Co-authored by Stanley E. Porter and Alan E. Kurschner
Traditional strategies for interpreting the Book of Revelation have broadly included historical and social-scientific criticism, literary criticism, and theological and ethical approaches. In recent years, however, the Book of Revelation has begun to attract modern linguistic analysis because of the recognition of the book’s foundational textual nature and the relevance of linguistics for interdisciplinary scholars. Greek linguistic analysis of this book, nevertheless, remains comparatively neglected when compared to the rest of the New Testament. This is somewhat surprising, since matters of language are often at the heart of discussion of the Book of Revelation, either in terms of its presentation or even formulation of its message. This paper proposes a history of early attempts to understand its language, for example, the Semitism issue, and sketches how modern commentators, such as Henry Barclay Swete, David Aune, and Greg Beale, among others, have discussed the language in relation to their interpretive priorities. The paper then considers current linguistic literature on the Book of Revelation asking the following questions: (1) Has modern linguistic analysis solved traditional problems and misunderstandings of its language? (2) Has modern linguistic analysis opened new vistas for solving problematic interpretations? and (3) Has modern linguistic analysis introduced reasonable and accessible methods and techniques for examining its language? The paper suggests tentative ideas regarding and solutions to some of these problems.