Soteriology as Motivation in the Apocalypse of John

ISBN-13: 9781463204198 / Angielski / Twarda / 2015 / 288 str.

Alexander Stewart

Opis

John did not write the Apocalypse in order to provide a detailed time-table of events that would unfold thousands of years in the future. Instead, John wrote to affect and move his hearers at the end of the first century-to motivate them to reject idolatrous compromise with the surrounding cultural and political institutions and overcome through repentance, worship, witness, perseverance, and obedience. How does the Apocalypse of John accomplish this motivation and persuade its hearers to adopt a course of action that would put their present lives, income, and security in jeopardy? This monograph employs Stephen Toulmins model of argumentation analysis to study Johns explicit and implicit motivational argumentation and to argue that the two primary grounds for Johns argumentation are soteriological. Hearers are motivated positively by the promise of future salvation and negatively by warnings of future judgment.In addition to this main claim, this monograph will (1) argue that the Apocalypse of John is a thoroughly rhetorical text; (2) highlight the centrality of logos, or logical argumentation, in Johns argumentation; (3) demonstrate the general applicability of Toulmins model of argumentation analysis to biblical texts; (4) argue that ones systematic theology of motivation or salvation must be grounded in a comprehensive analysis of the actual motivational argumentation within a text; and (5) explore some of the theological questions raised by the use of soteriology as motivation.