Bibliography
| Title: "The use of the symbol of four world empires to inspire resistance to or acceptance of Hellenism in Daniel 2, Daniel 7, 4 Ezra 11-12, Revelation 13, and Antiquities of the Jews. Insights from the socio" Type: Generic Year: 1986 Abstract: "The symbol of four world monarchies appears in Daniel 2, Daniel 7, 4 Ezra 11-12, Revelation 13, and in Josephus' Antiquities of the Jews 10:203-210. Daniel 2:31-45 opposes Hellenism in general. Daniel 7 resists a specific Hellenistic king and Hellenizing Jews. 4 Ezra 11-12 and Revelation 13 are first century revisions of the symbol of four world monarchies. The authors of Daniel, 4 Ezra and Revelation use the symbol to resist Hellenism. In Josephus, however, the symbol becomes a means of justifying Roman political rule and cultural dominance. The contribution of this analysis derives from its use of methods and concerns characteristics of the sociology of knowledge and the sociological investigation of religious texts to explore how and why one religious symbol was used differently by four writers. The sociology of knowledge, as outlined by Karl Mannheim, Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann, reveals how the social positions of these ancient authors influenced their use of a common symbol. Marginal situations including competing symbolic universes, social displacement, the upsetting of the status quo, suffering and death faced these authors. The three apocalyptic texts, as distinct from Josephus, elevate concerns related to these marginal situations into their worldviews. Four themes permeate the cognitive orientations of the three apocalyptic texts: (1) an apocalyptic worldview; (2) a claim to esoteric knowledge; (3) a remnant mindset; and (4) an ethical and moral dualism. Daniel 7, 4 Ezra and Revelation also share four themes in their symbolic universes which Josephus rejects: (1) a ""back-to-the-Bible"" mentality; (2) a perception of life as a conflict; (3) an elevation of suffering and death into salvific significance; and (4) a calculation of the demise of the fourth world empire. Bryan Wilson's sect typologies provide criteria for defining 4 Ezra and Revelation as the literary products of sectarian writers who resisted accommodation with Hellenism. Paul Hanson's proposals regarding the rise of the apocalyptic worldview apply to the emergence of these apocalyptic theologies in the Hellenistic era. Comparative analysis discloses that the sociology of knowledge is a valuable exegetical tool for investigating how an author's social position affects the writer's theology." Keywords: Theology of Ancient Judaism and early Christianity |