Farmer, Ron.  “Divine Power in the Apocalypse of John: Revelation 4-5 in Process Hermeneutics.”  AAR/SBL Abstracts (1993): 12-13. [abstract]

Abstract

Althought process thought began in isolation from biblical studies, recent years have witnessed a small but growing number of scholars on both sides of the gulf interested in relating the two disciplines.  In an effort to contribute to this task of bridge-building, I have chosen what may appear to be one of the least promising genres of biblical literature.  Is not apocalyptic theology antithetical to process theology? Yet recent developments in the study of early Christian apocalyptic literature have made possible new understandings of the Apocalypse of John.  The first portion of the paper surveys several of these developments which resonate with important motifs of process theology.

The paper goes beyond merely translating the results of traditional exegesis of the Apocalypse into categories of process theology, however.  The application of a “process hermeneutic” – a theory of interpretation based on Alfred North Whitehead’s understanding of language – to biblical texts is a relatively new attempt to relate process thought and biblical studies.  The second, and more substantial, portion of the paper sketches the contours of a process hermeneutic and applies it to the issue of divine power in the Apocalypse, with special attention to Revelation 4-5.