Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 91 No. 4, 2021.
Review article
https://doi.org/10.53745/bs.91.4.3
Discourse on Wisdom in the Context of the Book of Revelation
Ivan Benaković
orcid.org/0000-0003-2805-5137
; Catholic Faculty of Theology in Đakovo, University of Josip Juraj Strossmayer, Đakovo, Croatia
Abstract
To discuss the notion of wisdom in the context of the Book of Revelation is quite complex. In that regard, the first difficulty is to establish a stable connection between the discourse on wisdom and apocalyptic literature. However, the correctly understood Greek term »wisdom« – σοφία – already contains within itself something of the sense present in apocalyptic literature; i.e., if wisdom does not consist only of passive knowledge possessed by an individual, but also of active advocacy or search for true life within the frame of the created world. The Greek word σοφία appears in the Book of Revelation only four times: Rev 5:12; 7:12; 13:18; 17:9. In the first aforementioned verse, it refers to an attribute of Christ, and in the second to an attribute of God. In the remaining two verses, the word is used in the context of a call to a human being to be wise. While God is, therefore, the one who possesses the attribute of wisdom, the human being is the one who ought to believe in the possibility of his/her own wise agency. This article, thus, first elaborates on the meanings of the term σοφία in the context of the ancient world and Biblical writings and then, second, shows the connection between wisdom and apocalyptic literature. The author proceeds in these tasks by analyzing those verses within the Book of Revelation where one encounters the word σοφία and, thus, aims at presenting the complete image of the purpose and meaning of the discourse on wisdom in the Book of Revelation.
Keywords
wisdom; Lamb; language of opposites; discernment; Book of Revelation
Hrčak ID:
275037
URI
Publication date:
15.3.2022.
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