Triumph of the Lamb (by Ted Grimsrud) - a commentary on Revelation

Ted Grimsrud teaches theology and peace studies at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, VA. His commentary on Revelation, Triumph of the Lamb (Herald Press, 1987) is freely available online on his website (Peace Theology). I converted it to a PB for my own use and then asked him for permission to post it here, which he gave me as far as he felt able to (the book is still available in a reprint edition with Wipf & Stock). The publisher has never asked him to take down the free copy on his website, but if they do he will comply. Likewise here.

A couple of key excerpts from his Introduction give you an idea of where he is coming from theologically/hermeneutically:

"After giving up on Hal Lindsey’s approach to the Bible, I became much less concerned with futuristic predictions. I started being more interested in what Revelation says about how we should live now and how this affects how we should look at our world now. Social concerns such as war and peace and economics have become more central to me, and I have wanted to know how the Bible, including Revelation, relates to these concerns. My view of 'prophecy' changed from seeing it primarily in terms of predictions of the future to seeing it in terms of proclaiming God’s truth for today. I now see prophecy more as forthtelling than foretelling."

...

"Recognizing the need to respect the original setting of Revelation, I ... to a large degree take a preterist approach to interpreting it. And then, on the basis of my understanding of what it meant then, I ... understand its message largely in terms of the idealist approach. In my view, the visions and imagery of Revelation symbolize God’s work in human history, God’s victory over evil in Jesus’ work, and God’s moving history toward its consummation in the ultimate destruction of evil and the establishment of the New Jerusalem."

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David Paul

A couple of key excerpts from his Introduction give you an idea of where he is coming from theologically/hermeneutically:

I now see prophecy more as forthtelling than foretelling."

Well, from my experience, it is all pretty much an equal amount of both.

What it isn't--surprise, surprise--is prediction...at least in the limited, human, guessing sort of way.

You see, YHWH doesn't have to "predict" anything. He just knows and makes happen. He brings to pass. Period.

Isa. 42:9 Ezek. 33:33 Jn. 13:19

What preachers and prophecy hounds can't seem to grasp is that prophecy exists to make Him look good--not to make them look good.

Those who try to impress by calling out specifics in advance pretty much universally eat crow...and crow is unclean.

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453304#Comment_453304

No comment. I'm just putting it out there for anyone who wants to read it. I don't want to discuss it. Thanks.

David Paul

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453306#Comment_453306

Thank you.

Graham Criddle

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453306#Comment_453306

Hi Rosie

Thanks for posting this - appreciated

Graham

Allen Browne

Thanks, Rosie. Appreciated.

Rich DeRuiter

Thanks for your work in this, Rosie.

BillS

Wow, Rosie, THANK YOU!

NB.Mick

Thanks a lot, Rosie!

Very much appreciated!

HansK

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453497#Comment_453497

Thank you. A welcome add on. Esp. today, when we expect the NAC on Revelation!

Hans

Milford Charles Murray

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453442#Comment_453442

Wow, Rosie, THANK YOU!

Peace, Rosie! *smile* I join with Bill and the others to thank you for this lovely "sharing"! Much Appreciated! Blessings!

Ken McGuire

I by no means want to denigrate Rosie's quality work on this. Instead, I want to thank her for bringing this to our attention and creating the PB of it, and arranging permission for a relatively recent quality piece of work. That said, I wanted the index to show the section talked about instead of just the first verse of the section, so that it would show up in reports better, and so modified her PB. In addition, I added a few links to chapters and verses in Revelation, as well as a couple for the Sybiline Oracles.

I repeat, there is nothing wrong with Rosie's version. But I like a few things different, and so offer it to the community as well.

SDG

Ken McGuire

Triumph of the Lamb (Ted Grimsrud).docx

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453809#Comment_453809

Thank you for the improvements, Ken.

Interesting that you had to change the datatype to Pseudepigrapha for 2 Baruch to get that link to work for you. It still works for me with your change (though it opens Baruch in a different resource, Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament), but BibleCAP was the datatype provided to me by Logos when I opened to 2 Baruch in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. I happen to have both resources, but what about someone who only had the latter? I don't know whether the datatype you changed it to would work better for that situation and open whichever one the person had, or whether it would only open correctly if they had the former. Certainly the datatype I used wouldn't be any better. I don't know if this is one of those datatypes that can be smart and open the right resource depending on which one you have.

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453883#Comment_453883

I have the Pseudepigrapha in Charles's English (which was in some base packages) and the Greek. Somehow your link didn't work for me, although it appears that the Charles is tagged with that datatype. I was going to the Pseudepigrapha type anyway for the Sybiline Oracles, and so used it. It is personal... Which type is better? Don't know... Obviously the Charlesworth is a more up to date translation... Does Prioritizing resources change things?

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453892#Comment_453892

Does Prioritizing resources change things?

Yup, that does the trick! Thanks!

Do you not have Charlesworth in your Library?

I didn't know I had the Sibylline Oracles (I had tried looking in my library but didn't know they were among the Pseudepigrapha, so I didn't have much luck locating them), but your link for that works for me too.

Ken McGuire

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453896#Comment_453896

Do you not have Charlesworth in your Library?

Nope. I recognize the value of them, but that is not really my big interest. Got the Greek back when it was on pre-pub, got the Charles when it became part of the Original Languages Library, and viewed that combination as more than good enough for what I would use them for.

I didn't know I had the Sibylline Oracles (I had tried looking in my library but didn't know they were among the Pseudepigrapha, so I didn't have much luck locating them), but your link for that works for me too.

I will tell you a secret - If I don't know if I have a resource, the type for it,or exactly WHERE it is in my library, I look it up in the Logos edition of the Anchor-Yale Bible Dictionary. Often there is a link in the article which will take me there.

SDG

Ken McGuire

Rosie Perera

https://community.logos.com/discussion/comment/453971#Comment_453971

I will tell you a secret - If I don't know if I have a resource, the type for it,or exactly WHERE it is in my library, I look it up in the Logos edition of the Anchor-Yale Bible Dictionary. Often there is a link in the article which will take me there.

Cool.

Ken

Thank you!

Mike Childs

Thanks so much Rosie. I am very interested in this book.

Peter Bongers

Much appreciated... thanks!

Andy

Thank you very much indeed for this, Rosie (and for your additional amendments, Ken).

I missed this first time around and am now looking forward to reading this.

Blessings