Jesus, Revolutionary of Peace: A Nonviolent Christology in the Book of Revelation

Jesus, Revolutionary of Peace: A Nonviolent Christology in the Book of Revelation. By Mark Bredin. Carlisle, UK/Waynesboro, GA: Paternoster Press, 2003. Pp. xvii + 262. Paper, $25.36.

In this book, a revision of his St. Andrews University dissertation, Bredin challenges readings of Revelation that understand it to be underwriting human and/or divine violence. Bredin joins in a tradition of reading Revelation as peace literature, going back to G. B. Caird in the 1960s and including such later writers as Jacques Ellul, Eugene Boring, Wilfred Harrington, Richard Bauckham (Bredin's Ph.D. adviser), Loren Johns, Barbara Rossing, and Harry Maier.

A major strength includes a sustained focus on reading Revelation as if Jesus matters. Bredin takes the book's first verse with utmost seriousness. He argues that the Jesus of Revelation is the same as the Jesus of the Gospels. Furthermore, he presents this Jesus as bringing a message of active non-violence.

Bredin draws explicit connections between Jesus' approach as portrayed in Revelation and Gandhi's philosophy of transformative non-violence. For Bredin, the politics of Revelation correspond with the politics of Gandhian satyagraha ("truth force").

Bredin sets the stage by describing what he means by Gandhian non-violence and then summarizes the gospel portrayal of Jesus as "nonviolent teacher and activist." When he turns to Revelation, he justifies his reading of it in close relation to the Gospels and the rest of the Christian Bible. After summarizing various readings that see Revelation underwriting violent images of God and violent ethics, Bredin points to writers who articulate a counter-perspective.

For Revelation to be read in relation to Gandhian non-violence, Bredin must show that its late first-century context parallels Gandhi's setting in the midst of the British Empire. Revelation arose as literature of resistance responding to imperial Rome's violence and oppression. The seer of Revelation, John of Patmos, drew directly on Jesus' life and teaching in articulating a philosophy of resistance centering on non-violence and willingness even to face martyrdom in the name of faithfulness to the gospel message of God's transformative love.

Even earlier than Jesus, this philosophy of non-violence resistance by faithful witnesses found expression in the message of the Old Testament prophets, according to Bredin. Such a philosophy remained somewhat vital in post-biblical Jewish writings. Gradually, however, a perspective anticipating violence from God to avenge such suffering of the faithful emerged. So, a major question in evaluating Revelation's use of the faithful witness motif arises: Was John drawing on the divine vengeance stream of thought or the consistent nonviolence of the Jesus tradition?

Through a careful reading of Revelation, Bredin argues that Revelation self-consciously separates itself from the divine violence perspective. The Lamb metaphor especially makes this clear. "John has woven this [Lamb] imagery into holy warfare imagery resulting in a text that utilizes the holy war tradition that seeks justice in such a way that the idea of advocating hatred was transformed into the hope of the transformation of the sinner" (p. 199).

Bredin has provided a significant interpretation of Revelation that turns the traditional view of Revelation as escapist literature on its head. As he presents it, Revelation provides the most explicitly political relevant content of the New Testament. In the short space he is allowed in this book, he cannot develop the case for this reading in great detail, but he has provided important insights that will hopefully stimulate further exploration of his fascinating suggestions.

A few concerns must be mentioned, however. Although Bredin's writing is clear and accessible throughout, at times he presents ideas and summarizes others' ideas in overly brief, even cryptic fashion. An unsympathetic reader, or one unfamiliar with the literature of non-violence action, might not find Bredin's arguments particularly persuasive.

Theologically, Bredin's link of Revelation's christology with Gandhian non-violence clearly surfaces important aspects of New Testament understandings of Jesus. At the same time, by focusing so much on overt social action in his interpretation, he gives short shrift to Revelation's focus on the internal life of the churches to whom John writes. Revelation provides a profound critique of Empire (and inspiration for resistance to Empire)--yet the structure of the book makes clear that John's deepest concern lies with the strengthening of these faith communities. Revelation leaves its readers with the choice between loyalty to the Lamb expressed in worship in Christian community and loyalty to the Babylon expressed in unquestioning participation in the imperial community. Bredin's Gandhian reading most helpfully illumines the non-violence of Revelation; a fuller portrayal of Revelation's politics, though, would more clearly anchor this non-violence in faith communities that worship the One on the throne and the Lamb.