{"id":3771,"date":"2018-05-08T00:00:33","date_gmt":"2018-05-08T06:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/2010\/11\/interpreting-revelation\/"},"modified":"2018-05-08T18:14:26","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T00:14:26","slug":"interpreting-revelation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markmallett.com\/blog\/interpreting-revelation\/","title":{"rendered":"Interpreting Revelation","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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WITHOUT <\/strong>a doubt, the Book of Revelation is one of the most controversial in all of Sacred Scripture. On one end of the spectrum are fundamentalists who take every word literally or out of context. On the other are those who believe the book has already been fulfilled in the first century or who ascribe to the book a merely allegorical interpretation.<\/p>\n

But what about future times, our<\/em> times? Does Revelation have anything to say? Unfortunately, there is a modern tendency among many clergy and theologians to relegate discussion of the prophetic aspects of the Apocalypse to the loony bin, or simply dismiss the notion of comparing our times to these prophecies as dangerous, too complicated, or altogether misguided.<\/p>\n

There’s only one problem with that stance, however. It flies in the face of the living Tradition of the Catholic Church and the very words of the Magisterium itself.<\/p>\n

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TWO CRISES<\/p>\n

One might wonder why there is such a hesitation to reflect upon the more obvious prophetic passages of Revelation. I believe it has to do with a general crisis of faith in God’s Word.<\/p>\n

There are two major crises in our times when it comes to sacred Scripture. One is that Catholics don’t read and pray with the bible enough. The other is that the Scriptures have been sterilized, dissected, and \"\"diffused by modern exegesis as merely a historical piece of literature rather than the living <\/em>Word of God. This mechanical approach is one of the defining crises of our time, for it has paved the way for heresy, modernism, and irreverence; it has smothered mysticism, misguided seminarians, and in some if not many cases, shipwrecked the faith of the faithful\u2014clergy and laymen alike. If God is no longer the Lord of miracles, of charisms, of Sacraments, of new Pentecosts and spiritual gifts that renew and build up the Body of Christ… what is He the God of exactly? Intellectual discourse and impotent liturgy?<\/p>\n

In a carefully worded Apostolic Exhortation, Benedict XVI\u00a0pointed out the good as well as the bad aspects of the historical-critical method of biblical exegesis. He notes that a spiritual\/theological interpretation is essential and complimentary to an\u00a0historical analysis:<\/p>\n

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Unfortunately, a sterile separation sometimes creates a barrier between exegesis and theology, and this \u201c occurs even at the highest academic levels \u201d<\/strong>. \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini<\/em>, n.34<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

“The highest academic levels.” <\/em>Those levels are often the seminarian level of study meaning that future priests have often been taught a distorted view of Scripture, which in turn has led to…<\/p>\n

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Generic and abstract homilies which obscure the directness of God\u2019s word… as well as useless digressions which risk drawing greater attention to the preacher than to the heart of the Gospel message. <\/strong>\u2014Ibid. n. 59<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

One young priest recounted to me how the seminary he attended had so dismantled Scripture that it left the impression that God did not exist. He said many of his friends who did not have his previous formation entered the seminary excited about becoming saints… but after formation, they were completely stripped of their zeal by the modernist heresies they were taught… yet, they became priests. If the shepherds are myopic, what happens to the sheep?<\/p>\n

Pope Benedict seems to criticize this very type of biblical analysis, pointing out the serious consequences of limiting oneself to a strictly historical view of the Bible. He notes in particular that the vacuum of a faith-based interpretation of Scripture has often been filled by a secular understanding and philosophy such that…<\/p>\n

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…whenever a divine element seems present, it has to be explained in some other way, reducing everything to the human element… Such a position can only prove harmful to the life of the Church, casting doubt over fundamental mysteries of Christianity and their historicity\u2014as, for example, the institution of the Eucharist and the resurrection of Christ…<\/strong> \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation, Verbum Domini<\/em>, n.34<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

