Sources: Revelation 1–22; Irenaeus (~180 AD) on its authorship; Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 3.39 (Papias); the “Muratorian Canon” (~170 AD).

The Revelation of John (~95–96 AD) is the most contested, most interpreted, and most politically weaponized book in the New Testament. Written during or shortly after Domitian’s reign (81–96 AD), it encodes its critique of Rome in apocalyptic imagery derived from Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Zechariah. The key figures: the Beast (616 or 666 = Nero/Domitian in gematria); Babylon (= Rome, as confirmed by 1 Pet 5:13 and the seven hills); the Whore of Babylon (the imperial cult); the Lamb (Christ, slain but standing — the paradox of crucified power). The theological center: history is not random but controlled by God, who will vindicate the martyrs and judge the empire. Three main interpretive approaches: (1) Preterist — all (or most) prophecies fulfilled in the 1st century; (2) Historicist — the book maps the entire course of church history (dominant in the Reformation — the Pope as Antichrist); (3) Futurist — most prophecies await fulfillment at the end of history (dominant in modern Evangelicalism, basis of dispensationalism). The book’s canonical status was contested for centuries — Eusebius placed it in the disputed category, and the Eastern church accepted it last among the New Testament books.