Seven Congregations in a Roman Crucible: A Commentary on Revelation 1-3

While commentaries continue to be published on the book of Revelation few if any attempt to interpret the Apocalypse in light of the political historical and cultural setting of Johns original audience. The purpose of Seven Congregations in a Roman Crucibile is to provide fresh and illuminating exegesis of Revelation that takes seriously ancient literary and archaeological evidences. This book seeks to bring the reader into the world of Johns Apocalypse with pictures of numerous sites and artifacts from the first and early second centuries AD. Moreover the book also attempts to interpret John and his message through the lens of the Jewish prophetic tradition of Isaiah Jeremiah Daniel Ezekiel and other pertinent Second Temple works. Thus John stands in the prophetic heritage of Israel in his attempt to challenge threaten admonish and praise the seven churches of Roman Asia whose members are suffering at the hands of the idolatrous Graeco-Roman culture in which they reside.