"Matthew Fleming brings to his study of the book of Revelation his vivid personal memory, his alertness to popular culture, seriousness about the text, and a winsome imaginative sense of humor. The outcome of the work of his many gifts is an invitation to rescue the book of Revelation from the mistaken use made of it by fundamentalist literalists with their infallibility, inerrancy, and theology of fear. In the place of such distortion, he offers a reading of the book of Revelation through an engagement with its imagery and cadences. Fleming's rendering of the book will be much appreciated by those who receive the Bible and particularly the book of Revelation as the voicing of a world under God's gracious, relentless goodness. As Fleming reads it, that gracious, relentless goodness will, soon or late, prevail."
The End Is the Beginning
Revelation, Hope, and the Love That Lit the Stars
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Dragons, battles, beasts, and plagues--it's no wonder Revelation is often called the scariest book in the Bible. And most of us aren't sure what to make of it.
What do you think of when you think about the book of Revelation? Prophecy, apocalypse, rapture? While certain evangelicals are steeped in the rhetoric of Revelation (albeit a very particular and peculiar interpretation), the rest of us often have little interaction with Revelation, beyond its fire-and-brimstone reputation. Revelation rarely shows up in the pulpits of mainline Christian churches, and many progressives feel as if Revelation is only for "the end is near" apocalyptics or Christian Nationalists and QAnon theorists. But the book of Revelation offers so much more if we're willing to crack it open in new ways.
The End Is the Beginning cuts through the echo chamber of rapture-haunted apocalyptic anxiety with a clear picture of God's persistent love for all that was, and is, and will be. It will serve as a trusted companion, providing tools to carry readers into all corners of Scripture. Pastor and writer Matthew Ian Fleming is a sage Revelation guide, combining his own stories with shared perspectives from an entourage of interpreters of various generations and diverse backgrounds--pastors, theologians, and people of faith--who dare to read Revelation in the face of world-wrenching events, from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the murder of George Floyd. Reading the book of Revelation takes us to the height of heaven and the depths of despair; it requires curiosity and courage. It means standing in the face of a Christian mechanism fueled by fear to reclaim a message of promise and persistence. With equal doses hope and humor, Fleming suggests that if we can contend with Revelation, it really can change everything.