Betz on Vercesi's Rev 19-21 in the Exegesis of Early Christian Africa; Boxall on Betz's City of Gods

Описание: The Revelation Reception Network's 2025 Book Review Session, featuring the following:

Nathan Betz (Regensburg) reviews: Martina Vercesi's Revelation 19-21 in the Exegesis of Early Christian Roman Africa (Mohr Siebeck, 2025)
Book description: Martina Vercesi examines the interpretation of Revelation 19–21 in early Christian communities of Roman Africa from the 2nd to the 4th century. Her study draws on a wide range of sources, including letters, treatises, commentaries, and martyrological writings, and explores the historical, theological, and textual dimensions of these passages.

Ian Boxall (Oxford) reviews: Nathan Betz's City of Gods: The New Jerusalem of John's Revelation in Early Christianity
Book description: This is the story of the great and final city of John’s Revelation. Plumbing the first three centuries of Christian literature, this careful narrative highlights the early significance of one of the most influential, evocative, and controversial images in Christian scripture. Chronicling how dozens of early writers, from Justin and Irenaeus to Origen and Methodius, and from the "Montanists" to Tertullian, Victorinus, and Lactantius, imagined and applied the coming New Jerusalem, the study demonstrates how the city, regardless of its myriad and often competing interpretations, always pointed to the highest possible union of God and humanity both here and now and in the age to come."