This is a specially commissioned series of state-of-the-art studies on the most important aspects of Revelation and its significance for the 21st century. The studies can be grouped in relation to three main themes: first, strategies of interpretation (theological, literary, feminist, metaphorical); second, the nature of the violent imagery; third, passages of particular interest (the letter to Laodicea, "praise and politics" Old Testament allusions, the second coming of Christ).