St. Paul and the Apocalypse
If one hears of apocalypse it drums up certain mental imagery or word associations. In most cases these images are informed by certain religious groups, television images and the like. However, the popular definition of apocalypse does not provide a proper or clear description for academic scholarship. It becomes important in biblical research to have a properly informed definition of apocalypse. An examination of its historical relevance, place in literature, key components and the like becomes useful in this study. This paper provides a fundamental definition of apocalypse that is useful in biblical research.
In constructing a definition of apocalypse it is beneficial to start from a broad understanding and work into the specifics. To accomplish this goal a broad definition is needed: "Apocalypse: A name frequently given to the last book of the Bible. Apocrypha: (1) matters secret or mysterious (2) of unknown origin, forged, spurious (3) unrecognized, uneconomical" This definition paints with the broadest strokes what is meant. However, it fails to provide any information on development, literary style and other key features. It does point out, however, that apocalypse necessarily implies something hidden. For: "the word apocrypha is of Greek derivation an signifies books that are hidden away.' from the point of view of those who approved of these books, they were hidden' or withdrawn from common use because they were regarded as containing mysterious or esoteric lore, too profound to be communicated to any except the initiated." Apocalypse and apocrypha are caught up with one another, as will be seen below. Apocalypse originally, "comes from the Greek word which means revelation.'" It is evident that his word appears in Biblical literature after the translation into Greek. It is important to examine it as a literary genre:
Apocalypse' is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an
In constructing a definition of apocalypse it is beneficial to start from a broad understanding and work into the specifics. To accomplish this goal a broad definition is needed: "Apocalypse: A name frequently given to the last book of the Bible. Apocrypha: (1) matters secret or mysterious (2) of unknown origin, forged, spurious (3) unrecognized, uneconomical" This definition paints with the broadest strokes what is meant. However, it fails to provide any information on development, literary style and other key features. It does point out, however, that apocalypse necessarily implies something hidden. For: "the word apocrypha is of Greek derivation an signifies books that are hidden away.' from the point of view of those who approved of these books, they were hidden' or withdrawn from common use because they were regarded as containing mysterious or esoteric lore, too profound to be communicated to any except the initiated." Apocalypse and apocrypha are caught up with one another, as will be seen below. Apocalypse originally, "comes from the Greek word which means revelation.'" It is evident that his word appears in Biblical literature after the translation into Greek. It is important to examine it as a literary genre:
Apocalypse' is a genre of revelatory literature with a narrative framework, in which a revelation is mediated by an