Who Wrote the Book of Revelation?

Buy the summary chart as a poster:

Complete series in one video:

Individual episodes:

Recommended Reading:
* Alter, Robert (2011). The Art of Biblical Narrative. Basic Books.
* Baden, Joel (2012). The Composition of the Pentateuch: Renewing the Documentary Hypothesis. Yale University Press.
* Coogan, Michael (2001) The Oxford History of the Biblical World. Oxford University Press
* Finkelstein, Israel & Neil Asher Silberman (2001). The Bible Unearthed. Free Press.
* Kugel, James (2007). How to Read the Bible. Free Press.
* Stein, Robert H. (2001). Studying the Synoptic Gospels: Origin and Interpretation. Baker Academic.

Credits:
Charts & Narration by Matt Baker, PhD
Animation by Syawish Rehman
Audio by Jack Rackam

[wingless]

I love the ownership. “My Cult…”. You rock dude.

[Martinj]

Great video. I also grew up in a cult. Jehovah’s witnesses. They looked to Daniel and revelation as proof of god’s people and that we are living in the end times. My wife and I left 6 years ago. All of my family will not talk to us even to this day. Your videos are so helpful. I have leaned so much about the Bible.

[SamAronow]

Those are some fine-looking posters! Kudos to whomever designed them!

[JenneeB]

I have really loved this series. Thanks for all the hard work. A big thanks for how respectful you were to us Christians. 😇

[ryanc]

Even as a relatively conservative Christian I really enjoyed this series. I’m sure some of the content may have shook some peoples faith a bit, but I try to have an open mind! I learned a lot! God bless!

[ImDatchic]

Thank u 4 sharing. My family USED to be apart of WWCG too. It feels good to be alive NOW & introduced to other ways of interpreting information. Appreciate u.

[anarlote]

It's interesting how thematically close apocalyptic literature is to the modern 20th century dystopian genre, (e.g. 1984, Brave New World) in how they connect present actions and attitudes with future consequences to create a moral message on how we should act to change our fate.

[victorcsavage]

I don't know if you will ever read this, but this video helped me answer a Quizbowl question in a tournament last year. The moderator read a line about a statue made of verious materials and I recognized that it must be from Daniel, and that answer really helped us win that round. So if nothing else, thank you for making this video and giving me the info needed to do well in that game.

[janmelantu]

“Αποκάλυψις simply means an uncovering” a Revelation, if you will

[adammarktaylor]

The 666 and 616 distinction isn't about which translation is better, rather there are different manuscripts, some which say 666 and some which say 616, so there is some debate over which is original.

One theory that makes sense to me is that the number was deliberately changed in manuscripts that were produced for an audience more familiar with the Latin form of Nero's name, rather than the Greek.

[t_ylr]

I remember in college I took a class on Biblical Greek and the teacher said something that always stuck with me. He said, "The Bible was written for you, but not to you." I feel like that is most true of Revelation haha. One really cool thing I've read about Revelation is that the structure of the book mirrors the early church liturgy. That context is totally missing in the Charismatic Pentecostal church that I grew up in. Revelation is one of those books that tends to mean whatever the reader thinks it means.

[micheasz]

Topic of ancient apocalyptic literature is extremely intersting. It's a shame that people often tend to think about it as a blurred future-telling, rather than as a refined, alegorical, complex genre of literature it was. I would love to see in a future an analysis of other apocalyptic works, such as Oracle of the Potter from hellenistic Egypt

[AdamEmond]

This was a great series to binge. Thank you!

[kingshelomah]

Great video as always! I think part of the problem that comes from interpreting the information in these books is that people believe that they are images of the future, rather than it being advice and encouragement for people in the present.

[brochill]

Finally!! I didn’t know I could hold my breath for this long but seriously, thank you.

[Vatogouki]

I’ve been dying to here info on the Bible presented like this and I have learned so much in just a day of binge watching. 🙏 Thanks

[camilohiche]

That statue has some shredded abs, damn...

Also, that picture of the combined lion-bear-leopard-triceratops monster would make for an excellent badass heavy metal artwork or tattoo.

[wezza]

I really appreciate the fact that you bring this as neutral as you can and give multiple explanations for the verses. This really helps me to make up my own mind about it.

[Nooticus]

What an exceptional series! Far and away the best religious history series ever made on YouTube that I’ve seen! This is incredible Matt!

[MrsJohnsonListing]

I grew up as a witness (jehovah's witnesses). Everything you're saying is literally my entire childhood, especially the breakdown of who is being represented in the different parts of the statue 😳