Interpretation of biblical eschatology In the social and historical context

The article discusses the problem of using eschatological texts and eschatological notions in various historical situations. Taking the Revelation of John as an example, the article reveals historical and hermeneutical peculiarities of the eschatological texts in the Bible. At the same time the genre of biblical apocalypse is shown as a number of images which easily changed their meaning passing from one text into another. The change of meaning of different "errant images" in the Bible is shown as a natural process for the genre of apocalypse. The article demonstrates how majestic eschatological motifs easily become something like folklore wisdom which is universal due to its multiple meaning. Even if we suppose that the "errant images" had the same meaning for biblical writers of different centuries, it does not mean anything for the history of interpretation because they were interpreted differently in different historical epochs by different authors. So it is the historical perception of apocalyptical texts that is of paramount importance for history, not their sacred meaning. Various prophecy interpretations written by authors of the New Testament show that the existence of a single meaning of prophecies was not essential for them. They easily supplied prophecies with additional content thereby depriving them of their role of supernatural historical predictors. This article regards prophecies in eschatological creative works not as having the power of prediction but as symbolic entities universal for many historic situations. The author of each "new apocalypse" cites old revelations not to relay ancient predictions but to add prophetic weight to their teachings. Thus, not only the interpreters of John's Revelation use it with regard to their historical situation, but the Revelation itself represents an interpretation of ancient prophets for the situation contemporary to its author. Moreover, if we suppose that the modern version of John's Revelation is the result of multiple editing of one or several original texts, it should not be ruled out that the contents of images could be changed in the process of formation of the text known today. In the light of this, the endless argument about the Whore of Babylon - whether it is Rome or Jerusalem may turn hopeless. The eschatological images could have been reconsidered many times in the process of creation of this ancient monument to Christian eschatology. These suppositions are confirmed by factual examples showing how easily interpretations of some elements of eschatological Church teaching may change to the opposite.

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