Revelations Books

This is the biography on Blind Willie Johnson that is long overdue! D. N. Blakey has written the most extensive History/Biography of the Great Guitar Evangelist in existence! Blind Willie is also one of my Music Heroes; in my opinion, the greatest Blues/Gospel slide guitarists/vocalist that ever lived! Blakey uses all known facts,personal observations from the music itself(All 30 Song recordings are examined here in Detail)and even little known facts about His only Known offspring,Ms. Sam Faye Kelly, and others to create a fantastic biography of one of America's Music legends. A MUST HAVE!!!

Wonderful and inspiring , 17 Sep 2007
By Perry ""artist and songwriter"" (Sweden) - See all my reviews

You get both the history of Blind Willie AND the lyrics to all of his songs. A wonderful book - you can read it as a biography as well as read it while you listen to the songs. The music takes on a whole new proportion. Doesn't get much better than that!





great to know what he's singing!, 31 Aug 2007
By Phil the Fluter (Birmingham,UK) - See all my reviews

This book is obviously a labour of love. The author has transcribed all of Blind Willie's lyrics and brought us a whole new listening experience as a result. I have been enjoying Johnson's records since the 1960s. He has an amazing voice - a deep growl at times, a light tenor at others. On top of this, he is - according to almost every critic - the finest slide guitar player who ever lived. His songs are all religious; but they may as well be in a foreign language in places. Blind Willie's dialect and slurred delivery obscure a huge percentage of them. Now, at last, we know what he is singing about. Blakey has not only written the words down - he has also commented on the content: where the words come from, what they are referring to, what they mean. Take a look at the chapter on "If I Had My Way". What an awe inspiring performance from Willie! What enlightenment from Blakey! He explains the story of Samson and then links it to every line of the song, filling in the gaps, demonstrating the song's misconceptions, giving us sensible interpretations of the words. That is the strength of this publication. Okay, Blakey recounts the research concerning Johnson's life and he tells us a little about guitar tunings and such; but the backbone of the book - the main reason to read and enjoy it - is Johnson's lyrics and their meanings. They have never been so accurately interpreted before. That alone makes it a 5-star read.





blind willie johnson - the biography, 30 Aug 2007
By lilly lowe - See all my reviews

this is a great book to listen or play along with the great man's music,plus lots of background facts i didn't know...it really sends you back to the good old day's when - good music was made.
All rise for D. N. Blakey

Simply, the most comprehensive reference for the historical context and explaination for many of writing of Baha'u'llah, the prophet founder of the Baha'i Faith.

Sorry I recently sent you a review of Adib Taherzadeh's book, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah. It is possible that I accidentally included reviews for two other books in my review. I aplogise for this and trust you will edit the article accordingly.

Replacing George B. Caird's earlier volume, moderately conservative Oxford scholar Ian Boxall's has delivered a straightforward commentary of moderate length on The Revelation of Saint John* in the Black's New Testament Commentary series (Hendrickson). Far more learned than the usual non-technicality of most expositions, the introduction features an analysis of Revelation's first-century context (esp. Patmos). Boxall takes seriously the authorship of the apostle John and Revelation as prophetic-apocalyptic literature. Though mainly preterist in perspective (attaching key figures to first-century events), readers will be richly rewarded by Boxall's assertion that the apocalyptic genre is largely devoted to revealing heaven's mysteries rather than predicting future events (I consider myself a progressive dispensationalist, but the richness of symbolism evoked by Boxall enlarges my own understanding). Had I received this prior to submitting the revision of my commentary survey, I would have heartily endorsed its use; particularly together with the commentaries of Grant Osborne (evangelical, semi-technical), Stephen Smalley (moderate, technical), and Craig Keener (evangelical, expositional) until D. A. Carson's Pillar New Testament Commentary entry appears (Eerdmans). Other suggested conservative commentaries are: Greg Beale (technical), Robert Mounce (semi-technical), Alan Johnson (expositional), and Dennis Johnson (expositional).

First, I would say that I found this commentary immensely enjoyable and readable. Ian Boxall is a young scholar at Oxford university as was the late G B Caird, whose commentary he is replacing in the Black's New Testament series. I used G B Caird's commentary some ten or more years ago. I would have to say that I was far more able to interact with Ian's commentary than Caird's. Caird's commentary was a far more reflective commentary than Ian's and Caird sometimes offers almost no comment at all. In Ian's commentary I can see a young scholar struggling with the difficulties that Revelation presents to all scholars as they grapple with the many difficulties that this book brings, and as a result I found it a delight to read. He does deal with most of the alternative views and in most cases he comes to a pretty orthodox solution at least to scholars, but not the popular world. The book of Revelation is about the Church, in all its imperfection, and about its enemies, persecution from the outside and seduction from the inside.

