The Streets of Heaven: The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John

300 Pages·1998·22.642 MB·English

by  Robert M. Royalty, Jr.

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The Streets of Heaven
The Ideology of Wealth
in the Apocalypse of John
by
Robert M. Royalty, Jr.
MERCER UNIVERSI1Y PRESS
1998
The Streets of Heaven
The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John
I've never been to heaven, but I've been told, ...
That the streets of heaven are paved with gold. . . .
("Swing Low, Sweet Chariot")
ISBN 0-86554-609-6 MUP/H465
The Streets of Heaven. The Ideology of Wealth in the Apocalypse of John.
Copyright C 1998
Mercer University Press, Macon, Georgia USA
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
Part of the present work appeared as "The Rhetoric of Revelation"
in The Society of Biblical Literature 1997 Seminar Papers, 59~17,
C1997 Scholars Press, and is included here by permission.
The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of American National Standard for Information Sciences
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1984.
00
Library of Congress Cataloging~in-Publication Data
Royalty, Robert M., Jr., 1961-
The streets of heaven :
the ideology of wealth in the Apocalypse of John I
by Robert M. Royalty, Jr.
viii+292pp. 6x9" (15x23cm.).
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
ISBN O~86554-609-6 (alk. paper).
1. Bible. N.T. Revelation-Criticism, interpretation, etc.
2. Wealth-Religious aspects-Christianity.
I. Title.
BS2825.6.W37R68 1998
228'.06-dc21 98-41237
.ell
Contents
Acknowledgments ............................... vii
Abbrevl'atl' ons .................................. ...
VIl1
Texts and Translations ............................
V111
Chapter 1
Introduction
Money Talks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 1
Narrative Worlds, Social Worlds, Symbolic Universes ......... 5
The Social Setting of the Apocalypse .................... 15
Money Talk ...................................... 19
The Crisis of the Apocalypse .......................... 27
Chapter 2
Wealth Imagery in Ancient Jewish Literature
Introduction ...................................... 39
The Human One ................................... 40
The Throne of God ................................. 47
Babylon the Great . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 59
The New Jerusalem ................................. 71
A Final Note . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 78
Summary and Conclusions ............................ 79
Chapter 3
Wealth Motifs in Greco-Roman Literature and Culture
Introduction ...................................... 81
Christ as Moral Philosopher ........................... 82
Courts, Thrones, and Golden Crowns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 97
Merchants and Commerce ........................... 102
Praise and Vilification of Cities ....................... 111
Summary and Conclusions ........................... 123
Chapter 4
Wealth and Rhetoric in Revelation
The Rhetoric of Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 125
The Rhetoric of Revelation 1: 1-20 ..................... 133
Conclusion. The Two Messengers ..................... 148
The Streets of Heaven
VI
Chapter 5
The Messages to Smyrna and Laodlcea
Rhetoric and the Social Composition of the Churches ........ 151
Form and Function of the Messages to the Seven Churches . . .. 154
Smyrna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 159
Laodicea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 164-
Summary and Conclusion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 175
Chapter 6
The Destruction of Babylon
The Two Cities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 177
The Wealth of Heaven . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 178
The Mark of the Beast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 183
Babylon ........................................ 187
The Harlot (Revelation 17) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 188
The City (Revelation 18) ............................ 194
Conclusions: Wealth and Sex ......................... 209
Chapter 7
The New Jerusalem
The Marriage of the Lamb (Revelation 19:1-10) . . . . . . . . . . .. 211
The New Jerusalem. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 214
Sources of Wealth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 233
Summary and Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 238
Chapter 8
Summary and Conclusions
Summary ....................................... 241
Conclusion: Wealth, Status, and Ideology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 243
Bibliography
Primary Sources, Texts, and Translations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 247
Commentaries on Revelation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 249
Secondary Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 250
Indexes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 271
Modern Authors. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 271
Subj ects .................................. 275
Ancient Sources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 280
Acknowledgments
This book began as my dissertation at Yale University. The project was
inspired and guided by Professor Wayne A. Meeks, an inspiration and
guide for all who would learn more about the early Christian communi
ties, and by Professor Susan R. Garrett, now of Louisville Presbyterian
Theological Seminary. I especially thank Professor Garrett for her energy
and enthusiasm, patient encouragement, careful reading, and determined
efforts to clarify my thinking and prose. I am thankful to others who have
