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A review by leswag97
The Book of Revelation and the Visual Culture of Asia Minor: A Concurrence of Images by Andrew R. Guffey
4.0
In this book, Andrew R. Guffey pays pays special attention to the visual nature of the Book of Revelation. According to Guffey, "Modern interpreters of apocalyptic images, and Revelation’s especially, have been trained to explain them … [but] not see them" (4), and as a result, much of the "aesthetic power" of Revelation's images (5) is left unappreciated. In order to better appreciate and recognize the visuality of Revelation and its images, Guffey advocates for viewing John as a type of "ekphrastic" (that is, someone who describes verbally what can be seen visually). Guffey also draws analogies between Revelation's images and the visual culture of Western Asia Minor (the location of the seven churches to whom John writes [Rev 2-3]). Guffey examines images from the Book of Revelation alongside Greco-Roman art, iconography, and statuary "for the express purpose of better understanding the images of the book of Revelation in the context of their earliest reception" (9).
Rather than arguing in favor of a direct line of influence (e.g., John saw a statue of Artemis of Ephesus, which served as the inspiration for his description of the "Great Whore" in Revelation 17), Guffey argues only for "analogy." For Guffey, "there is a certain resonance of Revelation’s images with the currency of images in the Asian locales" (7), and by drawing "analogies" between these images, one might get a better idea of what John is describing (or depicting) in the Book of Revelation. Guffey does not find much significance in a project that is primarily interested in proving a "genetic relationship" between pieces of art from Asia Minor and Revelation's images. Attempting to explicitly identify who borrowed from whom involves "tak[ing] unnecessary risks, or mak[ing] inelegant speculations" (8). Herein lies the strength of Guffey's work. By relinquishing the desire to identify "sources" or "origins," Guffey is able to help our eyes see and our minds visualize the images of Revelation. The purpose is not simply to understand Revelation's images, but first of all to visualize them, to see them, and this is what Guffey helps readers to do. By looking to "congruent"/"concurrent" images from Asia Minor in his analysis of Revelation's images, Guffey invites readers to step into the visual culture of the world in which John and his audiences lived.
Rather than arguing in favor of a direct line of influence (e.g., John saw a statue of Artemis of Ephesus, which served as the inspiration for his description of the "Great Whore" in Revelation 17), Guffey argues only for "analogy." For Guffey, "there is a certain resonance of Revelation’s images with the currency of images in the Asian locales" (7), and by drawing "analogies" between these images, one might get a better idea of what John is describing (or depicting) in the Book of Revelation. Guffey does not find much significance in a project that is primarily interested in proving a "genetic relationship" between pieces of art from Asia Minor and Revelation's images. Attempting to explicitly identify who borrowed from whom involves "tak[ing] unnecessary risks, or mak[ing] inelegant speculations" (8). Herein lies the strength of Guffey's work. By relinquishing the desire to identify "sources" or "origins," Guffey is able to help our eyes see and our minds visualize the images of Revelation. The purpose is not simply to understand Revelation's images, but first of all to visualize them, to see them, and this is what Guffey helps readers to do. By looking to "congruent"/"concurrent" images from Asia Minor in his analysis of Revelation's images, Guffey invites readers to step into the visual culture of the world in which John and his audiences lived.