The books format is very good, key texts are in bold. He does use his own translation of the Greek text (he calls the lampstands "menorahs"). There is a good bibliography and three indexes. He also provides 8 very useful tables. There are no footnotes, and the Greek text is not transliterated (an oversight of the editor I think, although there is not much of it). The introduction is pretty short but he covers the key points.

Ian does get the plot wrong when he says that the olive branch in Ch 11 is an emblem of peace (surely it symbolises the Holy Spirit in the witness of God's people as in Acts 1:8). But, to his credit, he says that the mighty angel of Ch 10 is not Jesus but his angel, based on Rev 1:1 and 22:16, unlike Beale who insists on calling this angel Christ, and Beale is clearly wrong here because he relies too much on Daniel and not on the text of Revelation itself. The Ch 10 angel is clearly Christ's angel.

Here are some of his other conclusions. The rider on the first horse represents false Christ's, even the antichrist. The 144,000 is the church (those in allegiance to the slaughtered Lamb). The great multitude is a vision of the 144,000 after the great tribulation. (I think it was Brighton who summarised Ch 7 so well by saying it represents the "Militant church on earth and the church triumphant in heaven). The two witnesses are the church. Babylon is not Rome; rather Rome represents the latest incarnation of the oppressive and idolatrous city. He is somewhat agnostic on the millennium, but so was Caird (I also think the millennium is highly overrated). He also uses the liturgical motif and the exodus motif as did Caird. He also recognises the influence of Ezekiel in the book and he recognises some degree of recapitulation (as did Hendriksen). He also understands the symbolism of numbers in Revelation. He can also contrast the whore Babylon with the Bride the New Jerusalem.

As an evangelical I wish that he had gone a bit further on the missionary meaning of the four-fold message of the "great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages", which is one of the keys to evangelism and the great commission today.

So who should buy this? This volume is far more useful to the student than Caird was because it covers almost every important topic and gives the various arguments for different interpretations which Caird never did. While not so detailed as Osborne, I think that this would make a very useful starter for students, especially as he is so readable and students studying Revelation for the first time will not get bogged down with unnecessary detail. Scholars will like it because he interacts with a lot of the recent secondary literature. It is more difficult to decide if the preacher will find it useful, he does not really have the space in this volume to go into application, but suffice it to say that he does recognise that Revelation was written to complacent Christians as well as persecuted ones. From a preacher's perspective, I just wish he had gone a little bit further. Overall, another useful contribution, given its size, that will give students a good introduction to Revelation.

He has also published "Revelation Vision and Insight: An Introduction to the Apocalypse" (176 pp 2002)

Zachary Lansdowne thoughtfully decodes the little understood last book of the bible, The Revelation of St. John. Going line-by-line through the King James Version, Lansdowne depicts external events, expressed in this book, to be an internal process that an initiate on the spiritual path will encounter on his/her journey towards enlightenment. Though the bible is considered the backbone of Christian faith, the author points to timeless teachings in Revelations that speak to all spiritual or religious seekers throughout the world. As an added benefit to his book, Zachary Lansdowne has added several quick reference tables which further highlights in detail the many symbols found in the Book of Revelation. He's left no "symbol" unturned!

Zachary Lansdowne's The Revelation of Saint John, The Path to Soul Initiation, is a guide toward experiencing the wisdom of the Higher Self and an understanding of the relationship between the personality, the soul, and God.

The Revelation of Saint John is a marvelous journey through the intricacies of one's on mind. Lansdowne has provided a psychological interpretation of the original Revelation that is poignant and pristine. In reading the verses of the King James' version of the Revelation laid alongside Lansdowne's interpretation we are given not only a glimpse into the Revelation of Saint John, but also a psychological peek into the revelation of Zachary Lansdowne as we see him skillfully piece together this work of Love. Using correspondence and analogy to light up the intricacies of symbolism and vivify the imagery of the world's great religions, Lansdowne interprets the last book of the Bible into simple yet effective language such that "the last shall be first" in giving us a new voice for describing the path to soul initiation.

As we read The Revelation of Saint John, our intuitions may give us illumination and understanding about our own psychological experiences as well. We may begin to see ourselves as one with John and so John's Revelation becomes our own as we recognize fragments of our self corresponding with the Revelation's symbols. Using Lansdowne's psychological interpretation we are able translate the meaning of these symbols into the experiences of our present lives. As Lansdowne says, "...the Revelation of St. John deals with the present--that is, with the present of whoever may be reading it. It thus contains information that any reader--including you or I--can apply to become blessed."

