andygoodliff

Best commentary series?

New commentary series are popping up all over the place, to join the fast becoming classics. Do you buy a series or is best to pick and choose?

The Two Horizons New Testament Commentary
Series Editors: Joel B. Green, Max Turner

Seeking to bridge the existing gap between biblical studies and systematic theology, this distinctive series offers section-by-section exegesis of the New Testament texts in close conversation with theological concerns. Written by respected scholars, the THNTC volumes aim to help pastors, teachers, and students engage in deliberately theological interpretation of Scripture.

The New International Greek Testament Commentary
Series Editors: I. Howard Marshall, Donald A. Hagner

This commentary series is established on the presupposition that the theological character of the New Testament documents calls for exegesis that is sensitive to theological themes as well as to the details of the historical, linguistic, and textual context. Such thorough exegetical work lies at the heart of these volumes, which contain detailed verse-by-verse commentary preceded by general comments on each section and subsection of the text.

Hermeneia

The series is designed to be a critical and historical commentary to the Bible without arbitrary limits in size or scope. It will utilize the full range of philological and historical tools, including textual criticism (often slighted in modern commentaries), the methods of the history of tradition (including genre and prosodic analysis), and the history of religion.

Hermeneia is designed for the serious student of the Bible. It will make full use of ancient Semitic and classical languages; at the same time, English translations of all comparative materials—Greek, Latin, Canaanite, or Akkadian—will be supplied alongside the citation of the source in its original language. Insofar as possible, the aim is to provide the student or scholar with full critical discussion of each problem of interpretation and with the primary data upon which the discussion is based.

Interpretation
Series Editors: James L. Mays, Patrick D. miller, P. J. Achtemeier

Interpretation is a set of full-length, practical, and clearly written commentaries that helps teachers and preachers in their educational and homiletic work and lay persons in their study of the Bible. It bridges the gap between critical and expository commentaries and combines exciting biblical scholarship with illuminating textual expositions. Critically acclaimed and widely used in classrooms and for teaching and preaching in the church, Interpretation commentaries are written by recognized scholars with experience as teachers and/or preachers.

The Anchor Bible Commentary
General Editor: William Foxwell Albright (1891–1971), David Noel Freedman

THE ANCHOR YALE BIBLE is a fresh approach to the world's greatest classic. Its object is to make the Bible accessible to the modern reader; its method is to arrive at the meaning of biblical literature through exact translation and extended exposition, and to reconstruct the ancient setting of the biblical story, as well as the circumstances of its transcription and the characteristics of its transcribers.

It is a project of international and interfaith scope: Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish scholars from many countries contribute individual volumes. The project is not sponsored by any ecclesiastical organization and is not intended to reflect any particular theological doctrine. Prepared under our joint supervision, The Anchor Yale Bible commentaries are an effort to make available all the significant historical and linguistic knowledge which bears on the interpretation of the biblical record.

The Anchor Yale Bible commentaries are aimed at the general reader with no special formal training in biblical studies; yet these books are written with the most exacting standards of scholarship, reflecting the highest technical accomplishment. This project marks the beginning of a new era of co-operation among scholars in biblical research, thus forming a common body of knowledge to be shared by all.

Brazos Theological Commentary
General Editor: R. R. Reno

The Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible is designed to serve the church--through aid in preaching, teaching, study groups, and so forth--and demonstrate the continuing intellectual and practical viability of theological interpretation of the Bible.

New Cambridge Biblical Commentary
Editors: Bill T. Arnold, James D. G. Dunn, Michael V. Fox, Robert P. Gordon, Judith Gundry-Volf, Ben Witherington III

The NCBC aims to elucidate the Hebrew and Christian scriptures for a wide range of intellectually curious individuals. Commentaries in the NCBC thus will be academically rigorous but will not assume the reader has a great deal of specialized theological knowledge or an impressive command of the Hebrew, Aramaic, or biblical Greek. Unlike the earlier CBC, however, the new series will take advantage of many of the rewards provided by scholarly research over the last three decades. While not mistaking trendiness for truth, volumes in the NCBC will make accessible and build upon many of the advances in theory and theology produced in universities and seminaries during the last thirty years. Utilizing recent gains in rhetorical criticism, social scientific study of the scriptures, narrative criticism and other developing disciplines, this series intends to provide a fresh look at biblical texts, taking advantage of the growing edges in Biblical Studies.

