★★★★★
If you’ve read other books in the Baker Exegetical series, you know pretty much what to expect here: Deep analysis with appreciation for multiple scholarly viewpoints, and every effort made to provide a precise interpretation. Often, this means resorting to the original New Testament Greek, which does make the text difficult to read … especially if you don’t know any Greek! You don’t have to, but if you know just enough Greek to be dangerous, without being a scholar of Biblical languages, this book will be perfect for you.
This approach, with liberal references back to the Old Testament, is particularly appropriate for one book of the Bible: Revelation. Its deep symbolism makes it a daunting book for most Bible readers.
In my own book about Revelation (http://www.thewayithappened.com) I discuss primarily the historical setting of which John of Patmos wrote. I believe the only way to truly understand Revelation is to first immerse yourself into the beliefs and struggles of first-century Christianity in Asia Minor (where the seven churches of Revelation reside). But when you’re ready to dig deeper into the Apocalypse’s Hebrew roots and symbolism, this is a great book … whether read as a complete study or used as a reference. Osborne doesn’t neglect the historical essentials, he just delves much deeper and takes a much more scholarly approach. It must have taken forever to compile. 869 pages with plenty of ink on each.
Five stars for Osborne’s vast, no-nonsense research, a necessity for every Revelation scholar.
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