Revelation: A Commentary

by Brian K. Blount

The book of Revelation is one of the most complicated in the New Testament. The book calls for a prophetic reaction to the world and uses some of the most violent language of the entire Bible. Brian Blount's commentary provides a sure and confident guide through these difficult and sometimes troubling passages, seeing Revelation as a prophetic intervention and at the same time an awe-inspiring swirl of frightening violence and breathtaking hope. The New Testament Library offers authoritative commentary on every book and major aspect of the New Testament, as well as classic volumes of scholarship. The commentaries in this series provide fresh translations based on the best available ancient manuscripts, offer critical portrayals of the historical world in which the books were created, pay careful attention to their literary design, and present a theologically perceptive exposition of the text.

488 pages, Hardcover

First published May 4, 2009

About the author

Brian K. Blount is president and professor of New Testament at Union Presbyterian Seminary, Richmond, VA, and Charlotte, NC. He was called to this position in 2007, after serving for 15 years as the Richard J. Dearborn Professor of New Testament Interpretation at Princeton Theological Seminary.
An M.Div. graduate of Princeton Seminary in 1981, he obtained his B.A. from the College of William and Mary in 1978. After graduating from Princeton Seminary, he went on to become the pastor of the Carver Memorial Presbyterian Church in Newport News, Virginia from 1982-1988. William and Mary’s first African-American to receive membership in the Alpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society, he received his Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from Emory University in 1992. He returned to teach at Princeton Seminary the same year.
Professor Blount’s primary work has been in the Gospel of Mark, the Book of Revelation and in the area of cultural studies and hermeneutics. He is the author of six books.
His most recent work, Invasion of the Dead: Preaching Resurrection (WJK 2014), is based on his 2011 Yale Beecher Lectures. In 2010, his Revelation commentary was voted the 2009 top reference work by the Academy of Parish Clergy. He has also edited a volume of essays on worship with Leonora Tubbs Tisdale entitled Making Room at the Table: An Invitation to Multicultural Worship (WJK, 2000). He is also the coauthor of a book with Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann and theologian William C. Placher entitled Struggling With Scripture (WJK, 2001). He has also co-authored the book Preaching The Gospel of Mark in Two Voices (WJK, 2002) with Gary W. Charles, the pastor of Central Presbyterian Church in Atlanta, GA. He is an editor of The Discipleship Study Bible, also by Westminster John Knox (2008). As a part of his work for the Bible, he has also written the introduction and notes for Mark and Matthew. He is an associate editor of the New Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible for Abingdon Press. He is also the general editor for True To Our Native Land: An African American New Testament Commentary by Fortress Press.
The author of numerous articles, he also preaches and directs adult education classes in local congregations. He is married, and he and his wife, Sharon, have two children, Joshua and Kaylin.
http://www.upsem.edu/academics/facult...

Reviews

[Jimmy Reagan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brian Blount has given us this commentary on Revelation in the New Testament Library (NTL) series. Perhaps no other book of the Bible would find a shelf full of commentaries on it to so diverge as does Revelation, so we enter any such commentary with our seat belts tightly fastened. As you would expect with the NTL series, you will also get a critical outlook. That being said, this volume was pleasantly a little more moderate in places than I expected. For comparison, it has far more value than the OTL volume on Daniel, which is the most prophetic book of the Old Testament. It doesn’t match my views on prophecy at all, but there is some real exegetical help for words and phrases, some fine background material, and some thoughtful theology. He delves deeply into the idea of persecution so you will have what you need to formulate your ideas on that angle as well.

The Introduction begins with the theological focus. His saying “John writes in anger” might be a little much, but his discussion of justice, judgment, and anger has real insight. When he discusses authorship, he can accept that a “John” probably wrote, though he isn’t sure which one. He dates the book at the year 95. His section on social setting was quite thorough and helpful. If you enjoy studying genre, he goes into much detail here as well. There are an outline and a brief overview of structure. He concludes his Introduction with a cursory glance at the text of Revelation.

There are almost 400 pages of commentary on Revelation that follows in the strengths (exegesis, background, and theology) and weaknesses (too critical in places) mentioned above. Still, if you asked me to recommend the best critical commentary on Revelation, I’d likely choose this substantial commentary.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fascinating commentary on the biblical book of Revelation. There were some thoughts in the book that had never occurred to me before. The author insists that the focus of the book is to encourage believers to persist in witnessing to the authority of God and Jesus Christ, even in the face of the threat of death by execution. In fact, the apocalyptic nature of much of the book is seen by the author as being intentionally concocted to scare early believers (and non-believers, too!) into witnessing to avoid the gruesome alternative. Most significantly, the author explains that John's visions do not include a vision of rapture. Rather, the believers are present throughout the course of the events that unfold. The author sees the idea of the rapture as contrary to God's will for God's creation: the transformation of creation and the advent of the new heaven and the new earth as the transformation of the same. The descent of the New Jerusalem is seen as further evidence that God means to transform creation according to his will. Fascinating read.

[Chris Holmes]

My recommended commentary on Revelation.

[Terry Eum · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great work by my seminary president!!

[Michael Cox]

This is a really helpful commentary––especially for preachers and especially in conjunction with Beale and Osborne's volumes.