Reading Revelation at Easter Time

The distinguished Johannine scholar Fr. Francis Moloney, taking a cue from liturgy, has produced a guide to Revelation for the Office of Readings in weeks two through five after Easter. His interpretation is a striking departure from interpretations of Revelation as a coded sequence of disasters leading to the apocalypse, an earthly millennium, and heavenly paradise for the faithful who survived the tribulations. Instead Fr. Moloney insists that salvation was mediated through the death of the Lamb from the beginning of creation. The story being told in symbolic visions is that of faithful Israel preserved in the Jewish Scripture, an account of those who obeyed Torah and gave witness to God's messiah. Certainly a picture of salvation fully realized in the Easter proclamation is better suited to Revelation's liturgical use than apocalyptic horrors. Still Moloney's imaginative reconfiguration of almost everything Christians have thought about Revelation requires time and patience.

Aiming his interpretation at a broad array of readers, Moloney's book is inspired by the idea that Revelation is an `Easter Book.' For Moloney, Revelation insists that Christians already enjoy full access to life through Jesus's death and resurrection, a helpful correction to those who may over-read the book's eschatology. Those less attuned to the minutiae of scholarship will find a readable introduction to the content of the book of Revelation. Moloney coordinates his interpretation of specific sections of Revelation with their place in the lectionary and liturgy of the hours, which provides a helpful guide for those who want to understand more fully how to interpret Revelation in a liturgical context.

Drawing on his research on Revelation for his recently published full-length commentary, The Apocalypse of John: A Commentary (Baker Academic, 2020), Moloney contends that the central focus of Revelation is not on the ultimate triumph of the risen Christ over the forces of evil but on the paschal mystery and the new life flowing from the death and resurrection of Christ. Readers ready and willing to dig deep into this challenging New Testament book will find Moloney’s guide enlightening and rewarding.

Reading Revelation at Easter Time is a treasure for those who pray the Liturgy of the Hours faithfully either by promise or by choice, especially during the fifty days of Easter.

Surprising, enlightening, engaging, agreeable, a constant discovery, and thoroughly enticing.

A useful and informative guide to Revelation and current historical scholarship.

A splendid example of biblical scholarship serving liturgy's use of Scripture.