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Spirituality - Reference
Title: Revelation and the Fall of Judea
Author: Maurice A. Williams
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Rating: Excellent!
Publisher: Xlibris
Web Page: www.xlibris.com
Reviewed by: Dr. Bennis
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In this ambitious work, Williams takes on a challenging subject in a masterful and unusual way.

For nearly two thousand years, people have been interpreting the Book of Revelation as though it had been written specifically for their own time. Today we are flooded with uneven interpretations and fictionalized versions of the Book of Revelations, all attempting to prove that the events portrayed in this enigmatic portion of the New Testament are occurring or about to occur in our life time.

But what if they're way off the mark? What if the prophecies described in the Book were meant to reflect the times in which it was written? The concept makes good sense, and the research Williams puts behind his theories drives them home.

Not only does Williams describe in detail the political, financial and social woes suffered by ChristÆs devotees in the years directly following the crucifixion, he ties together well-documented historical events that match Revelations 4 through 16.

In the last chapter of the book Williams gives us his take on other interpretations and interpreters as widely varied as St. Augustine, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Billy Graham, Carl Jung, and Edgar Cayce.

This book is a MUST HAVE for any true biblical scholar. It is an even-handed, well-written look at a subject that is too often moved from research and faith to pure fiction.




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Revelation and the Fall of Judea
by Maurice A. Williams
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Reviewed by: John Walsh


The Book of Revelations is one of the more interesting and controversial books of the bible. Particularly in the lead up to the recent millennium, a large number of people took the opportunity to try to demonstrate how terrible everything had become, how things were getting worse, and how the earth was about to be destroyed with perhaps a new heavenly order to be installed. This is a very familiar tale, of course, for people have been claiming the imminent end of the world for as long as there have been people around to criticize what the younger ones were doing. Unfortunately, many of the writers who have given us their views in this regard have been unable to present a coherent and appropriately scholarly approach to the subject. Instead, they have often presented a mishmash of half-digested fact, poorly selected references and personal convictions that combines the unbelievable with the unreadable. As a result, there is something of an air of disrepute over the whole subject.

Maurice A Williams has entered the lists in this topic and in Revelation and the Fall of Judea he presents his ideas based on research largely centering on Roman primary texts (principally Tacitus, Suetonius, and Josephus) and a survey of apocalyptic literature through the ages. He has produced, as a result, an interesting account of the historical context of the writing of Revelations based on those authors which necessarily, therefore, has a very narrow focus on Palestine and the Roman state and government. The primary authors constitute lively reading as always and it is always a pleasure to go back to them. There is little consideration of the ancient world apart from the Palestine-Rome axis, however, with no mention at all of Egypt, only one of Parthia and complete disregard for the rest of the world. This apparent lack of awareness of most of humanity and the history of the world is troublesome for a book that claims to describe important events in a new way. Williams is clearly and openly writing for a specific audience. As he says: “I am not a biblical scholar or a trained historian; I am an ordinary person like you. Like you I have had good exposure to modern events through the news media” (pp.15-6). In other words, he is writing for a middle-brow, middle-class audience which is, as can be seen from other details in the text, very much an audience of the USA. When someone who is not “a trained historian” and whose selection of sources is very narrow hopes to reinterpret past events in a new light, she or he must expect the work presented to be judged with a critical eye.

Williams’ main argument is that the millennial events apparently described in Revelations have already happened. His narrative describes the biblical writings and the historical context of the Romans relentlessly bashing the Jews (or Judeans as they are called) in the hope of showing that the two are describing similar events. This may or may not be true – Revelations is like most mystical writing in being created with deliberate layers of ambiguity that allow the text to be interpreted simultaneously in multiple ways. What is much less likely is the corollary to Williams’ argument which is that, as a result of the earlier events involving Rome, the end of the age of the Church came as a result of the Reformation. This is described thus:

“The Reformation and nationalism’s rise in the fourteenth century weakened the Christian secular empire. The empire burst in the sixteenth century into separate and hostile nations. The nations waged war with each other, even over the question of religion. This coincides nicely with the release of Satan to deceive the nations.” (p.204)

No evidence is provided to substantiate these startling claims. What was this Christian secular empire that existed for a thousand years? Rome? Byzantium? France? The Holy Roman Empire? Did nations not exist prior to the fourteenth century? Were there no religious wars before then? What was so bad about the Reformation? Elsewhere, Williams seems quite pleased that the moral laxity of the clergy was challenged by Luther and others of his ilk but here the Reformation is the work of Satan. Was it the spread of education, of knowledge, art, and commerce that was so evil? What policies did rulers from the sixteenth century pursue that they had not before the fourteenth? Williams is quite silent about this.

There are some other inconsistencies in the text from a purely authorial point of view. Firstly, Williams makes great play about God’s extending to man true freedom. Yet at the same time, the only choice presented to man is completely obey God’s desires or else disobey them and become unavoidably subject to merciless attacks – plagues, locusts, wars, famines – all of which are described in great detail. Faced with this decision, man’s proper response is of course to stick two fingers up at the injustice and hold out (even without hope) for something better – in other words, exactly the same spirit that motivated the Jews to hold on to their religion when continually persecuted by the Romans and everyone else.

There are many other issues that could be raised here but that is perhaps not the point. This is a book determinedly addressing a provincial, partisan audience with little interest in and less knowledge of the rest of the world. People of this mind might find this to be the book they need to make sense of the Book of Revelations.

John Walsh, Mahidol University International College, December 2003


Midwest Book Reviews
Revelation And The Fall Of Judea
Maurice A. Williams
Xlibris Corporation
436 Walnut Street, 11th floor, Philadelphia, PA 19106
1401068049 $21.99 xlibris.com

Revelation And The Fall Of Judea: A Comparison Of Chapters 4 Through 16 To Historical Events Of A.D. 276 Through 135 by Maurice A. Williams is an insightful, point-by-point analysis of thirteen chapters in the New Testament Book of Revelation, comparing it closely with the key events of Israelite and Judean history. Written in terms completely accessible to readers of all denominational and educational backgrounds, Revelation And The Fall Of Judea is a welcome and highly recommended contribution to religious studies, and one that especially connects Revelation to the recorded words of John the Baptist.