Word Biblical Commentary
General Editor: Bruce Metzger

The Word Biblical Commentary delivers the best in biblical scholarship, from the leading scholars of our day who share a commitment to Scripture as divine revelation. This series emphasizes a thorough analysis of textual, linguistic, structural, and theological evidence. The result is judicious and balanced insight into the meanings of the text in the framework of biblical theology. These widely acclaimed commentaries serve as exceptional resources for the professional theologian and instructor, the seminary or university student, the working minister, and everyone concerned with building theological understanding from a solid base of biblical scholarship.

Living Out Scripture meme (updated 7/8)

The list of participants continues to grow. I've add all those who have taken part so far. Indirectly I was asked what was mine - Gal 3.28

In The Shape of Living, David Ford writes

... be alert for some key passages of the bible to inhabit in a special way. Hans Urs von Balthasar has said that often a saint's whole life can be seen as living out just one verse of scripture. One rich verse or story can be essential to our vocation, as we come back to it year after year, and find further dimensions to it. The great words, verses and passages of scripture and the liturgy are like houses which, as we study, pray, suffer and love, are made habitable with our own furnishings, pictures, meals and children ...'

So I'd like to invite you to post that verse or story of scripture which is important to you, which you find yourself re-visiting time after time ... (you can make it two or even three, if you can't reduce it to one!). I'll tag some people to try and get it started

Simon Jones - Jeremiah 29.7
Jason Goroncy - 2 Corinthians5.16-21
Stuart Blythe - Luke 4.16-30
Fernando Gros - Philippians 4.8
Jody - Exodus 3-4
Sean Winters  - 2 Corthinians 5.11-21
Catriona - James 2:26b
Brodie - Micah 6.8
Chris Tilling  - Psalm 27.4
Paul Whiting  - Genesis
Frank Emanuel  - John 14.1-3
Jeremy Del Rio  - Luke 10:28b
Craig - Luke 11:2b
D. W. Congdon - Romans 5.1-11
Lucy Wright - 1 Samuel 16.7
Byron Smith - Romans 8.18-24
Michael Jensen - Colossians 1.15-20
Andrew Errington - John 11
Rachel - Revelation 21

Scripture is ... something to be sung

'Scripture is, in its essence, something to be sung, which means to be read in the mode of praise by the church. Robert Jenson concurs:

The first and foremost doctrine de scriptura is therefore not a proposition about scripture at all. It is rather liturgical and devotional instruction: Let the Scripture be sung, at every opportunity and with care for its actual address to hearers even if these are only the singer. The churches most faithful to Scripture are not those that legislate the most honorific propositions about Scripture but those that most often and thoughtfully sing and listen to it.

Such singing cannot be confined to the collective worship of the church; but if it is truly sung, it is embodied in the continuing praise of the church as it scatters to its daily pursuits throughout the week'

(Brian Brock, Singing the Ethos of God, Eerdmans, 2007, 273-274)

I'm in the processing of reading this very good book. Review will follow at some point in near future.

Bible Study and Reading Scripture

It's time to get rid of the Bible study that is the staple of the evangelical diet.  I'm bored of all the bible studying. I'm not interested in reading the bible as if it were a text book or an instruction manual. Let's stop pretending we all know how to read the bible. The bible is not a book to be studied. The bible is not a book that can be mastered. The great tragedy of the bible study is it has made the bible dull and boring. The great worry of the bible study is we've turned the bible into a weapon against those who interpret it differently. The bible study has created as many infallible popes as there are Christians, all who believe that they are right because their bible says this or that. The bible is a book to be wrestled with. The bible is a dangerous, world-changing, life-altering text that is out to transform the reader. The bible wants to shape our imagination to the tune of Christ.  We might set out to read the bible but it ends up reading us. We need to create regular space for the bible to breathe, for it to live among us, before us, within us. The bible story is not a story to study but to indwell.  When reading the bible we need to open ears and close mouths. The bible is always fresh and never stale. The bible does not put God or truth into neat statements. The bible is not God's prison. The bible is God's Word always breaking into our world.  The bible is God's gift to the church; not to the individual Christian. I loved the dissonant bible blog (which alas no longer exists) which sets out to recover the bible's dissonance - the bible's refusal 'to fit the streamlined, systematic theologies so beloved of many conservative evangelicals' and recognise how 'the bible sounds discordant to our ears, at odds with what we believe to be right, just, and humane'. Mark wrote

'I'm continually disconcerted by how we reduce its richness, its complexity, its sheer strangeness into something comfortable, simplistic and bland. I'm worried about my own tendencies, let alone anyone else's, to allow my eye to skip worrying details in the text, to encourage my mind to swerve away from troubling questions, to refuse to hear the bible's dissonance.'

