Interpreting Revelation

by Merrill C. Tenney

For centuries the book of Revelation has been both an inspiration and a mystery to the Christian church. In hours of darkness it has given courage to its readers; but in periods of ease and prosperity it has become the subject of a bewildering assortment of approaches and interpretations. / Merrill C. Tenney has built his study on the thesiss that Revelation had a definite message for those to whom it was first written, a meaning they could comprehend because they understood the structure, imagery, and contemporary allusions in the text in ways lost to modern readers. / Now available for the first time in paperback, Interpreting Revelation attempts to recover how the book as a whole would have spoken to the ancient Christian world. In so doing, Professor Tenney applies broad interpretative principles that will enable readers to think through the book for themselves and to formulate their own conclusions.

Genres: Religion, New Testament

1970 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Theology · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a thorough commentary on the Book of Revelation.

From historical archeology to modern day usage
from structure summaries to commentary on every vision,
from chronological to eschatoliogical methods
...

The deep study that has been put in this work will just blow you away.
But this did not keep the author from really making HIS OWN work of this.

I can keep on writing but just in short,
this book contains everything you need to know/an excellent foundation to build your own view of Revelation on.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Merrill C. Tenney was an ordained Baptist preacher and a highly educated man. He earned his Th.B. from Gordon College of Theology and Missions, his A.M. from Boston University, and his Ph.D. in Biblical and Patristic Greek from Harvard University. He was on the original translation team for the New American Standard Bible and was the general editor of the Zondervan Pictorial Bible Dictionary, which I have used in my Bible studies for many years. I've just finished reading Dr. Tenney's commentary on Revelation. Although he takes the Premillennialist view in his interpretation, there is much good information in the book. He gives a fine explanation and history of the amillennial, postmillennial, and premillennial schools of thought, better than I've seen anywhere. His comments on the 7 beatitudes in the Revelation are insightful. I learned how Premillennialists arrive at some of their flawed interpretations of the Revelation by reading Dr. Tenney's book. The book is short, non-technical, and very easy to read and will serve in my studies in the future.

[Ramir Mendoza · Rating 5 out of 5]

a great book

[Michael Brennan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very helpful introduction. It outlined the various perspectives. I thought it would've been more helpful as a larger work, but this was an excellent introductory text.