Who Rides the Beast? : Prophetic Rivalry and the Rhetoric of Crisis in the Churches of the Apocalypse

## Abstract Owing to its powerful anti‐Roman polemic, the book of Revelation was traditionally thought to have been written to encourage believers to stand fast in the face of the Roman persecution. Recent scholarship, however, has undermined the scenario of Roman persecution. This book examines the social situation that gave rise to the production of the book of Revelation. Duff suggests that the book did not arise from persecution or harassment but rather it was written in response to an internal crisis of leadership. The book's anti‐Roman polemic was intended to manufacture a crisis in the minds of its readers. The creation of this crisis – a technique observed in other charismatic groups – served the function of uniting the churches behind the author and against his prophetic rival. In addition, the book's polemic, although aimed directly at Rome, was, at the same time, focused indirectly at the author's rival “Jezebel” who, John argues, was in league with Rome. The Book of Revelation presents the reader with a frightening narrative world in which the people of God are tormented, threatened, and sometimes killed by various agents of Satan. Scholars have traditionally thought that it was written in order to encourage believers to stand fast in the face of the Roman persecution of the early Church. More recently, however, it has been argued that no such crisis existed at the time the book was written. Here Paul Duff offers a different viewpoint on the origin of the Book of Revelation, resulting in a work which substantially advances the implication of the current consensus and sheds new light on this influential yet enigmatic text. This study offers a different viewpoint on the origin of the Book of Revelation as a rhetorically sophisticated response to an internal leadership crisis within the churches. The author marshals evidence from the social, economic and literary context of the time. This study offers a different viewpoint on the origin of the Book of Revelation as a rhetorically sophisticated response to an internal leadership crisis within the churches. Evidence is taken from social, economic and literary contexts of the time The book of Revelation, in a series of powerful visions, presents the reader with a frightening narrative world in which the people of God are tormented, threatened, and sometimes killed by various agents of Satan.