A narratological approach to the structure of the apocalypse of John

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT:This study aims to investigate the structure of the Apocalypse from the narratologicalviewpoint, to further the adequate interpretation of the book.Throughout this work. three things are presupposed: (1) the Apocalypse follows anepisodic, non-chronological pattern; (2) the Apocalypse is a coherent unit: (3) theApocalypse. as a genre. should be defined by means of form. content. and function.To start with. earlier attempts to reveal the structure of the Apocalypse are briefly dealtwith in chapter 2. in order to establish both their weak and strong points. With these inmind. this study attempts a three-dimensional approach consisting of syntactic structure(form). semantic structure (content). and pragmatic structure (function). In chapter 3.this approach is supported by Chatman's narrative paradigm (1980) as a model fornarrative analysis.In chapter 4, to establish the syntactic structure. we started by delimiting the whole textinto many small parts - partial narrative units - by using various narrative elements.and then assembled the small sections into basic (or complete) narrative units (BNU orULl ) by using several identifying criteria for them. and continued to identify thebigger narrative units (UL2.3.4) by using various integrating strategies until thebiggest narrative. which comprises the whole text as a coherent unit ( L.5). emerged.As a result. the narrative-svntactic structure (viz. the surface-level svntactic structure) , 'and the fundamental-syntucnc structure (viz. the deep-level syntactic structure) of thebook are disclosed at the end of chapter 4.In chapter 5, then. the content (the narrative theology) of the book i hown throuzh bboth the narrative-semantic structure (viz. the theme-oriented concentric pattern) and{he [undamental-semantic structure (viz. the macrostructure). both of which are basedon the syntactic structure (esp .. plot). Finally, in chapter 6, to show how the book functions to persuade the hearerslreaders inboth the literary context and the external (socio-historical) context, the transformingpower to reverse the old worldview of the hearerslreaders is sought through thenarrative strategies of the book in both contexts.Briefly speaking, while chapter four is related to the syntactic structure (form) of theApocalypse and chapter five is related to its semantic structure (content), chapter sixcan be said to correspond to the pragmatic aspect (function).To conclude, this study could modestly be said to articulate the following results:(1) The syntactic structure of the Apocalypse, as an integral unit. shows movement froman unstable state to a stable condition, which means that God's sovereignty will beestablished on earth -r'Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.(2) The semantic structure shows that the Apocalypse revolves around the activity ofJesus Christ. who is the cohering theological-clement of the structure of the book.(3) The functional structure shows that the Apocalypse rhetorically requests the faithfulto witness to God's word until the end of the world and the wayward to repent becausethe time is near.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University