Seeing into the Future: David deSilva on Koester's Revelation

Many years ago, ten years ago to be more precise, I was sitting in David deSilva's office, marvelling at his bookshelves and in particular, his section on Revelation. I asked him: "What is the best commentary written on Revelation." His answer surprised me. "It hasn't come out yet." He expounded further: "Craig Koester's in the Anchor Bible series will be the best when it does come out. But, that is a long way off."

Fast forward ten years, and Koester's highly anticipated commentary is about to see the light of day, as it is slated for release on Sept. 30th.

Craig R. Koester

Since that conversation with deSilva, this has been the one commentary for which I have been eagerly awaiting. After all, with deSilva's blessing and his own contributions to scholarship on the Apocalypse, what better recommendation could there be?

Moreover, Koester's scholarship has always been outstanding, whether working on the Fourth Gospel, Hebrews, etc., one can always count on him for a high calibre contribution.

Unfortunately, many will want to wait to purchase Koester's contribution when it comes out in paperback, as Yale University Press has retailed the commentary at a whopping $125.00.

The good news is however, one can access many of the pages through Google Books in the meantime to get a flavor of this masterful work. I have already perused a good portion of the introductory matters and if these pages are any indication of what is to follow, deSilva's prediction will ring true.