The Book of Revelation and its Eastern Commentators: Making the New Testament in the Early Christian World

Description

In this volume, T.C. Schmidt offers a new perspective on the formation of the New Testament by examining it simply as a Greco-Roman 'testament', a legal document of great authority in the ancient world. His work considers previously unexamined parallels between Greco-Roman juristic standards and the authorization of Christianity's holy texts. Recapitulating how Greco-Roman testaments were created and certified, he argues that the book of Revelation possessed many testamentary characteristics that were crucial for lending validity to the New Testament. Even so, Schmidt shows how Revelation fell out of favor amongst most Eastern Christian communities for over a thousand years until commentators rehabilitated its status and reintegrated it into the New Testament. Schmidt uncovers why so many Eastern churches neglected Revelation during this period, and then draws from Greco-Roman legal practice to describe how Eastern commentators successfully argued for Revelation's inclusion in the New Testaments of their Churches. 01.0_pp_i_ii_The_Book_of_Revelation_and_its_Eastern_Commentators 02.0_pp_iii_iii_The_Book_of_Revelation_and_its_Eastern_Commentators 03.0_pp_iv_iv_Copyright_page 04.0_pp_v_v_Contents 05.0_pp_vi_vi_Figures 06.0_pp_vii_vii_Acknowledgments 07.0_pp_viii_viii_Abbreviations 08.0_pp_1_37_Introduction 09.0_pp_38_75_The_Testamentary_Standard_of_Consistency 10.0_pp_76_116_The_Testamentary_Standard_of_Integrity 11.0_pp_117_148_The_Testamentary_Standard_of_Profundity 12.0_pp_149_158_Conclusion 13.0_pp_159_204_Appendix_A_Survey_of_Revelations_Reception 14.0_pp_205_208_Bibliography_Commentators 15.0_pp_209_236_General_Bibliography 16.0_pp_237_239_Index_of_Biblical_Citations 17.0_pp_240_246_General_Index