(originally posted 23rd june 2006)

It's time to get rid of the Bible study that is the staple of the evangelical diet.  I'm bored of all the bible studying. I'm not interested in reading the bible as if it were a text book or an instruction manual. Let's stop pretending we all know how to read the bible. The bible is not a book to be studied. The bible is not a book that can be mastered. The great tragedy of the bible study is it has made the bible dull and boring. The great worry of the bible study is we've turned the bible into a weapon against those who interpret it differently. The bible study has created as many infallible popes as there are Christians, all who believe that they are right because their bible says this or that. The bible is a book to be wrestled with. The bible is a dangerous, world-changing, life-altering text that is out to transform the reader. The bible wants to shape our imagination to the tune of Christ.  We might set out to read the bible but it ends up reading us. We need to create regular space for the bible to breathe, for it to live among us, before us, within us. The bible story is not a story to study but to indwell.  When reading the bible we need to open ears and close mouths. The bible is always fresh and never stale. The bible does not put God or truth into neat statements. The bible is not God's prison. The bible is God's Word always breaking into our world.  The bible is God's gift to the church; not to the individual Christian. I loved the dissonant bible blog (which alas no longer exists) which sets out to recover the bible's dissonance - the bible's refusal 'to fit the streamlined, systematic theologies so beloved of many conservative evangelicals' and recognise how 'the bible sounds discordant to our ears, at odds with what we believe to be right, just, and humane'. Mark wrote

'I'm continually disconcerted by how we reduce its richness, its complexity, its sheer strangeness into something comfortable, simplistic and bland. I'm worried about my own tendencies, let alone anyone else's, to allow my eye to skip worrying details in the text, to encourage my mind to swerve away from troubling questions, to refuse to hear the bible's dissonance.'

(originally posted 23rd june 2006)

The Must Read New Testament Commentaries

Having thought about the must read theological books, what's the one commentary you couldn't do without for each book of the New Testament. The one's in bold I'm sure on. Obviously different commentaries serve different functions, some are more academic, some are more aimed at the preacher. I think a good commentary brings the text alive and offers new insights. Interestingly recent editions of the Journal for the Study of the New Testament and Pro Ecclesia ask precisely the question what is a commentary.

Matthew - Stanley Hauerwas' Brazos Theological Commentary (2006)

Mark - Ched Myer's Binding the Strong Man (1989)

Luke - Joel Green's NICNT commentary (1997)

John - Andrew Lincoln's Black's New Testament Commentary (2005)

Acts - William Willimon's Interpretation commentary  (1988)

Romans - Robert Jewett's Hermenia commentary (2006)

1 Corinthians - Anthony Thiselton's NIGTC (2001)

2 Corinthians - Murray Harris' recent NIGTC

Galatians - J. Louis Martyn's Anchor Bible Commentary (1997) (see also Richard Longenecker's Word Biblical commentary [1990] and Richard Hay's Interpretation commentary [1998])

Ephesians - John Muddiman's Black's New Testament Commentary (2001)

Philippians - Stephen Fowl's Two Horizon's Commentary (2005)

Colossians - Brian Walsh and Sylvia Keesmatt's Colossians Re:mixed (2004)

1 & 2 Thessalonians -

1 & 2 Timothy, Titus - Phil Towner's NICNT

Philemon -

Hebrews -

James - Timothy Luke Johnson's Anchor Bible Commentary

1 & 2 Peter -

1, 2, 3 John -

Jude -

Revelation -  Wes Howard-Brook and Anthony Gwyther's Unveiling Empire (1999)

Brevard Childs (1923-2007)

The biblical scholar Brevard Childs has died (23rd June). He was at the centre of the biblical theology movement and argued for a canonical approach to reading scripture. He was a giant of Old Testament studies. He was until his retirement in 1999 Sterling Professor of Divinity at Yale University. He studied under Karl Barth and received his doctorate from Basel. He was a major dialogue partner for both Walter Brueggemann (see his Theology of the Old Testament) and Francis Watson (see his Text, Church and World and Text and Truth) amongst others.

