"Study Notes on Revelation"

By Naomi Weaver, C.S.

Booklet, Soft Cover, 42 pages

Price:  $20 plus shipping from the U.S. 

Mary Baker Eddy says that Revelation is "the acme of this Science as the Bible reveals it" (S&H  577:30).  It is one of the most exciting and important books of the Bible, and yet it is not easy to understand fully for all its meaning and richness.

Revelation was written after St. John wrote his Gospel and the three letters attributed to him. St. John’s first readers would have been familiar with the form and structure of apocalypses, of which a great many were written at the time, by Christians as well as Jews. They also would have recognized the derivations and meanings of the symbols which John used.

Revelation, by contrast to the open and clear Gospel, is deliberately opaque and obscure. It is highly stylised and formal, and full of symbolism.  It forces the reader to look beyond a materially literal interpretation. It is to be understood through revelation, rather than inductive reason.

It is the account in seven parts or visions of the warfare between "the spirit of truth" (John 14:17) and "a liar and the father of them" (John  8:44).  Otherwise stated, it is an account of the mental warfare between light, representing understanding, and darkness, representing ignorance.  It is a guidebook to a state of thought that cannot be attained by argument or mere deductive reasoning, since it requires the reader to change the basis of reasoning to appreciate fully the revelation.  Revelation is a vision of mental warfare and Study Notes provides a guide to that warfare, explaining its nature, identifying the sides and clarifying its phases.

John assumed that his audience would understand his use of symbols, which were common enough in the apocalypses of the time, and would have been clear to anyone with a good knowledge of the Old Testament.  The book is as resistant to materially literal interpretation as are the two creation stories of Genesis. But, when deciphered (interpreted spiritually), it is a clear exposition of the key teachings of Jesus.

Study Notes is a very helpful 42-page guide, written from the perspective of Christian Science and based on the King James Version of the Bible, that provides a summary of events in the book and explains the scores of symbols used by St. John to present the revelation of Jesus Christ. It explains the book’s structure and describes why St. John wrote this book in the way he did.

Study Notes will be very helpful for both long-time and new students of Christian Science.  The narrative presents very exciting insights, entirely consistent with absolute Christian Science, in a very easy to read and understand style that invites one to keep reading.  This will be very appealing to new students who want to understand in greater depth the metaphysical interpretation of Revelation that contributed to Mrs. Eddy's great discovery.

Study Notes also provides full citations and references to relevant writings by Mary Baker Eddy as well as very comprehensive citations to Revelation and other books in the Bible.  It will enable many readers to much more fully embrace Revelation in the way Mrs. Eddy did.

Read and Download Flyer