More Great Books on Revelation
Okay, in my list of recommend books on Revelation, a few good books got left by the wayside, so I thought I’d give them a mention in dispatches here.
Commentaries
Yes, Koester and Aune are my favourites, but I’ve got a shout-out for a few more.
Greg Beale’s (NIGTC) is terrific on OT background, lots of redemptive-historical themes, and his inaugurated millennial reading is mostly compelling.
Brian Blount’s (NTL) offering is good because it takes a liberationist approach and it is written with the mind of an exegete and the intuitions of a preacher.
Gordon Fee’s (NCCS) volume is typically erudite, concise, and sensible, and also his last major original publication.
I have a soft spot for Ben Witherington’s (NCBC) because it is sensible and easy to read.
Out of the preacher’s commentaries, Craig Keener’s (NIVAC) stands out as something to use in sermon preparation, very good on that score.
Ian Paul has a good volume in the TNTC series which I can recommend for a concise and down-to-earth commentary too.
In one-volume Bible commentaries, you can’t go passed Richard Bauckham (Oxford Bible Commentary) and Stuckenbruck (Eerdmans Bible Commentary)
Other Volumes
This one probably should have been in my original post, but here it is, Michael Gorman, Reading Revelation Responsibly, a great book to read if you are coming out of a church that peddles in conspiracy theories (Yes, John Hagee, I’m looking at you!).
Leonard Thompson, Apocalypse and Empire, who points out that maybe Domitian wasn’t necessarily the scum bug everyone says he was. A fine read too with a few minority reports.
Introductions
Craig Koester, Revelation and the End of All Things, is easily one of the best intros to the book for seminary and college courses. However, Koester might be pipped at the line by David deSilva, Discovering Revelation, I just got this, and am reading it now, very good so far. David is a solid hand at all things Revelation.
Nice list, you picked out some excellent ones! Gorman's is also the first book I recommend to people. A lesser known book is "Apocalypse and Allegiance" by J. Nelson Kraybill which I also found very similar to Gorman. I just finished your "evangelical theology" audio series and am hoping one day we can bring you over to the "a millennial" train that you seemed to want to join...in that regard I'd highly recommend Charles E Hill's "Regnum Caelorum" (if you haven't already) which surveys 2nd temple and patristic writings to propose that, contrary to popular belief, the early church's pre-millennial views were not the first/only understanding of Rev 20. Anyways, regardless of where people stand on the millennium (we will know once Jesus comes back!) I am encouraged to see less of the Hagee's and LaHaye's type work dominating thought. I used to think "left behind" was basically biblical!
Hello, Mike - You may be interested to check out the book by Richard Oster, Seven Congregations in a Roman Crucible (Rev 1-3) (Wipf & Stock, 2013). It often flies under the radar but it is good to note.