What is the official teaching on the book of Revelation?

[Philomena]

Last night at a meeting we were discussing offering the parish a talk on the Book of Revelation. I see it as muti-layered; expressing the past, present and future. Other, shall I say, more ‘academic’ members of the group adamently argued that it is just a cryptic story of the times of the first Christians and nothing more. Can anyone lead me to an official Church teaching on this book of the Bible? Is Scott Hahn’s “The Lamb’s Supper” an accepted point of view on this book?

 

[Veronica_Anne]

For the official teaching of the Catholic Church, please see the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

The entire Catechism is online.

At the Vatican’s Web site:

vatican.va/archive/catechism/ccc_toc.htm

At this Web site, also:

christusrex.org/www2/kerygma/ccc/searchcat.html

The Web site where I like to look up items in the Catechism is this Website from St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church.

scborromeo.org/ccc.htm

I did a search on just the word “Revelation” and got this page with links to each of the 73 paragraphs in the Catechism that have the word “revelation” in it.

ccc.scborromeo.org.master.com/texis/master/search/?sufs=0&q=Revelation&s=SS

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Dominos pax vobiscum (Peace of Christ be with you)

 

[Fidelis]

Philomena:

Last night at a meeting we were discussing offering the parish a talk on the Book of Revelation. I see it as muti-layered; expressing the past, present and future. Other, shall I say, more ‘academic’ members of the group adamently argued that it is just a cryptic story of the times of the first Christians and nothing more. Can anyone lead me to an official Church teaching on this book of the Bible? Is Scott Hahn’s “The Lamb’s Supper” an accepted point of view on this book?

As with much of the Bible, there isn’t an “official” interpretation of the Book of Revelation. There have long been varying theological aproaches, some like yours and some like the other members of your group. The best aproach to take is to find a good *Catholic * study of the book which does not contain speculation or teachings contrary to that of the Church. It goes without saying that you should avoid Protestant studies of this book, especially those that reflect pre-millenial dispensationalism (like that found in the “Left Behind” series of books) that contain heretical and anti-Catholic elements.

The Lamb’s Supper is indeed a good book with lots of valuable insight as to how the Eucharist is reflected in the Book of Revelation. Scott Hahn has also done an exhaustive series of tapes on this book and it now comes with a study guide, found here:

saintjoe.com/p/prod_desc.pl?id=169

There is also the Navarre Study Bible on the Book of Revelation that can used for group study. You can read a chapter a week at home and get together to discuss it as a group each week. Someone can even write up some brief questions to stimulate conversation.

Finally, I’d recommend David Currie’s new book Rapture: The End Times Error That Leaves the Bible Behind. Most of the book is dedicated to rebutting the pre-millenial dispensationalism viewpoint of the popular books, but it has a sizable chapter (in a sizable book) just on the book of Revelation. It goes pretty much passage by passage and addresses the commentary based on the writings of the early Church Fathers and the constant teaching of the Church. It’s the best I’ve seen on the subject and, with some preparation, could be used as a study guide.