read and commented on the manuscript. All errors and inaccuracies of
course remain my own.
In particular I thank Professors David L. Bartlett of Yale Divinity
School, W. Martin Bloomer, now of the University of Notre Dame, and
David E. Aune of Loyola University in Chicago. Volume 1 of the three
volume commentary on Revelation by Professor Aune became available
only .in the final stages of editing. The publication of his work marks a
major stage in the history of research on the Apocalypse; it is sure to take
the place of R. H. Charles's 1920 commentary as the standard work on
Revelation. I thank the Interlibrary Loan staff at Green Library, Stanford
University, and Dr. Cecil R. White ofSt. Patrick's Seminary, Menlo Park,
for their assistance in obtaining research materials. I thank Marc A.
Jolley, Edmon L. Rowell, Jr., and the rest of the staff of Mercer Universi
ty Press for their professionalism, graciousness, and good humor.
I would also like to thank those who, often unknowingly, have
contributed to or supported this project: Professors Bentley Layton and
Abraham J. Malherbe of Yale University; Professor Lee A. Yearley and
Dean Robert C. Gregg of Stanford University; Beverly H. Grove, the
Rev. Katherine H. Lehman, and H. Gregory Snyder. I am grateful to the
Episcopal Church Foundation for the support of a Graduate Fellowship
from 1991 to 1994. The encouragement and support my father, Robert M.
Royalty, Sr. (1933-1991), allowed me to begin graduate studies. He
taught me, among many other things, the value of the intellectual life.
Above all I thank my wife, Anne Beeson Royalty, for her love and
support in the midst of her own academic labors; our son, Nolen, who
has helped me to keep a sense of perspective by always asking why I
wanted to write a book about the Bible and why it was taking so long;
and Virginia, for keeping all of us smiling. I dedicate this book to them
with love.
Abbreviations
Annales (ESC) Annales (Economie. Societes, Civilisations),
Paris, A. Colin
CQ Classical Quarterly, Oxford University Press
ESAR An Economic Survey of Ancient Rome,
ed. Tenney Frank (4 vols.)
Iren., Adv. Haer. Irenaeus, Adverus Haereses
Just. Mart., Apol. Justin Martyr, Apology
Just. Mart., Dial. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho
JWSTP Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period,
ed. M. E. Stone
REL Revue des Etudes UJtines, Paris,
Les Belles Lettres
M. Rostovtzeff, A Social and Economic History
of the Roman Empire, 2nd ed.
YCS Yale Classical Studies
Other abbreviations follow the style set forth in the Society of Biblical Literature
Membership Directory and Handbook (Decatur GA: Society of Biblical
Literature, 1994) 223-40, as updated in "Instructions for Contributors," Journal
of Biblical Literature 117/3 (Fall 1998): 555-79; and in The Oxford Classical
Dictionary, 2nd ed., ed. N. G. L. Hammond and H. H. Scullard (Oxford:
Clarendon Press/Oxford University Press, 1970) ix-xxii. Commentaries on
Revelation are cited by author and page number(s)~ see the bibliography for
commentaries cited.
Texts and Translations
Biblical translations are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV; <01989
by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches
of Christ in the USA), with modifications as noted. Texts and translations for
ancient Greek and Roman authors, including Josephus and Philo, are from the
Loeb Classical Library, except where noted. Texts and translations used for other
ancient Jewish literature have been cited in the text. See the bibliography for a
complete list of primary sources, texts, and translations used.
Introduction
By the time of Jesus, all the lowest classes and mediocre people had
realized that never would they get a chance to be kings, never would
they go in chariots, never would they drink wine from gold vessels.
Very well then-they would have their revenge by destroying it all.
"Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of
devils."-how one hears the envy, the endless envy screeching through
this song of triumph! -D. H. Lawrence, Apocalypse (1931)
Money Talks
From John's opening vision of Jesus on the island of Patmos to the de
scent of the New Jerusalem from heaven, the book of Revelation includes
an array of images of wealth and trade: heavenly beings dressed in gold;
churches praised for their poverty and admonished for their independent
means; control of buying and selling by Satan's minions; the fall of the
wealthiest city on earth; and a heavenly city with pearly gates and streets
of gold. Characters on all sides in the Apocalypse have wealth. The moral
exhortation in the messages to Smyrna and Laodicea, delivered by a gold
clad Christ, turns on the issues of poverty and wealth. Images of wealth,
trade, and lUxury are used to characterize the harlot, city, and merchants
of Babylon. Economic disaster plays a recurring role in the series of
afflictions that John sees besetting the inhabitants of the earth. How
would this wealth imagery have been heard or understood by a first
century audience? Would it have made any sense?
The prominence of wealth imagery in Revelation stirred readers and
commentators long before D. H. Lawrence.) In the first two centuries
after Revelation was written, chiliastic interpretation predominated.
Chiliasts (from the Greek for "thousand," chilioi) took a literal interpreta
tion of Rev 20:4-5 and looked forward to a thousand-year reign with
Christ on earth. The word "millenarian" (from the Latin for "a thousand
ISee D. H. Lawrence, Apocalypse and the Writings on Revelation, ed.
M. Kalnins (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980) 3-24, on the circum
stances of Lawrence's writing of Apocalypse; quotation on 144.