Historicism: The Adventist Approach? A Response to the Challenges to Historicism

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to respond to various challenges against the historicist approach to the book of Revelation. After presenting debates among scholars, including Adventist scholars, concerning the historicist approach, this study proposes an approach that is based on the original readers' perspective as they read the Apocalypse. Rev 1:19, 4:1, and 21:6 establish the sectional division of the book: from ἃ εἰσὶν "things which are" (1:19), through ἃ δεῖ γενέσθαι "things that must take place" (4:1), until Γέγοναν "they have taken place" (21:6). This suggests that the Apocalypse itself calls for historicism.

Key Words: hermeneutics, Revelation, Historicism (the historicist approach), original readers