‘Linked Like a Chain’: Rev 22.6–9 in Light of an Ancient Transition Technique

Abstract

Rev .- exhibits an elaborate structure. Fundamental to its structural complexity is the rhetorical technique of 'chain-link' construction, discussed by both Lucian of Samosata and Quintilian. Appearing in at least three other passages in the Johannine apocalypse, this transition device involves a back-and-forth (AbaB) arrangement of ideas that has not been adequately appreciated in modern scholarship. Rev .- has occasionally been characterised as the product of a secondrate or 'irregular' mind. In fact, however, these verses evidence a structural feature commended by ancient rhetoricians concerned with presentational clarity and force.  New Test. Stud. , pp. -.

What has Athens to Do with Patmos? Rhetorical Criticism of the Revelation of John (1980—2005)

“…John's use of inclusio as a compositional device has been widely noted, if in varying degrees of detail (Schüssler Fiorenza 1991;Longenecker 2001;Witherington 2003). Longenecker (2001) has also drawn attention to John's use of intercalation as a transitional, structuring device.…”

“…John's use of inclusio as a compositional device has been widely noted, if in varying degrees of detail (Schüssler Fiorenza 1991;Longenecker 2001;Witherington 2003). Longenecker (2001) has also drawn attention to John's use of intercalation as a transitional, structuring device. While this had been noted and analyzed by several scholars (Schüssler Fiorenza 1991: 33, 70;Bauckham 1993: 5;Aune 1998aAune : 1188), Longenecker identifies this with greater precision as an example of 'a rhetorical device of the ancient world known to Lucian of Samosata as a "chain-link" construction' (2001: 109), and exhibits this device at work in .…”

Seeing Christ through Hearing the Apocalypse: An Exploration of John’s Use of Ekphrasis in Revelation 1 and 19

“… 1. See especially the pioneering studies of Adela Yarbro Collins (1984, 1999), who combines rhetorical criticism with modern psychology to analyze Revelation’s emotive power, and Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza (1998, 1991), who combines rhetorical criticism with contemporary ideological criticism. A number of rhetorical-critical studies have followed after these two pioneering works: Kirby 1988; Diefenbach 1994; Royalty 1997, 1998; Carey 1999; Rossing 1999; Duff 2001; Longenecker 2001; Nikolakopoulos 2001; Johns 1998, 2003; Humphrey 2007: 151-94; Perry 2009; deSilva 2009; Harker 2012. For helpful surveys of the state of research on rhetoric and Revelation, see deSilva 2008; Whitaker 2015a: 18-27. …”