Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book surveys the relevant historical, cultural, social, and political settings of Greece, Rome, and Palestine, and highlights the religious, philosophical, and literary movements and concepts with which Jews and non-Jews were engaged. The emergence of Christianity in the first century is in part a result of this engagement. The book attempts to orient the reader to the context, structure, symbolism, and frequently bizarre reception history of the Book of Revelation, the only full-scale example of the apocalyptic genre in the canon. It explains the meaning and significance of 6sixty terms, names, and concepts frequently encountered in the New Testament and in the secondary literature devoted to it. Reading the New Testament closely and carefully involves asking questions in order to make sense of the text.