He was he author of  string of important studies in the 1970s and 80s: Biblical Theology in Crisis (1970) Exodus: A Critical, Theological Commentary (1974), Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture (1979), The New Testament as Canon (1984), Old Testament Theology in Canonical Context (1985), Biblical Theology in the Old and New Testaments (1992).

Watson writes in Text and Truth (1997):
'His rediscovery of the hermeneutical significance of the canon is his most important contribution to a renewed "biblical theology" (211)

'It is the great merit of Brevard Childs' work that he has pursued the question of authentically Christian Old Testament interpretation with a single-mindedness and tenacity unprecedented in modern Old Testament scholarship ....' (218)

Essays by Francis Watson

Francis Watson, Kirby Laing Professor of New Testament Exegesis, Aberdeen (1999-) has (for a while) made available some of the papers he's given over the last few years. Watson, prior to coming to Aberdeen was at King's College London (1984-1999) is a New Testament scholar, who has also worked in the fields of Old Testament, systematic theology and Christian ethics.

The resurrection and the identity of Jesus, a paper prepared for a meeting at the Center of Theological Inquiry, Princeton (in September 2003)

Christ and Reality in Ephesians, a paper presented to the Later Pauline Epistles Section, Society of Biblical Literature, Denver (2001)

Jesus of History, Christ of Faith, a paper prepared for the working group on the Identity of Jesus, Center for Theological Inquiry, Princeton (September 2004)

Pauline perspectives, a paper presented to a Colloquium on Divine and Human Agency in Paul and Early Judaism, Aberdeen (August 2004)

Constructing a Hermeneutic: A Rereading of Romans 1-4, a paper prepared for the New Testament Graduate Seminar, Duke Divinity School (November 2004)

Scripture in Pauline Theology, a paper prepared for the SBL Pauline Soteriology Group, San Antonio (November 2004)

Theological exegesis of Genesis 18-19, paper prepared for the Society for Scriptural Reasoning, Denver, Colorado (19 November, 2001)

The Authority of Voice: A Theological Reading of 1 Cor 11.2-16, article from New Testament Studies (2000)

Sean Winter on Gal 3.26-28

Sean has very kindly for a short time made available his bible study on Galatians 3.26-28 from this year's Baptist Assembly. Click here.  I loved the ending:

What would it mean for the inexorable logic of God's inclusive story to work itself out in us, among us and through us? In Christ, there is neither rich nor poor; neither single mother or the hard working family; neither big church nor small church. In Christ, there is neither north or south, european or african, muslim or hindu. In Christ there is neither gay or straight, neither young or old, pastor or people. In the words of Chris Ellis's hymn: 'here is a vision, new world begun, here is a family, made to be one.' Amen.

'Deep calls to deep'

Chapter 5 of Remembering Our Future is by Ben Quash, Dean of Peterhouse College, Cambridge. (I'll come to back to chapters 3 and 4 another time). Quash's chapter is on reading scripture in a multi-faith world. He  has been part of the Cambridge group of scholars (with the likes of David Ford, Dan Hardy and Nicholas Adams), involved in 'scriptural reasoning' (SR), which is where Jewish, Muslim and Christian scholars come together to co-read their scriptures together. For more see the special Modern Theology edition on SR from last year. He argues that in church there is 'little if any communal enagagement with scripture' (p.108). (As an aside, interestingly during lent I ran a series called 'lent explorations' where we read lectionary readings for that day. A small group of us gathered together to read scripture together. It was amazing to here people engage with the texts and it felt regularly as if the texts came alive and God was speaking with us.) More communal engagement is sorely needed in our church life. Quash's argument is that SR may provide and be instructive to help Christians to read scripture in more 'deep' and 'thick' ways, which 'disrupt in a healthy way the habits of reading that Christian people can have allow themselves to get into' (p.111). In describing the practice of SR, Quash writes:

'these others [from different religious traditions] are invited to co-read, to ask questions and become contributers to the process of suggesting possible answers to the questions - and one of the common consequences of this is that the texts open up unexpected meanings for those who sacred texts they are, even at the same time as participants from the other Abrahamic traditions learn more about a text that is not theirs.' (p.114)

