The Book of Revelation is the hardest book to read in the whole New Testament, Ancient churchmen found it so; it took a debate that lasted three hundred years to get it included in our sacred book. It is the hardest book for contemporary Christians to interpret. Some of us dismiss it out of hand. Some of us insist it is an infallible road map into our future.This little handbook takes neither of those positions. It is simply presented to help the reader know what its text says, and especially what it meant to the people who first read it. To do that, Harry W. Eberts, Jr. includes short vignettes written by interpreters he has come to trust during his career as a Protestant pastor. Harry was ordained by the Presbyterian Church, USA, serving churches in California, Illinois, and Ohio. He taught at San Francisco Theological Seminary and the Coptic Evangelical Church in both Cairo and Alexandria, Egypt. His special interest in the New Testament has inspired a series of twelve books on the Early Jesus Movement.
What have generations of New Testament scholars been hiding from us over all the ages? Harry and Paul Eberts challenge readers to rethink the New Testament. Most scholars have presumed there was a reasonably unified movement among the Christian churches led by Peter, Paul, James, and Philip immediately following Jesus' death and resurrection. The Eberts suggest that at least four parties vied with each other to attract converts to the belief that Jesus is the Christ: Peter/James/Stephen, Philip, and Apollos/ and Paul and Barnabas. Up to now, most scholars have presumed the Gospels to be at least somewhat "additive" in developing the character of Jesus. The Eberts suggest that each Gospel represents the viewpoint of one of the four parties, thus presenting differing views of the meaning of Jesus' life, his death, and his resurrection. There has been the regular presumption that St. Paul's letters were unified statements of his views of beliefs, behaviors, and practices in the early churches. The Eberts instead suggest that the letters show a shifting over time in Paul's theology and ethics as the apostles struggled with the other three Christian parties and with Gentiles to convert nonbelievers to Christianity. Harry and Paul Eberts are brothers devoted to researching the New Testament. Both are Yale Divinity School graduates.
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