Book Notice: John Christopher Thomas and Frank Macchia on Revelation (THNTC)

Last updated on: July 27, 2016 at 5:28 am by Michael F. Bird

Book Notice: John Christopher Thomas and Frank Macchia on Revelation (THNTC) 2016-07-25T21:44:39-04:00 Michael F. Bird

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John Christopher Thomas & Frank Macchia

Revelation
THNTC; Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2016.
Available at Amazon.com

This is a lengthy (670 pages) but thoroughly enjoyable commentary on the Book of Revelation in the Two Horizons series by two Pentecostal scholars in Chris Thomas (NT) and Frank Macchia (Systematics). I was hooked on the first line when Thomas described Revelation as “the most sensual document in the NT, filled with references to thinks seen, heard, smelled, touched, and even tasted.” Thomas suggests that Revelation is basically a circular letter with a prophetic message that was the oral enactment of a visionary drama. It is a drama that creates for its readers a symbolic world offering an alternate version of reality than the one experienced by the Asian churches of the first century. The introduction closes with a great little reception history of Revelation including Charles Manson’s beliefs about Revelation and how it inspired the killings by the Manson family. In Revelation 13, I like how Thomas describes the woman as an amalgamation of Eve, Israel, the mother of Jesus with remarkable similarities to the transformed Israel, the church. On the (in)famous millennium passage of Rev 20:4-6, Thomas comments about the second resurrection: “Thus, while modern interpreters may be fascinated with the idea that this coming to life is a spiritual, not physical, resurrection, such an idea would likely be quite foreign to Johannine hearers. Rather, this is the moment at which the souls of those who have been beheaded are resurrected in bodily form, as had been their Lord.”

The theology section by Macchia is not a mere “theology” of the Book. Each part opens with great biblical theology reflections before bringing the theological message of the Book of Revelation into conversation with theologians as diverse as Bonhoeffer, Barth, Bultmann, Rahner, Moltmann, and Volf. To give one highlight from Macchia, in relation to the delay of Christ’s return, he comments: “All this indicates that, before the end arrives, a missional history is to run its course that is to be dominated by the prophetic witness of God’s people as empowered by the Spirit of Christ … The nearness of Christ’s return is not the result of a scientific calculation or certainty but rather the result of a longing of a bride for her groom and for the justice of the kingdom. While yearning for Christ, believers are to feel already the winds of conflict, struggle, and change on the immediate horizon and confront each moment as an arena of decision related to the final conflict and victory. The result is not passive resignation but loving action. The community is urged to have patience and to endure but also to engage in the prophetic witness that will be integral to the coming triumph.”

In sum, a tour de force volume by two learned and thoughtful Pentecostal scholars.

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