The Apocalyptic View of History: Extra-Biblical Apocalypses and Implications for the Interpretation of Revelation

Resumen

This study examines select extra-biblical Jewish and Christian apocalypses in order to clarify how the apocalyptic genre conceptualized the relationship between prophecy and history, and how this comparative perspective can inform the interpretation of the book of Revelation. After surveying ten representative historical apocalypses, the article highlights four defining features shared across the corpus: (1) a pronounced interest in the flow of history from the vantage point of the assumed author to the consummation of the age; (2) the pervasive use of ex eventu prophecy, rooted in pseudepigraphy, both to bridge chronological gaps and to confer authority on the work; (3) the fundamentally predictive orientation of apocalyptic literature, in which portrayals of the past function as narrative scaffolding for future expectations; and (4) the presence of both short-term and long-term eschatological predictions. These characteristics reveal a consistent genre logic that bears directly on the hermeneutical debates surrounding Revelation. The analysis argues that neither idealism, full preterism, nor futurism coheres with the historical-apocalyptic framework exemplified in extra-biblical texts. Instead, the study contends that a historicist reading—understood as the expectation of unfolding divine action across the span of post-apostolic history—best aligns with the genre’s assumptions and with John’s self-presentation as a prophet of the future.