The importance of understanding literary genre
Each text must be read, understood and respected according to its identity, an identity that is determined by its literary genre, since, if that default identity is not considered, the first meaning of the text will be strongly distorted. It can be said that Juan’s Apocalypse book is one of the great victims of inappropriate reading, because it is a text that demands a special way to read it, which must be under the rules of its kind. Therefore, in this chapter it will be addressed about literary genres, apocalypse as a literary genre, its origin, development and characteristics.
John’s Apocalypse Book, is possibly the book of the Bible that generates more curiosity in believers and even non -believers, both for its esoteric language, and by the different interpretations that have been generated around the book throughout history, including the historicist, preterist, futuristic, idealist, etc. But, despite its popularity and the feelings found that it usually generates, this text is not very analyzed from its literary characteristics and from the brilliant narrative it possesses;Even scholars and critics have worried more about fragmenting it in disconnected sources than to really understand the wealth of its literary preparation.
In modern literature and worldview, the term Apocalypse receives a catastrophe connotation, disasters, calamities, destruction, hecatombe, mysteries, etc., However, it is an unclear connotation for the interpretation of gender, since originally, the word has a precisely contrary meaning, Apocalypse is a transliteration of the Greek noun ἀποκάλυψις (apokalypsis) that comes from the Greek αποκαλύπτω (apokalipto), composed of two rootsGreeks: απο (Apo), a preposition and αλύπτω (kalipto) that means hidden, hidden and saved;So, the literal translation would be: uncop, remove the veil, reveals, what is hidden is shown.
Paul Hanson, proposes a useful terminological distinction in this work, in three categories: Apocalypse, which refers to the literary genre;Revelation, which refers to the social movement or an ideology, which was a symbolic universe in resistance to the dominant culture to bring hope and reason for being the community;and apocalyptic eschatology, referring to a cosmic vision, a more theological perspective but that is not necessarily expressed through the apocalyptic genre (quotation). Subsequently, Hanson adds one more category: the pseudo -elipotyticism, which deals with the speculation of the apocalyptic as historical-social struggles of the apocalyptic authors; dedicating himself to interpreting apocalyptic literature from his own reality, prosperous context and insured existence; generating an acronistic distortion of the message and therefore, generating fear to the detriment of hope, promoting an indifferent interpretation in the face of injustice, with a degree of historical irresponsibility and that lends itself to justifying oppression (quotation).
In the same Hanson line, this research will work with the terms: Revelation for the genre and the set of various books of apocalyptic literature; and Juan’s apocalypse, to talk about the last book of the Bible attributed to John and the main object of the same.
Analyze the literature of Juan’s apocalypse turns the most extraordinary book, since, it gives the reader more accessibility to their theological and moral meanings, that is;Approaching this book by approaching from its gender is how you can find the essential key of how to understand the entire manuscript, because the apocalyptic genre is the primary tool to decode its symbols. In this investigation, the symbols of the seven stamps, the figures of the beasts and the millennium will be discussed;in order to seek to reach the first meaning of the text.
The literary approach will be an approach to the text in a simpler and more respectful way, considering it as a text in itself, therefore, in this chapter the effort will be to demonstrate the importance of understanding the apocalyptic genre for the understanding of the first meaning of the apocalypse of Juan, but it is worth highlighting the complexity of that challenge, considering that the object of study is "an ancient literary body, underground by non -literary comments".
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