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The Letters to Seven Churches: Updated Edition

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At the beginning of the Book of Revelation are "letters" to churches in seven cities of Asia Minor, praising, rebuking and admonishing their congregations and disclosing how Christ views their works.

To the modern reader, these prefatory letters may seem as riddling as the symbol-filled apocalyptic visions that make up the bulk of the book. But the "seven churches" existed in real locales, and Sir William Ramsay shows how the letters addressed to them acutely reflect local circumstances.

Ramsay (1851-1939) was a prominent archeologist specializing in Greek and Roman Asia Minor. He was also a prolific writer on early Church history. "The Letters to the Seven Churches" is a superb synthesis of these areas of expertise. Its first part surveys what can be known of the places, peoples and institutions of late First Century Asia Minor. Ramsay then proceeds to analyze each of the letters, first recounting pertinent aspects of the city's history and geography, then relating those to the biblical text. The connections are always interesting and often illuminating.

Inevitably, speculative elements creep in. Ramsay infers much more about the "Nicolaitans", whom the letters denounce in unrestrained terms, than the evidence seems to warrant, and his statements about the "Flavian persecution", whose very existence is doubted by many scholars, should be read with caution.

Ramsay took the traditionalist side in the scholarly debates concerning the early Church, but this work is not in a controversial vein. Modernists need not fear that perusing it will undermine their faith, and everyone who is interested in what Christianity looked like in its earliest days will learn much from its pages.

This book is a classic, and for good reason. Scholars writing on The Revelation all refer to it. What makes this book special is that Ramsay spent years in the region doing research. His first-hand observations of the area and his explanations of the culture are unique. I also like that he is straight-forward in presenting his opinions. Even if I don't always agree with him, I have no doubts about what he is saying or why.

This book was written many years ago and I am sure there have been archeological discoveries since it was written, but the analysis of the letters remains good and it was perfect for a recent trip to Turkey led by a seminary professor during which we visited all of the sites of the seven churches - one of which is still an intact tell recently identified. I enjoyed reading the book and have purchased another book by this author on Paul's missionary journeys.

This book has been very helpful to me in my Bible Study class on Revelation.