Tuesday, April 12, 2005

Pre-Revelations Quiz

I can't remember the last time that I watched a mini-series on network TV, but I'm planning to watch Revelations which begins tomorrow night on NBC. A few years ago I taught a class on the Book of Revelation. I used Bruce Metzger's Breaking the Code as the primary text for the class but also brought in parallel commentaries that explained the different approaches to interpretation of the text. It was fascinating to me and I came away with a deep appreciation of this difficult book.

How will Hollywood handle this subject? The director says he titled it "Revelations" not "Revelation" because his script includes the "revelations" that the individual characters have in the course of the movie. The print publicity claims that the series is meant to be respectful of the subject matter and will not present it literally. However, the video clips promoting it on TV are sensational enough that they could be previews of The Exorcist. So I am planning to blog on each episode as they air, unless I decide it's a waste of time.

Here is a little pre-Revelations quiz, to see how much you know about this much-misinterpreted book of the Bible:

1. What is the Revelation of?
2. The book of Revelation is written what literary form?
3. What is the meaning of the word "apocalypse"?
4. How many times is the rapture referred to in Revelation?
5. Are there any beatitudes in Revelation?

I'll post the answers tomorrow and if any of you watch the series, I would love for you to post your reaction to it as a comment here.

P.S. Will Spotts has a great post on Presbyterians and Catholics on the PCUSA Elders blog today.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the link.

I agree, this mini-series might be interesting. At least the topic is, at any rate.