What Zachary Lansdowne does in The Revelation of Saint John is bring the 2000 year old Revelation of St. John into the modern era where it can be experienced anew as the Revelation of you and me.

Over ten years ago the best commentary on Revelation I could find was Mounce (1st ed), then we had his second edition in 1997, followed by the huge works by Beale and Aune, since then we have had other useful works by Kistemaker, Brighton, Witherington and of course Osborne. Now, Smalley treats us to another scholarly masterpiece. He has already written a commentary on John's epistles (WBC) as well as the book "John: Evangelist & Interpreter".

He follows Beale in being a modified idealist following Hendriksen, Caird, Sweet and Wilcock. He regards the author as being John the apostle and assumes an early date, but this is not noticable in his comments. His introduction is short, but he has already published "Thunder and Love" which covers much introductory material. He covers a section at a time under the headings: translation, textual variants, literary setting, comment, and theology. There are a number of useful excursuses. The commentary is based on the Greek, but the Greek is transliterated. At 633pp he is not as verbose as Beale and is far more readable. Students now have to choose between Mounce, Osborne and Smalley.

He regards the first seal as "lust for power"; Ch 7 deals with the church on earth and in heaven; the two witnesses are the witnessing church; the woman of Ch 12 is the covenant community of God from both the OT and NT; Babylon is worldly, idolatrous, oppressive powers; on Ch 20 he is amillennial.

This commentary was a big treat for me, another very useful contribution on the book of Revelation. It is a delight to read and I am still working my way through it. From famine ten years ago I have now become a glutton.

Stephen Smalley has given us a competent commentary on the Greek text of Revelation. He sees the book as a symbolic portrayal of the timeless conflict between the forces of evil and the forces of good. The imagery used to described the heavenly Christ in Revelation 1 is figurative and inspired by Ezekiel 1 and Daniel 7.

The promise to the Philadelphian church of being kept from the hour trial (3:10) refers to God's protection within the trial, not to a removal from the trial. The reference to the 24 elders in heaven (Rev 4) is to an angelic group in the throne room of God who represent the entire people of God. The seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments refer to an eschatological judgment of God upon an unbelieving world which can break into history at any point, and in all possible human contexts (see page 241). All of these judgments are symbolic, none of them will happen literally, as they did to the Egyptians in the book of Exodus.

The multitude in heaven praising God in Revelation 7 is not a description of the martyrs who were killed by the beast during the great tribulation, but this a reference to the entire people of God in His presence.

The mighty angel in Revelation 10, is just that, a mighty angel, and not a veiled depiction of Christ, as some have suggested.

The two witnesses who minister before the Lord of all the earth (Revelation 11) minister in the power of Moses and Elijah, but these two witnesses are a symbolic reference to the church's ministry on the earth.

In Revelation 12, Smalley describes the woman as the people of faith who brought forth the Messiah. The war in heaven is symbolic of the timeless battle between God and the Devil. The beast coming out of the sea (Revelation 13) represents all satanic governments opposed to the work and will of God. 666 spells out Nero Caesar, but can be aptly applied to any anti-God leader who oppresses the people of faith.

The 144,000 of Revelation 7 and 14 is a figure for the entire people of God. The 1000 years of Revelation 20 are symbolic for "a long time." Moreover, Revelation chapters 17-22 (following Greg Beale) are chiastic, and the new heavens and new earth are spiritual and metaphorical, not physical.

This pretty much sums up Smalley's take on the book of Revelation. I learned a lot. My main beef would be that since Revelation 6 mirrors the material in Matthew 24 (where Jesus clearly speaks of the future end times), I must conclude that there is more of an emphasis on the future than what Smalley seems to suggest.

But on the whole, this is a very valuable and learned work on the book of Revelation. Smalley includes extensive comments on the Greek text and on the possible variants. The general reader can skim and skip these sections and still enjoy the fruit of Smalley's findings.

This is one of the recently published books of the Bible in this well-known series. I have about fifteen of the series, all from amazon.com. They are mostly commentaries on NT books. ACCS culls comments from Early Christian writers of the 2nd-8th centuries C.E. The writers and their short biographies are given in the back of each book. The comments of many well-known writers are used over and over again: Augustine, John Chrysostom, and the Venerable Bede are favorites. But also (as in the Revelation commentary-2005) about 150 others have their say. This series is a real aid in preparing articles on biblical topics. For those who want a more contextual or narrative format, which contains comments from these prolific Christians, I might suggest "The Church's Bible," Robert Louis Wilken, general editor (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005). Only a couple of that series have been published so far. I have "1 Corinthians, Interpreted by Early Chrisian Commentators."

