A partial preterist understanding of Revelation 12-13 within an intertextual framework

Abstract

There are two lines of thought in exegetical circles concerning the interpretation of partial preterism, applied to Rev. 12-13: (1) the consistent partial preterism, according to which the whole book of Revelation is God’s judgement directed toward the apostate Jews in AD 70; (2) the transitional partial preterism which argues that the main theme of Rev. 12-19 is God’s judgement on Rome. To solve these conflicting opinions, intertextual views are applied to Rev. 12-13. We have observed that two main intertextual tensions arise. These are the conflict between John’s intertextuality and that of his audiences on the one hand, and on the other hand, the different views held by the Jewish Christians and the Gentile Christians. However, the problem of the two lines of partial preterism is not a matter of either/or but of both/and. Nonetheless, the matter of priority for each group of John’s audiences is of exegetical significance. For the Jewish audience, the judgement of Jerusalem is still a  matter of priority, but for the Gentile audiences, God’s judgement on Rome is decisive.