What does this have to do with the Book of Revelation and a present-day interpretation of its prophetic vision? We cannot view Revelation as merely a historical text.<\/em> It is the living<\/em> Word of God. It speaks to us on many levels. But one, as we will see, is the prophetic aspect for today<\/em>\u2014a level of interpretation strangely rejected by many Scripture scholars.<\/p>\n

But not by the popes.<\/p>\n

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REVELATION AND TODAY<\/p>\n

Ironically, it was Pope Paul VI who used a passage from St. John’s prophetic vision to describe, in part, this very crisis of faith in the Word of God.<\/p>\n

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The tail of the devil is functioning in the disintegration of the Catholic\"\" world. The darkness of Satan has entered and spread throughout the Catholic Church even to its summit. Apostasy, the loss of the faith, is spreading throughout the world and into the highest levels within the Church<\/strong>. \u2014Address on the Sixtieth Anniversary of the Fatima Apparitions, October 13, 1977<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It was Paul VI was alluding to Revelation Chapter 12:<\/p>\n

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Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems. Its tail swept away a third of the stars in the sky and hurled them down to the earth. (Rev 12:3-4)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In the first Chapter, St. John sees a vision of Jesus holding seven star<\/em>s in His right hand:<\/p>\n

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…the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. (Rev 1:20). <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The most likely interpretation given by biblical scholars is that these angels or stars represent the bishops\u00a0or pastors presiding over the seven Christian communities. Thus, Paul VI is referring to apostasy <\/em>within the ranks of the clergy who are “swept away.” And, as we read in 2 Thess 2, the apostasy precedes and accompanies the “lawless one” or Antichrist whom the Church Fathers also referred to as the “beast” in Revelation 13.<\/p>\n

John Paul II also made a direct comparison of our times to the twelfth chapter of Revelation by drawing a parallel to the battle between the culture of life<\/em> and the culture of death<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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This struggle parallels the apocalyptic combat described in [Rev 11:19-12:1-6, 10 on the battle between” the woman clothed with the sun” and the “dragon”]. Death battles against Life: a \u201cculture of death\u201d seeks to impose itself on our desire to live, and live to the full\u2026<\/strong>\u00a0 \u2014POPE JOHN PAUL II, Cherry Creek State Park Homily, Denver, Colorado, 1993<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In fact, St. John Paul II explicitly assigns the Apocalypse\u00a0to the future…<\/p>\n

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The “enmity,” foretold at the beginning, is confirmed in the Apocalypse (the book of the final events of the Church and the world), in which there recurs the sign of the “woman,” this time “clothed with the sun” (Rev. 12:1).\u00a0<\/strong>\u2014<\/em>POPE JOHN PAUL II,\u00a0Redemptoris Mater,\u00a0<\/em>n. 11 (note: text in parenthesis are the Pope’s own words)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Neither did Pope Benedict hesitate to step into the prophetic territory of Revelation applying it to our times:<\/p>\n

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This fight in which we find ourselves\u2026 [against] powers that destroy the world, are spoken of in chapter 12 of Revelation\u2026 It is said that the dragon directs a great stream of water against the fleeing woman, to sweep her away\u2026 I think that it is easy to interpret what the river stands for: it is these currents that dominate everyone, and want to eliminate the faith of the Church, which seems to have nowhere to stand before the power of these currents that impose themselves as the only way of thinking, the only way of life.<\/strong> \u2014POPE BENEDICT XVI, first session of the special synod on the Middle East, October 10th, 2010 <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Pope Francis echoed those thoughts when he specifically referred to a novel on the Antichrist,\u00a0Lord of the World.\u00a0<\/em>He compared it to our times and the “ideological colonization” taking place that demands of everyone “the\u00a0single thought<\/em>. And this sole thought is the fruit of worldliness… This\u2026 is called apostasy.”[1]<\/sup><\/a>Homily, November 18th, 2013;\u00a0Zenit<\/span><\/span>