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This thesis explores the meaning of the New Jerusalem in Rev. 21-22. It is divided into four major parts. The first one is the OT background study from Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Zechariah. This section observes the prophetical messages of restoration, centering around the Temple/Jerusalem motif, which is one of the main concerns of the early Jewish writers and Revelation. The second one is the study of early Jewish tradition. This pmi investigates how the New Jerusalem theme develops during the second Temple period and post-70. This observation shows that some (not all) of the early Jewish tradition understands the rebuilding of the New Temple as the transference of the Heavenly Temple. For this reason, the Heavenly Temple/Jerusalem is emphasized. The third pmi is the NT background study. Here two facts demonstrated: Christ as the New Temple and the church as the New Temple. This conclusion provides a suitable foundation for developing our argument in Revelation. Finally, the fourthpart is the study of the New Jerusalem in Revelation, particularly Rev. 21-22. John uses much of the Jewish tradition in his writing. His main argument is that the church (which is symbolized by several images) is placed in heaven now (chs. 4-20) and the church (which is symbolized by the New Jerusalem) will descend to the earth from heaven (21 :2) in the future. This assumption is closely related to the early Jewish idea. However, he does not follow the current Jewish idea without any modification but he differentiates his understanding from it by christologically interpreting the OT messages. This is well shown in his following announcement: "I saw no Temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb" (21 :22).

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Concerning John's use of the OT in Revelation, recent scholarship has observed that in terms of closeness, the book of Ezekiel, among many other OT books, enjoys a particular status. For, not only have its many materials been adopted in Revelation, but the order of these materials appearing in the two books is, by and large, the same. These features, then, suggest that Revelation is literarily dependent on Ezekiel. Against this background, this thesis, however, intends to show that besides this literary influence, the book of Ezekiel had also a hermeneutical effect on the book of Revelation. For this reason, in each of the four cases examined in the thesis, an exploration of how a certain OT tradition is used in a given Ezekielian passage is first offered, followed by an exploration of how this reinterpreted OT tradition is used and reinterpreted again in Revelation. When these tasks are done, a comparison of these two usages is then made so as to see how these two usages parallel each other. Each of the four cases is then concluded by stating the implication of the finding for the understanding of the book of Revelation. Specifically, the four cases examined in the thesis are, (1) The comparison of Ezekiel's use of Eden tradition (Gen 1-3) in Ezekiel 28:11-19 with John's use of Ezekiel's oracle against the nation Tyre (Ezek 26-28) in Revelation 18; (2) The comparison of Ezekiel's use of the foe-from-the-north tradition in Ezekiel 38-39 with John's use of Gog oracle (Ezek 38-39) in Revelation 19-20; (3) The comparison of Ezekiel's use of the model of battle camp (Num 2-3) in Ezekiel 48:30-35 with John's use of the prophet's restoration program (Ezek 40-48) in Revelation 21; and (4) The comparison of Ezekiel's use of Eden tradition (Gen 2-3) in Ezekiel47:1-12 with John's use of this river-of-life tradition (Ezek 47:1-12) in Revelation 22. These four case studies show that though various interpretative principles have been involved in Ezekiel's use of his sources, these principles have been followed by John in his use of Ezekielian materials. This observation then leads us to the following conclusion: John, as the follower and witness of Jesus Christ (Rev 1:2, 9), is, in terms of hermeneutics, a true heir of the prophet Ezekiel. As to the implications of the findings for the understanding of Revelation, the four case studies, in turn, argue for (1) the identification of the great harlot Babylon (Rev 18) as Rome, (2) the Amillennial view for Revelation 20:1-10, (3) the identification of the new Jerusalem (Rev 21) as the New Testament church, and (4) the view taking the river of life (Rev 22) as the symbol for salvation.

This thesis is believed to be the first full-scale study of Jonathan Edwards’ theology of revelation. The interrelated questions addressed in this work are ‘what was Edwards’ understanding of divine revelation,’ and ‘how did this understanding function in his larger theological project?’ The first question is answered by showing how Edwards’ theology of revelation flowed from a doctrine of the Trinity that featured the divine attribute of communicativeness, and from a doctrine of creation that theorised God created in order to communicate himself to intelligent beings noetically, affectionally and beatifically. Edwards’ theology of revelation was thus distinctively tri-dimensional in that Trinitarian communication contained noetic, affectional and beatific elements. This revelation encompassed the media of Scripture, nature and redemptive history, and Edwards’ understandings of each of these three media are explored in depth. The concept of harmony is shown to be key to Edwards’ use of all of these media. Edwards’ radical opposition to Deistic thinking, in which the media of revelation are alleged to be discordant, grounds the discussion in its eighteenth century context. The second of the questions posed above is answered by presenting a theory explaining Edwards’ great project as the pursuit of one objective: to interpret all reality as the harmonious self-revelation of the Triune God, so that human beings might better fulfil their purpose to apprehend and re-emanate this revelation. We believe that this is a plausible and useful way to understand Edwards’ entire corpus.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Divinity School, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Inaug.-Diss.--Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich. / Bibliography: p. viii-xx.

Thesis (Th. D.)--Utrecht, 1951. / Summary in English. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Thesis (S.T.L.)--Catholic University of America, 1996. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-125).

Thesis (M.A.)--Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1989. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 123-136).