The Book of Revelation has been read as a literary prophecy, an allegorical divination narrative, or a piece of persuasive rhetoric. In this new approach to the apocalyptic text, Nathan Leach argues that Revelation’s oral performance to Christ-following assemblies in the ritual settings of the late 1st century CE formed an experience that resonated deeply with wider divinatory practices in Roman Asia.Revelation as Divination uses an interdisciplinary theoretical repertoire including performance criticism, ritual studies, material culture and affect theory to show how Revelation created meaning through oral performance to its ancient participatory audience. Despite Revelation’s extreme social separatist polemic, it is through the performance’s experiential resonance with broader ancient Mediterranean divinatory practices that its production of divine presence and access to divine knowledge were socially readable, gained authenticity, and affected its participants.
Nathan Leach is an Assistant Professor of Instruction in Religious Studies at Texas State University at San Marcos
AcknowledgementsList of FiguresIntroduction: Revelation and Divination.1. Ritual Specialists, Settings, Objects, and (Inter)Actions2. Narrative Presence and Participation3. Constructing and Bridging Separation4. Orchestrated Liminality: Purity and Danger in Mysterious Oracles and Oracular Mysteries5. Divine Theōria: The Perceiving Community and Perceived GodConclusion: Ritual Performance and Elite DiscourseWorks CitedIndex
Matthew Sharp, The University of St. Andrews) Sharp, Matthew (Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Divination, Matthew T. Sharp, Matthew T Sharp
Elena L Dugan, Havard University and Phillips Academy Andover) Dugan, Elena L (Associate of the Department of Classics and Instructor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Elena L. Dugan
Elena L Dugan, Havard University and Phillips Academy Andover) Dugan, Elena L (Associate of the Department of Classics and Instructor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Elena L. Dugan
Matthew Sharp, The University of St. Andrews) Sharp, Matthew (Leverhulme Early Career Fellow in the School of Divination, Matthew T. Sharp, Matthew T Sharp
Elena L Dugan, Havard University and Phillips Academy Andover) Dugan, Elena L (Associate of the Department of Classics and Instructor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Elena L. Dugan
Elena L Dugan, Havard University and Phillips Academy Andover) Dugan, Elena L (Associate of the Department of Classics and Instructor of Philosophy and Religious Studies, Elena L. Dugan