The Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse of John
An Investigation into Its Origins and Rhetorical Force
by Loren L. Johns
This is a study of the symbolic meaning of arnion (lamb) in the Apocalypse of John as the central feature of the Christology of Revelation. Loren L. Johns argues that arnion did not refer to an aggressive, militant ram in extant Greek literature prior to the Apocalypse, nor did it normally denote the expiatory sacrificial lamb. Rather, it symbolized vulnerability in the extant literature.The author examines the symbolic antecedents of arnion in the Hebrew Bible, while ranging throughout the literary evidence from the ancient Near East and the Greco-Roman era, even touching on the evidence from Homer and Aesop’s Fables traditions. He analyzes closely the evidence that has been offered in support of a militant lamb-redeemer figure in the apocalyptic traditions of Early Judaism and concludes that none of the writings that predate the Apocalypse and that are cited in support of this tradition is free from Christian editorializing. Furthermore, the Christology of the Apocalypse is not militant. The blood on the lamb in Rev. 19 is not from the defeated enemies of God; it is from the slaughter of the lamb.Loren L. Johns concludes that the Lamb Christology of the Apocalypse has an ethical force – that the author develops his Lamb Christology specifically to encourage his audience to the kind of faithful witness that he was convinced would result in their death as innocent lambs in much the same way that Jesus’ witness did.
- By (author) Loren L Johns
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John among the Other Gospels
The Reception of the Fourth Gospel in the Extra-Canonical Gospels
Volume 347
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Eine Spurensuche vom Neuen Testament bis zu Origenes
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Sexualitat und Geschlecht bei Paulus
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Renaming Abraham’s Children
Election, Ethnicity, and the Interpretation of Scripture in Romans 9
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Die heiligen Propheten, eure Apostel und ich
Metatextuelle Studien zum zweiten Petrusbrief
Volume 300
Animals in the Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles
The Wild Kingdom of Early Christian Literature
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Christologie und Existenz im Kolosserbrief
Exegetische und semantische Untersuchungen zur Intention des Kolosserbriefes
Volume 191
Diakonia im Neuen Testament
Studien zur Semantik unter besonderer Berucksichtigung der Rolle von Frauen
Volume 226
Paul’s Concept of a Hebrew Deity in Relation to Jesus
Insights from the Kyrios and Theos Citations
Volume 593
Von den Wachtern zu Adam
Fruhjudische Mythen uber die Ursprunge des Bosen und ihre fruhchristliche Rezeption
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