Breaking the Code

Apocalyptic literature does not lend itself to easy interpretation. It is written at a specific time to a specific people, undergoing trials or persecution in an historical context that has little meaning to the modern reader. Bruce Metzger's "Breaking the Code" is a brief (111 pp. including the index) but valuable key to the Book of Revelations, everybody's Rohrschach inkblot of religion and the Bible. The book was intended as a guide for bible-study discussions and other versions are available to group leaders, etc. His explanations are solidly orthodox and also scholarly without any particular theological ambitions. They are therefore not likely to offend any but the most sensitive of sectarian sensibilities. The book has a Protestant perspective (e.g. , "...the truth that Protestant Reformers empahasized...", the tangential mention of the Woman clothed with the sun being identified with Mary), but I used it as preparation for a bible-study with fellow Catholics and quoted from it frequently when trying to eluciate passages that are often obscure to the contemporary mind. While there are more encyclopedic references, such as Ford's Anchor Bible version which is now out of print, this small volume provides the best, concise, timely explication of the facts and events in the mind of St. John when he composed Revelations.

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the author should have entitled his work as a review of literature. He presented nothing new as far as I could understand. I was hoping for new insights into the symbolism used in this important work of scripture.

The Book of Revelation has been misunderstood by many people, especially Fundamentalists, for a long time. Many people read Revelation and come away with bizarre predictions for things to come. The late Dr. Metzger's book gives the reader an excellent verse by verse view on what Revelation actually means by placing the writing in a religious, political and social context. It's impossible to understand any writing without understanding the context. Dr. Metzger was one of the great New Testament scholars of the 20th Century. His book is thorough, but not so academic that lay people will have a hard time following it. At the heart, Revelation gives great insights into 1st Century Christianity and the problems early Christians bravely faced. It is not a text intended to predict coming human events.

Understanding the book of Revelation is not an easy task, but this book does an adequate job of presenting the author's views and theories on Revelation in an easy to understand and non-academic way. Non-academic is probably a big key here. If you are looking for a definitive commentary on the book of Revelation, this is definitely not it. But what it does do it does fairly well. There will undoubtedly be things in this book the reader disagrees with, and I found myself disagreeing with a lot, but I sometimes find that to be a good thing and makes me think about a subject.The book is inexpensive and is worthwhile to use as a Bible Study or in a group format.

Purchased this book for a Men's Sunday School Class that I am leading. This is the first time that I, or anyone in the class I am teaching, have really ever explored the book of Revelations. Since this is a new area for me it is somewhat difficult to rate it. For the most part the student book is far larger then the leader's. The lessons can be modified to allow for more discussion of each section covered. Since the class has only covered up to the letters to the different churches I am gong to give just three stars at this time. I will come back and update this review once we have covered the whole course.One suggestion I might make, we did not purchase the DVD that goes with this course due to time constraints. This might not have been the wisest of choices and I may still purchase it in the future just to see if there is an advantage to having it.

The book of revelations is the most debated book in the Bible. I can't say that I 100% agree with cousin Brucie, but he's the closest to being right than anyone else! Ssssoooo... if you want to know how the World will end read the Book! AND He's got a lot of other great books that Amazon carries. ;-O the BIG BANG theory is that we started with a BANG and we're going out with a BANG !! :-(

This big was a big help in reading and deciphering Revelations.

The book of Revelation has often been a closed book because the code was originally for the persecuted Christians of the end of the 1st. century and very often it hasn't been understood The highly distinguished theologian and eminent textual critic has shown that when the number symbolism of the Old Testament scriptures is understood the task no longer is difficult. While only the first few chapters have been meaningful to the church and the rest left to the imagination and theories especially of the Jehovah Witnesses , there is now an overall triumphant message to the beleaguered Christians. It is a small book but very adequate for unlocking the key to this magnificent revelation of the majesty ,power, and compassion of God and of His Christ.

This book, and the Bible study series that accompanies it, are so clearly presented that even those running from reading Revelation found it encouraging. One participant of my bible study group let me know that she now sees the importance of this book in the Word. I have great appreciation for Dr. Metzger's work.

Metzger's book is a great study guide for a small group Bible study. Each chapter is a nice length for a weekly reading and Metzger's work gives readers who are not versed in the Old Testament loads of references to understand how John's Revelation builds on imagery his readers knew well.