The Theology, Christology and Pneumatology of The Book of Revelation

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The Theology, Christology, and Pneumatology of the Book of Revelation are highly reflective of the social, political and religious context in which the book was written. Within the text, we find expressed the views of an author, and Christian community in general, challenged by the power and ideology of Rome, as well as having to re-imagine and re-comprehend their God, and divinity in general, in light of the revelation of Jesus Christ and the work of the Spirit among them.

Before beginning this investigation it is important that we define as much as possible what is meant by ‘how God, Christ and the Spirit are portrayed’. The exploration of these figures holds an established set of names within Christian thought, specifically Theology, Christology, and Pneumatology. In this circumstance, Theology, which in general convention may contain all of these distinction, is defined more precisely as the way John understands God, or what Trinitarian Christianity would identify as God the Father. If we then use the base definition of Theology as ‘talk about God’, and extend this to both Christology and Pneumatology, we assemble a clearer idea of what we intend to do in this essay. Through examining the way in which John describes these three entities, God, Christ and the Spirit, as well as what they say and do, we will elicit the way in which John understands the heavenly realm and the divine being, as well as where Christ and the Spirit fit within it.

Having clarified the matters of Theology, Christology, and Pneumatology, let us now move on to explore the Theology of the Book of Revelation, that is, the way in which John, and so the book, understands God. The Theology of Revelation, according to Bauckham, is highly context...

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