Paltalk debate on dating of Revelation! Hanegraaff v. Hitchcock

[dizzle]

Be there, and be prepared to have the paltalk hyperpreterist cult out in full force.

http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/blog/2007/12/05/hanegraaffhitchcock-debate-the-date-of-revelation/

[National Intelligence Director Phoenix]

I hope it's recorded. We have a friend coming up to discuss faith.

[Geek Eclectic]

Oh, that looks like fun! For the record, I've already read that insipid little blue book, too. :teeth:

[gharfish]

The Revelation of Jesus to John was written thirty years too late. :teeth:

[Amazing Rando]

From the promo site (http://www.reclaimingthemind.org/cws/home):

As this debate will evidence, what you believe about the date of the book of Revelation will significantly impact how you view the prophecies of Revelation. Are they still future as Premillenialists believe? Or were most fulfilled in A.D. 70 as the partial-preterist position holds.

The problem is that both debaters seem to be operating under the same set of mistaken assumptions- Revelation is not first and foremost a book of prophecy (although it certainly contains prophetic elements). It's an apocalypse, a very specific literary genre that deals more in mythopoetic categories than it does prophetic. That is to say, it's not primarily about predicting the future. Both Hanegraaf and Hitchcock seem to think that it is, hence the importance of the date. Hamegraaf thinks its a prediction about the destruction of the temple in AD 70, Hitchcock thinks it's a prediction of some distant yet-to-be-realized future. Hence if the thing was completed before 70, Hanegraaf would claim victory, but if it were finished after 70 (as most contemporary NT scholars would conclude), Hitchcock would claim victory. The problem is that they seem to both be operating under the same set of faulty assumptions about the intended meaning of the text, and whoever "wins" this debate will only end up strengthening one flawed conclusion over the other, in effect missing the forest for the trees.

[historic salve]

I'll be there, but I hope it's strictly a debate about dating, not about eschatology. I'd be interested in learning about the date of Revelation for its own sake.

[Teallaura]

December 10, 2007

7:00 pm CST
[8 EST; 6 MST; 5 PST]

[dizzle]

I will definitely be there.

[Teallaura]

I dunno - Mondays have been bad for me lately...

[dizzle]

bump it's toight