DRINKING THE WORD

This woodcut of Albrecht Durer`s shows John consuming the word of God, ie the Book of Revelation. Mystically the Lord gives him the vision to write this unusual piece of prose. There is also the question of whether John is the same author of the gospel too. irenaeus dates the book to the time of Domitian (81-96 CE). The anti-Christ may well be Nero, who it was feared would return from the dead. Dionysius of Alexandria, writing in the third century, saw John as a different writer from the gospel author. Durer`s woodcut of his martyrdom is merely a German tradition, where he is boiled to death. There is a great amount of numerology in the Book of Revelations, with the four series of seven (letters, seals, trumpets, & bowls). The seven heads of the beast represents the Roman Empire. It must have been treacherous to be a Christian in the 1st century CE, & maybe more so in the West than the East of Asia Minor. This is similar, for me, to say growing your hair long and being against the War in Texas in say 1967!