The Revelation to John-with its vivid images and portraits of conflict leading up to the marriage supper of the Lamb, the cosmic destruction of evil, and the formation of a new heaven and a new earth-was widely read, even as it was variously interpreted in the early church. Approaches to its interpretation ranged from the millenarian approach of Victorinus of Petovium to the more symbolic interpretation of Tyconius, who read Revelation in the sense of the universal and unitary time of the church. Tyconius' Book of Rules, deeply admired by Augustine with its seven principles of interpretation, strongly influenced not only ongoing interpretation of the Revelation but the whole of medieval exegesis. From early on the book of Revelation was more widely accepted in the West than in the East. Indeed the earliest extant commentaries on Revelation in Greek date from Oecumenius' commentary in the sixth century, which was soon accompanied by that of Andrew of Caesarea. Earlier Eastern fathers did, however, make reference to Revelation in non-commentary works. This Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture volume draws heavily on the two Greek commentaries from Oecumenius and Andrew of Caesarea to represent Eastern interpretation, while focusing on six other commentaries as primary witnesses to Western interpretation-those of Victorinus of Petovium, Tyconius, Primasius, Caesarius of Arles, Apringius of Beja, and Bede the Venerable. Every effort has been made to give adequate context so that the creative use of Scripture, the theological interest, and the pastoral intent can be discerned by readers. Amid this treasure trove of early interpretation readers will find much that appears in English translation for the first time.

This book is a revolutionary and inspiring document. Barbara Marx Hubbard decodes the biblical Book of Revelation to reveal a message for our times encrypted in its pages, a message that stimulates us to leap beyond our limited ways of thinking to a new level of power and purpose. She reveals our true nature, as co-creators with the forces of life itself, using the model of Jesus, the "future human." She shows that while the multiple, converging crises our planet is going through may appear meaningless, painful and confusing, they are simply birth pains. A new state of conciousness is being born, reordering the future of our species and the very cells of our bodies. Open this book at any page and read - and you will be swept into a life-changing new awareness of your own birthright and the potential of every human being. -from book's back cover

This book is rich meat for the spiritually oriented individual. I spent a solid year studying it. One lives it. There is a communion service in the book that is very unique and spiritually openning. I found myself using it frequently. Certain passages were used in our wedding service. The book is alive because the author is so special and enlightened. Its worth looking for a copy of this! Linda Schiller-Hanna

We have not yet completed this Bible study, but I'm a big fan of the Fisherman Bible Studyguides series. You read scripture, then talk about how it's applicable to our lives today. And I really like this approach to studying Revelation: Basically, that we can't know exactly what all the signs and symbols mean, we can't determine the timing, etc., because only God knows how the end times will really play out. But we can be blessed by a deeper knowledge of God's word and growing in our relationship with Him through studying the book of Revelation.

"Revelation: The Lamb Who Is the Lion" by Gladys Hunt impressed me enough to explore other Fisherman Bible Study Guides. My small group Bible study used it week by week, fully engaged and involved in discovering what Revelations is about.

That Revelation is among the Bible's more controversial books, and the most vastly interpreted is no secret. Therefore, finding a way to study it with being encumbered without a strong theological bias is a challenge.

I am not usually a big fan of Bible study workbooks because either they speak over the reader, or down to the reader. A common frustration for me is when it has us read John 3:16, then asks, "Who gave his only son?" Not Gladys Hunt. She asks real question, letting the Bible speak for itself.

A typical question for study and discussion is for Revelation 14 "How are the 144,000 described in verse 1 sharply distinguished from the people mention in 13:16-17?"

Each chapter divides Revelation by chapter, occasionally combining chapters, covering all of Revelation's 22 chapters in 12 lessons, with a thirteenth lesson helping understand the book as a complete unit.

Leaders notes are at the end, presenting the complexities and controversies, as well as insight regarding the culture, the perspectives, and various ideas impacting the mind of John, plus significant thoughts by leading thinkers.

A topical bibliography finishes it off, with roughly 90-100 books listed for further reading.

I fully recommend "Revelation: The Lamb Who Is the Lion" by Gladys Hunt.

