Who Rides the Beast?: Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse

204 Pages·2001·10.01 MB·English

by  Paul B. Duff

Who Rides the Beast?
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Who Rides
the Beast?
Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of
Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse
Paul B. Duff
OXJORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
2001
OXFORD
UNIVERSITY PRESS
Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogota Buenos Aires Calcutta
Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul
Karachi Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai
Nairobi Paris Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 2001 by Paul B. Duff
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Duff, Paul Brooks, 1952-
Who rides the beast? : prophetic rivalry and the rhetoric of crisis
in the churches of the apocalypse / Paul B. Duff
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBNO-19-513835-X
1. Bible. NT. Revelation—Socio-rhetorical criticism. I. Title.
BS2825.2 .D792000
228'.06—dc21 00-025179
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
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For Ann, Justin, Andy, and Sally
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Preface
I began my investigation of the book of Revelation only relatively re-
cently. I had started my professional career as a Pauline scholar and so
I arrived at the doorstep of the Apocalypse in a rather roundabout way.
Perhaps my greatest motivation for studying this work arose from the
sense of ignorance that I experienced whenever I turned to it in my in-
troductory courses. Somehow, I felt that this was a document that I
could not "get a handle on." The fact that undergraduate students have
typically shown great interest in the work further exacerbated my
sense of distance from the text. They always wanted to talk about it,
whereas I rarely did. Ultimately I decided that I had no choice but to
look further into the work. In a sense then, I began studying the Apoc-
alypse out of self-defense. I am very glad that I did. In the course of my
time with this piece of literature, I have come to realize that it is not
only a work of great rhetorical power but also a work of stark and
sometimes chilling beauty. It portrays, on the one hand, a world gone
terribly awry. On the other hand, it also offers the hope of a cosmos
made whole. The breadth of the vision offers a depiction of humanity
both at its best and worst. Perhaps it is this that makes the Apocalypse
such a fascinating topic of study.
Many people have helped me on this project. I would like to thank
the members of the Society of Biblical Literature Seminar on Reading
the Apocalypse who warmly welcomed me, a newcomer to their field,
into their community of learning. They critiqued earlier versions of se-
veral of the chapters with great care and enthusiasm. I would especially
viii Preface
like to thank David L. Barr, who chaired the seminar. I am also in-
debted to the members of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion,
particularly Diana Culbertson and James G. Williams, who heard and
commented on an earlier version of chapter 9. Other colleagues who
assisted me in various ways include Jeffrey Carlson, Carolyn Dexter,
Joseph Hallman, Alf Hiltebeitel, Margaret Mitchell, Richard Rosen-
garten, Dewey Wallace, and Harry Yeide. Ann Osborn offered valuable
stylistic suggestions along the way. Heather Kauffman, Denise Mix, and
Shiri Weinbaum helped me with the preparation of the manuscript. Fi-
nally, I would like to acknowledge the George Washington University
for a summer grant that enabled me to begin research on this book.
Most of the biblical quotations are from the New Revised Standard
Version. I have sometimes used my own translations, though, for the
sake for clarity or in order to make a particular point. Classical quota-
tions are from the Loeb Classical Library translations. Translations of
the church fathers are from The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Rob-
erts and James Donaldson, (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1950).
Contents
Abbreviations xi
1. Was There a Crisis behind Revelation? An Introduction to
the Problem 3
2. Setting the Stage: Urban Christianity in Western Asia
Minor 17
3. The Issues: Evidence from the Letters to the Seven
Churches 31
4. The Actors: People and Parties behind the Book of
Revelation 48
5. Wealth, Commerce, and the Merchant Class 61
6. The Rhetoric of Innuendo: Opposition, Equivalence, and
Indirect Accusation 71
7. The Women of Revelation: Binding "Jezebel" to
"Babylon" 83
8. The Out-of-Control Female: John's Use of Gender
Stereotypes 97
9. True and False Prophets: Binding "Jezebel" to the Beast from
the Earth 113
10. Conclusion: The Rhetoric of Exclusion 126
Notes 135
Bibliography 169
Index of Biblical Passages 111
Index of Subjects 181