The Social Setting of the Apocalypse of John: A Historical Survey

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 PhD Candidate in Religions and Mysticism Studies, Faculty of Law, Theology and Political Science, Islamic Azad University, Tehran

2 Associate Professor, Department of Religions and Mysticism, Faculty of Law, Theology and Political Sciennce, Islamic Azad University, Tehran

Abstract

The Apocalypse of John is classified as one of the apocalypses in Judeo-Christian tradition which is mainly about the events of the End Times. Modern scholars almost agree that the writings in question always reflect the social situation of their own periods of time, which is known as “the situation of crisis”. As the author of an apocalypse, John also refers in the first part of his book, namely “the letters to the seven churches” to the social situation of the Christians who resided in the seven cities of Asia Minor towards the late first century. Some of the author’s implicit and explicit references suggest that the Christians were in unfavorable situation with regard to their social status and adherence to their Christian beliefs. This article is seeking to find out the reasons of such situation for the Christians of the region by the use of the letters, as the internal evidence, and some historical reports, as the external one.

Keywords

References

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