Customer Reviews

The End : a Study of the Book of Revelation

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Dr. Scott Hahn has given us both a great tribute to the ancient yet ever refreshingly new orthodox interpretation of the Bible and a clear and truly prophetic pastoral guide to this exciting Book of Revelation. He is truly at the forefront of present and future Catholics becoming Catholic Bible-believing Christians and of spirit-filled Bible-believing Protestants becoming Catholic. This study pays a fair homage to all the schools of thought regarding the interpretation of the book of Revelation; and in doing so, Dr. Hahn gives Catholic, Mainline Protestant, Evangelical, Orthodox Christian and especially Fundamentalist listeners a lesson of a true all-encompassing Universal (Catholic) interpretation of the Bible, which is objetively the very best and sound way of reading, studying and being blessed by it. Dr. Hahn is the prototype of the "should-be" Catholic laymen, i.e. - Christ-centered, Word of God-sort-of-guy, intellectually-gifted and loyal to the Magisterium of the Church. This last characteristic demonstrates the obedience to Christ's true teachers of His doctrine and the person's humbleness and rejection of the "I do not need human intermediaries" slogan, which is nothing but a disguised cry to pride and consequently an attitude that certainly does not come from the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Few books have generated as much execrable exegesis as the last book of the New Testament, and recent decades have seen an explosion in millennialist eisegesis, especially by sects established over the past century or so. It was therefore with some, er, tribulation, that I approached this study. I was not disappointed -- this is indeed a compelling and convincing review of St John's Apocalypse. What a thrill at last to encounter an academic who applies his learning to Revelation in a way that is also consistent with the received (patristic) and magisterial interpretation(s). Hahn shows how St John's Vision is essentially his (and our) participation in the Divine and Heavenly Liturgy, which incorporates the entire soteriological drama from creation through redemption to parousia. He ably draws the OT connections to especially Ezekiel, Isaiah and Daniel, and shows how this book only makes sense in the Church, because it is written by and for the Church. Also addressed and clarified are issues that have vexed many, eg did Jesus believe the End would come in the lifetime of "this generation"? Those Christians whose church was founded in 33 AD (ie those in communion with the Apostles) will recognise many features in Revelation: scrolls being unsealed and read, letters to churches, the Gloria, bells, incense and thuribles, candles and candlesticks, the Sanctus, priestly garb, the Sacrifice of the Lamb at the Wedding Supper, the Woman Clothed with the Sun, saints and angels everywhere, and the Great Amen. What else is this but the Eucharisteisos in plenum, the New Covenant in the Lamb's Blood, which supersedes the old creation and the old convenants. Hahn's remedial hermeneutic (which, thankfully, is not an innovation, only a particularly articulate exposition) plugs in to the authentic Christian tradition. If you want to learn what Revelation really says, get this tape series. Don't pass this page without clicking "Add to my Shopping Basket" -- the subject is too important!

Another Scott Hahn masterpiece. He reads Revelation like he reads the rest of the bible, in a way that brilliantly connects the New Testament to the Old Testament. Drawing from plenty of outside sources, such as the Church Fathers and *Legends of Jerusalem*, you don't have to worry that you're getting only one man's opinion on this very complicated book.

This book of the bible is so full of weird signs and events, that it's no wonder there are hundreds of differing interpretations. It's no wonder LaHaye and Jenkins can make millions on a series like *Left Behind*. It's no wonder people are still scanning the headlines (especially after 9/11/01) to see if they can tell who The Beast is, when the 666 is coming, if the AntiChrist has finally arrived.

Scott Hahn brings the book back into it's original context: 1st century Jerusalem. Suddenly, the book isn't quite so hard to interpret, because we're looking back and interpreting, in a sense, based on "old newspaper headlines," not looking to future newspaper headlines. This gives us an incredible benefit!

Hahn reveals his own personal view about the binding of Satan as well - a view I've never heard anywhere else. It comes at the end of the study, and I don't want to give it away, but it'll spin your head for sure!

Get this series, and you'll be much better prepared for the real "end times."