Anthony Trendl
editor, HungarianBookstore.com

This book is well above the average for the Superromance series. There are a few echoes of one of Johnson's earlier books, _Woman in Blue_, but only in a few sentences about the relationship of Renee Patton to her deceased father in the earlier book and the relationship of Ann Caldwell to her late father in this one. Otherwise, the plots of the two books are distinct, granted the overall requirement that the hero and heroine of a romance need to fall in love. This plot, especially the unveiling of problems within the department in which the two cops work, is fresh and original.
One minor distracting aspect is that there are some things the proof-reader should have caught ("different than" rather than "different from"; "until death do they part" rather than "until death do them part"). The sense that the ending is rushed causes the reader somewhat more difficulty. The author set up several scenes that then were not written, possibly because she was running against the word limits for the series.
Those minor nits aside, both the working relationship of Juan Diaz and Ann Caldwell as partners and their growing personal relationship, as it complicates their work, strike realistic notes. The background characters (family, friends, co-workers) are genuine rather than caricatures. Caldwell and Diaz, who also appeared as minor characters in Johnson's earlier book _Mommy Said Goodbye_ deal with complexities.
It's a worthwhile book, above and beyond the romance genre.

Major Crimes Detective Ann Caldwell attending the funeral of a cop who died in an accident reflects on her deceased father, a former cop. Ann wanted her father to be proud of her, but failed; her mom did nothing for her. Thus Ann finds relationships difficult to accept. She works especially hard to gain respect from her peers as she tries to prove to her partner Juan Diaz that she is as good as any man.

When other cops die in accidents, Ann begins to believe coincidence aside, a serial killer is rampant. With Juan's help she begins to investigate. As they work the case, the partners fall in love, but he has kids to consider and she does not believe in relationships as none ever worked for her.

This super series can be counted on by police procedural romance readers to provide a strong tale, which in this case starts at a funeral that sets the tone for an exciting story. Ann is an intriguing protagonist as she tussles with herself in her personal life even as she falls in love, a girly girl thing to do that goes against her need to prove she is as good as any male. Juan is a fine counter to his partner as he believes she can be a woman and a good cop without compromising either. The who-done-it is well written, but takes a back seat to the deep look at a cop with demons to battle.

Harriet Klausner

I am referring to Book 2 of the Matthew series, revised edition 2002. The five stars are given to that book only.

Whether you believe in or agree with what it says, this book is a well-written "mini-encyclopedia" of new age "philosophy", or should I say "ideas"? Though few books can rival with the Seth Material in this field in depth, this one did offer an even wider, panoramic perspective in a succinct way. There is a synthesis of western spiritualism, Indian philosophy, quantum philosophy, and UFO religions. Sure, there are many repeats, nothing very original. But this book has its own coherence.

Furthermore, the author is one of the few channelers that gives comments on contemporary politics (see Book 3 of the series and take a look at the author's website - www.matthewbooks.com). This helps add some exciting feel to the series. However, one may find those "stories" on politics quite elusive and there are lots of conspiracy theories, a characteristic commonly shared by all sorts of UFO religions. They say, there are always some powerful gangs out there having their own hidden agenda with the ultimate aim to dominate the whole world, if not to destroy it. Could any one gang do that and why is the domination of the world so attractive? What sort of domination it is? Don't they have better things to do? Of course, you are not always sure whether the stories are symbolic or not. The Bush we see on the television screen is a clone, again they say (see the author's website). You may also sense that the Matthew Material as a whole is on a delicate balance between provocation of fear and promotion of message of love. Ying and yang, may be.

Anyway, since I am an "easterner" - a "Chinese" in Hong Kong - to be more specific, I would like to learn more about the role the eastern people, the Chinese in particular, play in the big scheme as portrayed by Matthew, and how different races of people interact in the so-called "Heaven". Do people of a particular race flock together in a particular "village" there? I love stories of these kinds, say the "true" history of the people(s)(and the living things) on earth, and of our cosmic families in "all" the galaxies and universes. More details please. However, you may also have noted that there are so many different versions of "true" history out there, one canceling the other out. I also wonder why there are so few, if any at all, channelers giving these sorts of material in the eastern world.

At last, like so many authors of this kind of books, the author is so sincere, who is a lovely mother who has lost a lovely son. As for the content, yes, you and me must discern. Anyhow, anyone interested in new age philosophy should not miss this book, really.

One more thing, interested people may also like to look at the horoscope of Matthew whose birthday is available at the author's website, which did have a distinctly prominent philosophic, religious, mysterious, and "life and death" tone compatible to the style of the book. Yes, the more books I read in this field (around two hundred or more in the past twenty-plus years), the more I find the earth an interestingly strange or even bizarre place to live in.

This book is on a lot of ET stuff.

So, if you are in to that, as I am, this book would most surely be a good read for you.

Like all her books, they contain an immense amount of info, on all kinds of topics.

I hope this helps.

Forever Love, Rich Macy