R. Jeff Collene. The Unveiling: The Book of Sevens. WestBow, 2016. See here to purchase the book.
R. Jeff Collene is a pastor. This book is about the Book of Revelation. Here are some thoughts.
A. In terms of the author’s perspective, it seems to be that the
millennium and the last days cover the time from Christ’s death to
Christ’s second coming. The Man of Sin represents demonically-supported
government throughout history. The first century specifically, however,
is especially significant in Collene’s thought. One reason, of course,
is that this is when John wrote Revelation. But Collene also believes
that the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE in a key element of the Book
of Revelation, and he refers to sources that highlight a high amount of
earthquakes and famines in the first century CE, the sorts of things
that Jesus predicted in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 24. What is
Collene’s perspective? Perhaps it is a combination of amillennialism,
preterism, and idealism. And yet, Collene in one isolated comment states
that there will be increased chaos prior to Jesus’ second coming, which
sounds somewhat like futurism. He does not flesh that out, though.
B. There are other loose ends. For example, there is the date of
Revelation. Collene seems to go with a pre-70 date, since Revelation
depicts the Temple as still standing. Yet, he acknowledges the validity
of arguments for a post-70 date: Christianity has spread to Asia Minor
and is a Gentile movement there, which had to have taken time. Of
course, how much of a challenge is that to a pre-70 date? Paul
established churches in Asia Minor, and he was pre-70. There is also the
issue of the Sabbath. Collene seems to advocate its observance. He
disputes that the Lord’s Day of Revelation 1:10 is Sunday, maintaining
that Christianity at this time was Jewish and observed the Sabbath. Yet,
he pastors a church that meets on Sunday. Also, he appeared to
contradict himself in his paragraph on Revelation 1:10, for he denied
that Christians kept Sunday until the fourth century, while also
referring to biblical passages about first century Christians meeting on
the first day of the week, which he believes was for celebration. Did
they observe Sunday or not? Collene’s discussion of kairos and chronos
had potential and may be one way to illuminate the parts of Revelation
that seem to imply an imminent end in John’s time, but that discussion
could have been developed more.
C. The book is informative, in places. For instance, Collene’s
discussion of the Nicolaitans referred to patristic interpretations; he
mostly did not cite the exact references, and the discussion would have
been better had he done so, but he still referred to church fathers by
name. Collene is aware of scholars who question the apostle John’s
authorship on the basis of Revelation’s style, and he offers a way to
account for the style; his knowledge and engagement of scholarship is a
plus. His articulation of the different positions on Revelation was also
informative, especially when he referred to examples of adherents. A
disadvantage to the last discussion, however, is that its purpose was
not clear. It seemed to be thrown in for the sake of being thrown in.
Perhaps more evaluation of the positions would have made that discussion
better.
D. Occasionally, the book had a thought that was new to me. Collene
does not interpret the Lord’s Day, for example, as Sunday or even the
Sabbath. Rather, he states it was the day on which people were to
proclaim that Caesar was Lord. It was on this day that Jesus chose to
reveal his own ultimate Lordship.
E. The book is homiletical, as it aims to be a Christ-centered,
spiritually-edifying book about Revelation. A lot of parts sounded like
cheerleading, yet Collene did cite a lot of Scripture. The anecdotes and
historical allusions could be appealing. I think of the story of the
grandson who learned that the Bible purified his mind, even if he did
not retain much of what he read. It was like a basket that leaks water:
the basket is still clean.
I received a complimentary copy of this book through BookLook Bloggers. My review is honest.