I've listened to this entire tape series twice, and I highly recommend it for the following reasons. First, Dr. Hahn produces the greatest number of connections I've ever heard between the Old Testament, the apocalyptic passages in the synoptic Gospels and St. John's Apocalypse providing maximum insight to what the early Christians, who were Jewish converts, would have heard in the visions. He proceeds to tie these insights into the events directly experienced by the early Church in the 1st century, culminating in the destruction and fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D.

Secondly, he presents these explanations in a very rich, exciting way which is eminently practical for the lay Christian, the clergy-man or the Theologian. He cites sources regularly for the listener who wishes to dig deeper.

Lastly, it is the most even-handed treatment of interpretive views which are not his own. His counter-arguments to other interpretations cite biblical, historical and empirical evidence, not merely denominational or political opinions. For example, he never condemns the Futurist view, believing it to have merit as the other views. However, he gives examples of how often in the past the those who have applied specific prophecies to world events have been proven wrong. Well worth the investment in time and cost; everyone should take away something regardless of interpretive prejudices at the start.

Dr. Hahn, who has personally esposed many of the Historicist, Preterist, Futurist, and Spiritual/Idealist views of Rev. 1-19, as well as Premillennial, Postmillenial and Amillennial interpretations of Rev. 20, in this tape series shows the fundamental basis for interpreting Revelation is a postmillenial preterist view. He then uses the spiritual senses of scripture to illustrate how to arrive at proper methods of interpreting Revelation to arrive at the Historicist, Futurist, and Idealist views. Since in this view the millenium already occurred, the view is similar to the Amillenial view, yet is Postmillenial. Given the riches of this point of view, one can now understand why a premillenial view (such as that exposed by Timothy LeHaye author of the Left Behind series) is biblically inconsistent (just look at Rev 1:1). After all the biblical author said ~2000 years ago it must occur soon and it did (God cannot lie or error - if God says something it must happen). Dr. Hahn explains how it happened and gives scholarly references that support his view. Dr Hahn uses the type of the End and the judgement to form the Analogical sense in which the each of the other views (Historical, Futurist, and Idealist) is properly viewed. Finally he unviews the bride of Christ, the Catholic Church, which has been wed to Him in the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist.

First, a heads up: I hear tell that it's excellent publisher is now producing this series in a CD format w/ special study guide.

Second, and in any event, I couldn't recommend more highly Scott Hahn's work on the Apocalypse -- /especially/ when used in conjunction with one or more of the following books:

(a) Michael Barber's /Coming Soon: Unlocking the Book of Revelation and Applying Its Lessons Today/ (Emmaus Road)

(b) David B. Currie's /Rapture: The End-Times Error that Leaves the Bible Behind/ (Sophia Institute) -- This book is far more than "just" a "Left Behind" refutation (though it is that): it also provides a detailed yet easily understandable interpretation of the two most eschatologically-charged Books within Scripture -- Daniel and Revelation.

(c) Further, there is now (at long last) a book giving the disguised "liberal" ideologues a run for their money with respect to the Book of Daniel -- and Daniel **exclusively**. The author, John S. Evans, does this in an eminently scholarly fashion that is, at the same time, widely accessible to the lay reader. Though written from the perspective of one who is non-Catholic, it dovetails beautifully with Hahn, Barber and Currie (in the respective works noted above). Also, while Currie engages in incisive exegesis of the Book of Daniel, Evans's analysis of Daniel is book-length in character and thus allows for greater space to be dedicated to defending/interpreting Daniel and the Book of Daniel *alone*. What results is an analysis of the authorship, dating and eschatological implications of said Book that is far more detailed than any other I've come across. (Nevertheless, Evans and Currie greatly complement one another, with both contributing -- each in their own unique fashion -- to a sound and strong defense and exegesis of this, one of the most assailed Books within the Old Testament.) Entitled /The Four Kingdoms of Daniel: A Defense of the "Roman" Sequence With AD 70 Fulfillment/, please see my review of this powerful work for further details (the bottom line being that the purchasing this book is imperative for truly appreciating the prophetic and eschatological import [past and future] of this most awesome of works of Holy Writ.)