This communal reading overcomes our tendency to individual reading, which Quash argues often leads to stale readings - whether conservative or liberal. There is a richness to this chapter, which requires several re-readings. Quash says SR does not seek to produce agreement, but a deep engagement with the text that may bring disagreement. SR takes the image of the tent, which operates as a place of hospitality for all involved in reading, where everyone is both a host and a guest (pp.114-115). SR takes seriously the voice of others, it listens to the questions and the thoughts of others as the co-reading happens. A 'deep church' needs to listen to the voice of the other: the other from history (the names of those who have read these texts before us), the other from a different tradition (whether it a different denomination, or feminist readings, or even those from another religious tradition). And in this listening, those who have taken part in SR testify, to hearing the voice of God. Quash writes 'the text should be allowed to interrogate us, and not just we it. ' (p.121).

For those of you, who don't have a copy of the book, I have discovered you can read this chapter as a taster here.   

unveiling empire

This is my sermon from this morning

Unveiling Empire
Revelation 17.1-20.11
Bunyan Baptist, 11 March 2007

I want to begin by reminding us of the big picture in Revelation. John is a painting a huge epic stained-glass window with words. He is seeking to encourage his readers to be faithful and true witnesses of Jesus. He wants the Christians to whom he is writing to see their day-to-day lives in a new way, from the perspective of heaven. In a world where Revelation’s readers were constantly bombarded and confronted with powerful images of the Roman vision of the world – statues, rituals, military processions, money with the emperor’s head on it – John provides his readers with a set of counter-images which impress on its readers a different vision of the world: how it looks from heaven. The visual power of this apocalyptic letter is to unmask and purge the false views of the world and refurbish the Christian imagination with alternative heavenly and divine visions of how the world is and will be.

For the churches in Asia they lived in the shadow of Rome and its propaganda machine. Rome claimed to be the empire of the world; it claimed to have brought salvation, peace and security to the world; it claimed to be all conquering and all victorious over all peoples – it revelled in its military might; it claimed to be faithful, loyal and true; and it claimed its empire and reign was eternal. This was not an easy place to be a Christian; it’s never easy to be a Christian in the face of an Empire. So John’s work is to uncover these myths and show them to be mere propaganda and instead present a vision of God, a vision of heaven, a vision that would encourage the Asian Christians to stand firm. Hopefully we too will receive a fresh vision of God, of heaven and an encouragement to stand firm. And so we turn to Revelation, chapter 17, verse 1.

In Revelation 17 John’s vision is of a woman – at first glance she seems to be a description of the goddess Roma, in all her glory, a stunning personification of the civilization of Rome, as she was worshipped in many temples in the cities of Asia – ‘clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls’. But as John sees her, she is a Roman prostitute and a seductive whore, and her wealth and splendour represent the profits of her disreputable trade. John wants to warn his readers against the seduction of Rome – the seduction that says ‘go with the flow, enjoy life – the peace and quiet on the street, the food in your fridge, the world at your remote control and keyboard, the air you breathe.’ It sounds good, but John claims beneath, the true character is something quite different: ‘the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus’ – Rome, like all empires, is not a peace-maker or a peace-keeper, but a shedder of blood. See the world as it really is says John. The relevance of Revelation today is to help us ask questions about our world; to unmask the images and ideals that seek to maintain the powerful in their power and keep us inactive.

Chapter 18 continues the judgement on Babylon, Rome and all empires. The message that Babylon is fallen, would have given confidence and encouragement to John’s readers to continue to their resistance of the empire. The message is that Babylon is coming to an end, that it’s not eternal and so depart from it and follow God. There is one story in the Bible: that of a people struggling to leave empire behind, whether it be Egypt, Babylon, Rome, or anywhere else, and setting out to follow God. John is calling the churches of Asia to resist, to refuse to participate, to create alternatives to the lies of empire. John is trying to say we don’t belong to Babylon, we belong to another city, whose architect and builder is God (more on that next week!). So he says to his Christians readers and to us ‘Come out…’, don’t get caught up in empire’s sin. What does this mean for us? It means to stand apart, to be distinctively different, to re-orientate and build our lives – heart and mind, body and soul around God’s truth: Jesus. We need to dissociate ourselves from evil. What is evil? The evil that is ingrained in the way of empire, in the way of profit and bonus, of celebrity and fame – evil that leaves those at the margins, both locally and globally, oppressed and destitute. It means changing the way you shop, it means turning the TV off every once and a while. It means orientating our lives less around the car, the TV, the weekly shop … and re-orientating our lives around God. Schooling ourselves in habits and practices that enable us to be faithful and truthful witness of God. We’re in a battle for our lives – everything and everyone wants our attention, our money, our time, our dreams. John’s readers were being asked were they willing to die for gospel, the question for us maybe that, but I believe it’s more likely to be are we willing to sacrifice the dreams and the lives that our culture tells us we must have, because we’re worth it! Our generation I think doesn’t really know what sacrifice means. We’ve always had everything, for most of us money has never been that tight, we’ve owned a car since our teens, we’ve got all the gadgets, we can have a meal out, we can buy new clothes, cds, dvds, ipods without too much worry. To be distinctively different I want to suggest is to know what it means to be a sacrificial, generous people – what would that look like?

