Semeia 14: Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre
Overview
Semeia is an experimental journal devoted to the exploration of new and emergent areas and methods of biblical criticism. Studies employing the methods, models, and findings of linguistics, folklore studies, contemporary literary criticism, structuralism, social anthropology, and other such disciplines and approaches, are invited. Although experimental in both form and content, Semeia proposes to publish work that reflects a well defined methodology that is appropriate to the material being interpreted.
- Key perspectives on biblical criticism
- Includes bibliographies and index
Top Highlights
“There is a general consensus among modern scholars that there is a phenomenon which may be called ‘apocalyptic’ and that it is expressed in an ill-defined list of writings which includes (on any reckoning) the Jewish works Daniel (chaps. 7–12), 1 Enoch, 4 Ezra and 2 Baruch and the Christian book of Revelation. The list is generally agreed to be more extensive than this but its precise extent is a matter of dispute.” (Page 3)
“The master-paradigm may be divided into two main sections: the framework of the revelation and its content. The framework in turn involves both the manner in which the revelation is conveyed and the concluding elements. The content embraces historical and eschatological events on a temporal axis and otherworldly beings and places on a spatial axis. Direct exhortation to the recipient in the course of the revelation is rare and plays a significant role only in a few Christian works.” (Pages 5–6)
“While oracles, testaments and revelatory dialogues all frequently contain eschatological material analogous to that found in apocalypses, they all lack some aspect of the apocalyptic manner of revelation. Oracles are not mediated at all, but are uttered directly, testaments are mediated by a human figure, and revelatory dialogues lack the narrative framework which describes the process of revelation. On the other hand, dreams and visions which lack the eschatology or otherworldly dimension of the apocalypses are also excluded from the genre. In this way the term ‘apocalypse’ can be applied to a specific and limited number of texts from the period under consideration.” (Page 10)
- Harold W. Attridge
- Adela Yarbro Collins
- John J. Collins
- Francis T. Fallon
- Anthony J. Saldarini
- Title: Semeia 14: Apocalypse: The Morphology of a Genre
- Editor: John Joseph Collins
- Publisher: Society of Biblical Literature
- Publication Date: 1979
- Pages: 221
John Joseph Collins is Holmes professor of Old Testament Criticism and Interpretation at Yale Divinity School and has served as president of both the Society of Biblical Literature and the Catholic Biblical Association.
