Apocalyptic counter-imperialism: Rev 21,1-8 - textual structure and constitution in the light of Semitic Biblical Rhetorical Analysis

Ap 21,1-8 - estrutura e constituição textual à luz da Análise Retórica Bíblica Semítica

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7213/2175-1838.15.003.DS03

Abstract

Since its first interpreters, the text of Revelation has been the target of countless controversies, many of them arising from a misunderstanding of its linguistic aspects, its literary structure, and the rhetorical composition of the book. This is precisely what happens with one of the most emblematic texts of this corpus, the narrative extract in Ap 21,1-8. The structure of this text, as the research will demonstrate, emerges from overlapping and concentric parallelisms, which highlight the imperialist power and the New Creation of the typically apocalyptic imagery of Rev 21,1-8.  For a long time, the usual methodology for interpreting the structures of the Apocalypse was the Greco-Roman rhetorical manuals, which soon proved insufficient for the analysis of texts as characteristically Jewish as the Apocalypse of John. The lack of a proper method for analyzing texts from the Semitic world, which could account for rhetorical structures such as those of the Apocalypse, certainly made researchers even more difficult. With the aim of providing a theoretical subsidy for the literary and rhetorical analysis of the text of Rev 21,1-8, then, this research will make use of the Semitic Biblical Rhetoric Analysis method, scrutinizing semantic, redactional and compositional factors of Rev 21,1-8.

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Author Biographies

Waldecir Gonzaga, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio)

Doutor em Teologia Bíblica pela Pontifícia Universidade Gregoriana, Roma. Pós-doutorado pela FAJE (BH). Diretor e Professor de Teologia Bíblica do Departamento de Teologia da PUC-Rio. E-mail: <[email protected]>, Currículo Lattes:  http://lattes.cnpq.br/9171678019364477 e ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5929-382X

Filipe Galhardo Sant’ Anna, Instituto Piel de Estudos Bíblicos (InsP)

Estudante de História, mestrando em Teologia. 

Published

2023-12-06

How to Cite

Gonzaga, W., & Sant’ Anna, F. G. (2023). Apocalyptic counter-imperialism: Rev 21,1-8 - textual structure and constitution in the light of Semitic Biblical Rhetorical Analysis: Ap 21,1-8 - estrutura e constituição textual à luz da Análise Retórica Bíblica Semítica. Pistis Praxis, 15(3). https://doi.org/10.7213/2175-1838.15.003.DS03