmos was probably not the backwater that is often assumed, with local cults to Apollo and Artemis. The text does not allow us to know whether John was on the island voluntarily, impelled there by a divine impulse, or banished for his prophetic activity. In later legend he was banished there by the Roman emperor himself. John writes that he is on Patmos “because of the word.” This preposition construction is used elsewhere to indicate the outcome rather than the purpose of an action (e.g., Rev 2:3; 4:11), suggesting that John may have come here to hear the word rather than as the consequence of having preached the word. If, however, it is a consequence of his activity, it is most likely because some local official sent him as a result of his activities on the mainland. Patmos is the context for his trance experience (Rev 1:10), where, like Ezekiel in exile in Babylon (Ezek 1), John is enabled to understand divine mysteries about the future of the world and its political powers. | |||
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This sentiment prevails in much New Testament scholarship. Nevertheless, at this precise point opinions diverge with some taking John's words as addressing the contemporary situation while others see the book in its entirety as a 'prediction' of the future. In fairness, it must be noted that most NT scholars belong in the former camp with only a minority on the margins of scholarship adhering to the latter. | |||
A '''select bibliography''' of works on John of Patmos: | A '''select bibliography''' of works on John of Patmos: | ||
Revision as of 17:39, 29 November 2010
John of Patmos is the author of Revelation.
Overview
John of Patmos is traditionally identified with "the beloved disciple" of the Fourth Gospel and Jesus' disciple "John son of Zebedee". However, there is no reliable corroboration of these notions from extra-biblical sources and even the Bible itself never identifies either the 'beloved disciple' nor the author of the Fourth Gospel. The 'John' of Revelation also may, or may not be the son of Zebedee. Since our sources are not very specific about the patrimony of this author, suppositions concerning any putative connection to John son of Zebedee are speculative and nothing more. Therefore, it is unsafe to equate the author of Revelation with John the son of Zebedee, or the author of the Gospel of John or the Johannine epistles. More likely, it seems, is the belief that the Gospel and the Epistles and the Revelation all flow from a 'Johannine School' of theology. R. Alan Culpepepper is perhaps the best known representative of this line of thought.
John of Patmos in ancient sources
Revelation
Rev 1:1 -- The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John...
Rev 1:4 -- John to the seven churches that are in Asia:Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,
Rev 1:9 -- I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Rev 22:8 -- I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me...
John of Patmos in Scholarship
In the New Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible (s.v. 'Patmos'), Christopher Rowland writes
Patmos is the AEGEAN island where the visionary called John received and recorded his vision, the book of Revelation (Rev 1:9). Patmos was probably not the backwater that is often assumed, with local cults to Apollo and Artemis. The text does not allow us to know whether John was on the island voluntarily, impelled there by a divine impulse, or banished for his prophetic activity. In later legend he was banished there by the Roman emperor himself. John writes that he is on Patmos “because of the word.” This preposition construction is used elsewhere to indicate the outcome rather than the purpose of an action (e.g., Rev 2:3; 4:11), suggesting that John may have come here to hear the word rather than as the consequence of having preached the word. If, however, it is a consequence of his activity, it is most likely because some local official sent him as a result of his activities on the mainland. Patmos is the context for his trance experience (Rev 1:10), where, like Ezekiel in exile in Babylon (Ezek 1), John is enabled to understand divine mysteries about the future of the world and its political powers.
This sentiment prevails in much New Testament scholarship. Nevertheless, at this precise point opinions diverge with some taking John's words as addressing the contemporary situation while others see the book in its entirety as a 'prediction' of the future. In fairness, it must be noted that most NT scholars belong in the former camp with only a minority on the margins of scholarship adhering to the latter.
A select bibliography of works on John of Patmos:
Comfort and protest : reflections on the Apocalypse of John of Patmos, by Allan A. Boesak. The 'Figurae' of John of Patmos, by Richard Bauckham. St. John of Patmos and the seven churches of the Apocalypse, by Otto F.A. Meinardus. Apocalypse and redemption in early Christianity : from John of Patmos to Augustine of Hippo, by Paula Fredriksen. - In: Vigiliae christianae. - 45. 1991, 2. - S. 151. Historical memory in an Aegean monastery : St John of Patmos and the emirate of Menteshe, by Elizabeth A. Zachariadou. - In: The Hospitallers, the Mediterranean and Europe. - 2007. - S. 131-137. Critiquing the excess of Empire : a synkrisis of John of Patmos and Dio of Prusa, by Peter S. Perry. - In: Journal for the study of the New Testament. - 29. 2007, 4. - S. 473-496. The social history of Satan : part 3: John of Patmos and Ignatius of Antioch - contrasting visions of "God's people", by Elaine Pagels. - In: Heresy and identity in Late Antiquity. - 2008. - S. 231-252.
John of Patmos in Fiction
In 1996 a video titled St. John in Exile was produced, starring Dean Jones. In the same year, a musical CD titled In the Isle of Patmos, by Stamatis Spanoudakis, was also released. In 2010 St. John at Patmos: A Sacred Poem by William Eaton Rusher was published.
Aside from these artistic 'readings' of the figure of John of Patmos, there have been no shortage of fictional renderings in book form. Most famously, Studies in the Apocalypse of John of Patmos A Non-Interpretive and Literary Approach to the Last Book of the New Testament by Edyth Hoyt (Hardcover - 1950). This volume has gone through a series of iterations and all of them not of a scholarly nature.
Related categories
External links
Pages in category "John of Patmos (subject)"
The following 3 pages are in this category, out of 3 total.