Telescopic Reiteration

A crucial aspect of an exegetical analysis of Revelation is to establish the literary structure of the book, one that is more than a conventional outline of chapters placed in the Introduction. There have been many attempts to identify such a structure, most proposals using implicit indicators such as the devices referred to by Ralph Korner as chiasm, recapitulation, reiteration, intercalation and encompassing. The Left Behind series of apocalyptic novels is a prime example of how the visions in Revelation 6–16 are read chronologically, each vision occurring on earth as a new event. Countering a linear, dispensational reading of the vision-texts, Ralph Korner gives a new dimension to the device of reiteration in the vision texts by suggesting a “Then …” and, “After this …” narrative that is based upon an objectively determined structure, one firmly grounded in the original audience’s historical and literary contexts.