Revelation 1-5. / Revelation 6-16. / Revelation 17-22.

Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society, Sep 2000 by Luter, A Boyd

Revelation 1-5. Word Biblical Commentary 52A. By David Aune. Dallas: Word, 1997, ccxi 374 pp., $29.99; Revelation 6-16. WBC 52B. By David E. Aune. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998, xlv 529 pp., $29.99; Revelation 17-22. WBC 52C. By David E. Aune. Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1998, xlvi 449 pp., $32.99.

Aune has authored what will likely prove to be the longest commentary on the Apocalypse of this generation (some 1,650 pages total). At just over 1,300 pages, G. K. Beale's impressive new offering in the NIGTC series is a distant second, whose work in more ways than extraordinary length almost seems like that of an R. H. Charles (author of the monumental 1920 ICC commentary) for this generation.

The most apt analogy that I can think of to Aune's achievement is the movie "Titanic," which became one of the great box office blockbusters of all time. Like the ship of the movie title, Aune's commentary is "titanic" in size. Like the ship, it has been launched with much acclaim. Like James Cameron at those Oscar ceremonies, there is so much about Aune's work that is so well done, he could almost think of himself as "king of the world" (at least of contemporary Revelation commentators).

For lack of space, a quick "Top Seven (given its obvious numerological significance in the Apocalypse) List" of the strengths of Anne, Vol. 1, will have to suffice: (1) The general and almost all sectional bibliographies are expansive, bordering on exhaustive. (2) The discussion of genre (pp. lxx-xc) is certainly one of the most thorough in print. (3) The careful treatment of text (pp. cxxxiv-clx) is superb. (4) It is matched by a painstakingly full essay on syntax (pp. clx-ccvii). (5) The material on makarisms (i.e. "blessing" statements) on pp. 10-11 is an excellent introduction to a strangely overlooked area. (6) Most of the excursuses (e.g. "The `Angels' of the Seven Churches," pp. 108-112) provide a wealth of information, though it is often frustratingly difficult to find a conclusion by Aune as to the best of the views presented (shades of Donald Guthrie!). (7) Throughout the commentary portion, evidence of Aune's amazing command of extrabiblical sources (more about that later) is on display.

For all these impressive strengths, however, we must not forget that there is another side to our initial analogy. "Titanic" was a movie set on a great ship, but one that sank nevertheless. All it took was one unfortunately placed iceberg to bring about a tragic ending for almost all aboard, something the Titanic's short-sighted designers and owners didn't even consider, given the unconscionable shortage of lifeboats aboard.

By contrast, however, Aune seems to know exactly where his "iceberg" is . . . but he heads at it full speed ahead anyway. Though fully aware that he is paddling upstream against the current of scholarly consensus that Revelation is a literary unit (p. cvii), a view now shared even by J. M. Ford (to be published in the revision of her Anchor Bible volume, now in progress [p. cxi]), Anne opts for an elaborate source-- critical approach to the Apocalypse (pp. cxviii-cxxiv). Based on 12 passages that seem awkwardly placed to him (chaps. 7, 10; 11:1-13; chaps. 12, 13, 14, 17, 18; 19:11-16; 20:1-10; 20:11-15; 21:9-22:5), Anne concludes that Revelation was edited in two or three stages.

Inexplicably for a scholar of his literary sophistication, Anne does not even seriously consider any other explanation that would maintain the unity of the book. One such viable explanation would be a grand chiastic structure for the book that accounts for the seemingly odd order of certain passages through parallelism. Ironically, just such an insightful chiastic study that explains very naturally the location of all the passages that trouble Aune has recently appeared in a high-profile venue (M. V. Lee, "A Call to Martyrdom: Function as Message and Method in Revelation," NouT 40 [1998] 164-194). Thus (to revert to prevailing imagery), Aune's formidable literary "ship" is already "taking on water."

Moving ahead to Aune's second volume, we find a useful vantage point from which to observe the transition from the "first generation" to the "second generation" of the Word Biblical Commentary series. Some ten volumes (several of which are the final volume of a multi-volume commentary [which was originally intended to be only one volume]) remain to be published, but there are other notable aspects of such a generational shift.

For example, when the WBC was organized in 1977 (p. x), the original general editors were David Hubbard and Glenn Barker, both now deceased. The general editor's role has now been filled by Bruce Metzger. As of Aune's second volume, James Watts (OT) and Lynn Losie (NT) have been appointed as associate editors, along with John D. W. Watts (OT) and Ralph Martin (NT). Even the series publisher is now different, with Word having been recently purchased by Thomas Nelson.

In addition, the size of the series commentaries keeps expanding. In its planning stages, the WBC was expected to encompass 52 volumes. It is currently at 62, but with the real possibility that one or more uncompleted assignments could still grow into multi-volume projects.