This news service article appeared in my diocesan paper this week even though it's from last summer?! ...

Pope says Revelation should be read as Christ's victory over evil, 8/23/06.

And anyone with any familiarity with Revelation at all with find nothing earth-shattering about Benedict's encouraging interpretation. Nevertheless, read his remarks.

And see this point:

by tradition St. John the Apostle, have long inspired end-of-the-world scenarios

There isn't much debate among scholars that the Evangelist didn't write the apocalyptic prophecy.

But on that matter of authorship, in reading chapter 21 last week, I noted a complete absence of accommodation for the Judas tradition on the seer's vision.

There's no explanation, like we find in Acts 1.26, of who makes up the Twelve. And chapter 21 talks about names, names written on stone foundations. Whose names? Matthias?

Not a fair question, in one sense, I know. It's too literal.

But, in another sense, is the author unaware of the Judas tradition? Does s/he simply assume it? Does Paul know it, or is it merely irrelevant to his point?

And the Didache ... who are these twelve behind its teaching? They certainly don't all have New Testament letters associated with them, like some Christian equivalent to the Minor Prophets.

tags technorati : revelation authorship judas tradition the twelve