Abstract
This monograph is the published form a PhD thesis written at the University of Durham under the supervision of Prof. Loren Stuckenbruck and Dr William Telford. The central argument of the book is that the rhetoric against wealth in Revelation is not in reaction against idolatry and social injustices, but stems from traditional Jewish ideas found in the Second Temple period. Namely, the view that the poor are righteous, while the rich are intrinsically wicked.
The study is divided into three sections. The first contains the introductory chapter. Mathews takes points of difference between those who advocate that the rhetoric against wealth in Revelation is formulated in response to the social world of Roman Asia Minor as an indicator that one should look to the Hebrew Bible as the formative influence on John’s discussion of the topic (pp. 21-22). In many ways this reaction and his discussion appear to have swung the pendulum back too far in the opposite direction. Instead of recognising that Revelation was written in a social world where there was a network of influences both from Jewish ideas and Greco-Roman culture, one feels that the latter has now been totally ignored almost in line with the ideological belief that early Christian writings and ideas can be understood exclusive via perspectives gleaned from Second Temple Judaism and the Hebrew Bible.
In fairness Mathews’ handling of Second Temple sources in the second part of the study is informative and the material is handled with sensitivity. Three chapters are devoted to examining material found among the Qumran cache of manuscripts. These texts include the Aramaic Levi Document, early Enoch traditions, Sirach, 4QInstruction, Two Spirits Treatise, Damascus Document, Community Rule, War Scroll, Pesher Habakkuk, and the Hodayot. Another chapter in this section examines other Jewish literature, including later Enoch traditions and the Sibylline Oracles. Having examined these texts Mathews comes to the conclusion that Deuteronomistic traditions enable the author of Revelation to draw upon a theology of retribution, ‘most importantly the blessings and curses – when speaking about wealth or the rich’ (p. 137). Having set up this interpretative framework, in part three Matthews reads Revelation in light of this retributive theology drawn from Deuteronomistic traditions (chapters 6-8). In his conclusion, Mathews states the reason for his focus on Dead Sea Scrolls texts. He argues that withdrawal from the established economic system is part of Revelation’s rhetoric of obedience. Alongside this Mathews states, ‘[h]ow this manifests itself may be best understood when viewed alongside the concrete expression of sectarian ideology evidenced in the Dead Sea community’ (p. 223). This insight may also be the weakness of the study. There are significant differences between the social location of the DSS community and the communities to whom Revelation is addressed. The former was some kind of renewal movement within the parent Jewish religion, the latter were seen as deviant by the wider Greco-Roman society.
While there is much to be learnt from this careful study, the decision to read the rhetoric against wealth from a purely Jewish and largely Qumranic perspective limits the overall persuasiveness of the study.