The previous three recommendations (as well as Hahn's series itself) are brought forth utilizing a theory that has come to be known as "preterism" --that theory which argues for various prophesied events having already been, in some fashion, fulfilled -- *while by no means /necessarily/ indicating a past fulfillment of /all/ eschatological prophecies*. "Partial-preterist" is usually the name given to those who (a) espouse some past fulfillment of eschatalogical prophecies while (b) deny the theory espoused by "total preterists" that absolutely all prophecies related to the "end times" have been exhaustively fulfilled.

Nevertheless, another preteristic theory may be brought forth -- also compatible (just as is "partial preterism") with the traditional, historic Christian faith on the End Times: i.e., that *all* of the eschatological prophecies have *in one or another sense* been fulfilled, but /not/ in **final, exhaustive or superlative** fashion -- the latter being another fulfillment that is yet to come. As Hahn, Barber and Currie are each at pains to point out, "multiple fulfillments" of prophecy may be instanced throughout salvation history by way of events of the past acting -- through the Sovereign Lord of history -- as "types" of things yet to come. Accordingly, we can indeed allow for both a full-throttled preterism as well as a futuristic outlook with respect to the Eschaton.

(d) With this caveat, I introduce my last recommendation (a work that has been vouched for by EWTN, Father William Most and many other orthodox theologians, living and deceased): I speak of Desmond Birch's /Trial, Tribulation and Triumph: Before, During and After Antichrist/; this voluminous tome is one of those exceedingly rare books able to suggest a plausible perspective regarding a **futurist** eschatological scenario that is, at the same time, perfectly orthodox in its perspective (maintaining fidelity to the Scriptures and to the variety of testimonies to the Living Tradition of the Church - from the Fathers and Doctors all the way up to the recent 1997 universal Catechism). True enough, Birch does not approach eschatological matters using any sort of preterism, but what I hope to have indicated in the preceding paragraphs is that the two outlooks on eschatology are indeed compatible.

At any rate, I hope to have provided some direction for those who are presently wandering in (to mix metaphors) the "seas" of the eschatological "wilderness".

A lot of commentators have attempted to create a study of the book of Revelation that would take into account all of scripture. Some have done so with varying degrees of success but none so well, in my view, as Dr. Hahn.

Dr. Hahn's careful and well-reasoned study takes the preterist (primarily first-century fulfillment) hypothesis and makes the case quite convincingly. At the same time, he does well to point out the strengths of other views that help shed light on ways it describes an "already but not yet" view of church history. Further, Dr. Hahn draws on, what now seems obvious, analogies to Christian liturgy as a recurring theme in the book. See also his book or EWTN video series, _The Lamb's Supper_ for more on the liturgical connections.

Having studied the various views of this difficult topic, my conclusion is that Dr. Hahn has done the best job yet of explaining the mysteries it contains and plumbing the deepest depths to provide the greatest appreciation we might have for it. If you had time for but one study on the book of Revelation, this would be your best choice. Dr. Hahn's discussion is clear, well-researched, and inspiring. No student of eschatology can afford to ignore this study.

I thought Mr. Hahn did a great job on this tape set on explaining the book of Revelation. However I feel some of his interpretations about the forthcoming battle at Armageddon was wrong. He basically believes the extent of the book of Revelation is about the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.I only wish he was correct. I'd like to believe in no end time battle at Armageddon but its hard for me to accept.He did however get me thinking about prophesy with a different prospective. I don't believe in a end time rapture like most prodestands believe myself. I agree wih him there. But it's hard for me to accept everything in the first 20 chapters of Revelation has already taken place. I would recommend the tape set but just keep an open mind when you hear it. So, I give it three stars I half agree and half disagree with the teaching.

Unfortunately, I haven't actually read this book, but what I must recommend to all those who are considering buying this book is to purchase a copy of DH Lawrence's 'Apocalypse'. Within, he attacks some elements of the book of Revelation, but embraces others, such as the image of man 'living breast to breast with the cosmos'. For many years man has not been able to achieve such a goal, Buy it and see if it's still possible..