There is a theory that Revelations was written by John the Baptist. Any thoughts?

Question

The basis of the idea is that it is the only gospel that rarely mentions Jesus by name (and these could have been added by later writers) and accordingly may have been written prior to the NT. Secondly that it is so replete with Jewish apocalyptic imagery that it is more in line with the Book of Enoch than anything in the NT.

And no, John the Evangelist did not write Revelations. The writing styles and language are completely dissimilar.

Any thoughts?

If interested check out Jonathan Kirsch's new book, The history of the End of the World.

Kirsch doesn't seem convinced by it as well but thinks its an interesting idea. The author was definitely Jewish.

to primoa read the question buddy it clearly states where I got the idea

Answer 1

Revelation (no "s", since there is only one "revelation" in the book) was almost not included in the Bible at all; due to many early church leaders considering that it was not canonical.

Apocalyptic literature was very popular in both the Jewish faith as well as in early Christian circles (due to the minimal differences between the two at that point in time).

Answer 2

The Apostle John penned the book of Revelation while he was on the Isle of Patmos. The writing was completed 96 C.E. John the Baptizer had been dead for 60 some years at this point. Instead of checking out some unauthorative book by some human writer, why not just check out the Bible. By going to men, we will have only man's opinions. The Bible warns us about this at

1 John 4:1: " Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world."

How do we test things? Scripture with Scripture
Acts 17: 11 "Now the latter were more noble-minded than those in Thes·sa·lo·ni′ca, for they received the word with the greatest eagerness of mind, carefully examining the Scriptures daily as to whether these things were so."

John the Baptizer lived during the same time that Jesus did. He was born only months before Jesus and he was beheaded before Jesus was killed. When the Apostle John received the revelation "by Jesus Christ, which God gave him...And he sent forth his angel and presented it in signs through him to his slave John" Jesus had already ascended to heaven. There are time lines so that we have even more reason to have faith in the things written afore time for our benefit today. The Bible is the only place where you can get the truth, if one tries to change it, there is grave danger of the consequences.

Answer 3

According to the gospels, John the Baptist was beheaded about 1 year into the ministry of Jesus. The book of Revelation contains 7 letters written to churches in Asia Minor that were not founded until several decades after the death of John. The letter are not presented as prophecies, but as statements of the "current situation" in each of those churches. So it would be difficult for someone who had been dead to for several decades to have written them. Jesus does refer to John the Baptist as the "last prophet". But he is the last prophet of the OLD Testament (the covenant made with the Jewish people.) The NEW Testament contains several references to people who were prophets after the time of John the Baptist. It also says that prophets were one of the five different ministry offices that Jesus established in the early church. So there were "prophets" after the time of Jesus. They were just prophets for a different covenant. The author of Revelation was one of those prophets. So it is highly unlikely that John the Baptist, who was a prophet of a different covenant and was dead, was the author of the book of Revelation.

Answer 4

It is fairly certain in academic circles that the Book of Revelation was not written until roughly 90 AD. John the Baptist was beheaded by Herod long before that and even had he not been, he would have been between 80-100 years old. This is another John entirely.

Answer 5

The apostle John (John, 1-2-3 John) received the revelation from the angel of the Lord while in exile on the island of Patmos somewhere around 90AD.
Where did you get your info?

Answer 6

The book of Revelation is built on the book of Daniel which is rich in Jewish imagery. Revelations continues with this political beast (the first horseman and, the beast from the sea which has power over tribes, tongues, languages and people), and introduces the spiritual beast (the second horseman and the beast from the earth). It sounds like this John Kirsh is grasping at straws, and has done no research for his book.

Answer 7

I think the evidence points to it being written about 50 years or more after Jesus died- some estimates say 100 years- rather than by a contemporary who knew him personally.

Answer 8

Witten by St John the Apostle on Patmos (or one of his disciples)

Answer 9

I thought it was decided that it was written by John of Patmos, not John the Baptist.

Answer 10

it's awefully hard to write a book when your head is on a silver platter... i'd like to see the author of such books pull it off. dan brown.. kirsch.. & whoever else.
joseph smith comes to mind...
you know the masons had a hand in creating the mormons, jehovas witnesses, christian science, theosophy (new age), scientology.. and 'wicca' (which is nothing like the old pagan junk). (& lets not forget the kkk)
http://public.fotki.com/honorablepassion/911
http://killtown.911review.org/lonegunmen.html
http://www.glennbeck.com/news/05172002.shtml
wake up ;)