The big problem with empire – be it Babylon, Rome, or anywhere else, is it lives without God, in fact, it lives as if humanity was god. As we read the judgment of empire it’s a description of a life founded on possession, position and pleasure – just read again the judgement on Babylon. God is absent in empire. Next week as we look at Revelation 21, we see the city of the New Jerusalem, the city of God, where God is at the heart of life. One of my favourite theologians has said that the problem with most Christians, is that too often we’re practical atheists and live as if God doesn’t matter. 

John takes us next back to a picture of worship. Worship is a constant feature of Revelation – chapter 4, 7, 11, 14, 15. The point of the prophecy is the worship of God. The book of Revelation is designed to bring people to the worship of God, to encourage them to be faithful and true witnesses. Our task is to worship God through our witness to Jesus. John wants to wake up the Christians of Asia and see the their lives and the world through the window of heaven, where God reigns. And this morning I believe God wants us to wake us up, to ask where our loyalty is located – God or our wallet? Who are the great multitude in heaven? I like to think it’s the poor, the oppressed, the marginalised, the needy, those for whom have suffered under the hands of empire. The judgement of empire brings the response of rejoicing. For God is true and just. No longer is there a need to plead with God for justice, justice has been done. To worship is to live as if God matters, it is a public statement that our allegiance is not to crown or company, but to God. It is way of saying we’re departing empire, to follow God. It celebrates the reign of God. John’s visions in Revelation always bring him back to worship, it is the constant in all the shocking and frankly sometimes disturbing images, and it should be the constant of our life. The opposite of empire is a God-centred worshipping life, which does not trust in military muscle or economic prosperity but in the salvation of our God.

In the face of world of overwhelming evil and violence it can sometimes feel like belief in God is a delusion, to allude to Richard Dawkins recent book, but here John is under no delusion that God will see off all other pretenders to his throne, that judgement and defeat are the only future for evil and those in its thrall. God will judge the living and the dead. Christ, The thing about empires and those that speak on their behalf is they don’t know how the story is going to end – they might make wishful promises, or big claims that peace, happiness, freedom and safety are just around the corner – but the reality is they cannot be certain. Revelation knows the ending. And what it reveals is that there is one Lord, one King and one Judge and it is not Caesar, it is not Satan, it is not Bush, or Blair or the owner of Tesco or Barclay’s or Coca-Cola or any other god of consumerism. Revelation says there is only one who should be worshipped, and it is not Caesar, or angels, or the god of celebrity.  The Lord who is worshipped is Jesus, whose name is Faithful and True, Word of God, King of kings and Lord of lords and Judge.  From the perspective of heaven things look very different. We are left hopefully expectant for the coming of a new heaven and earth … which we’ll read more about next week.

Our reading this morning has encouraged us to be known as a prophetic community who challenge and confront the worldly empire concepts of power, wealth, status and security. It has encouraged us to live our lives as if God mattered, to be known as a sacrificial and generous community. It has challenged us to be a witnessing missionary community that live faithful and truthful lives following in the footsteps of Jesus, whose name is Faithful and True. And finally it has encouraged us to be a worshipping community, to give our allegiance and our praise to the God who knows how the story will end. Amen.

(The following books were very helpful in the writing of this sermon - Unveiling Empire: Reading Revelation Then and Now, Wes Howard-Brook and Anthony Gwyther (1999), The Theology of Revelation, Richard Bauckham (1993) and Revelation, Eugene M. Boring (1989))