Rhetography In Revelation

Greg Carey defines rhetography as “sensory rhetoric”, a device used in the Book of Revelation to convey one of its many themes, wealth redistribution. I will be examining the Revelation’s image of the woman and the dragon from 12:1-4. While this image’s rhetography does not address the redistribution of wealth once taken out of Revelation’s larger context, it does present an image of social vulnerability. To begin this examination, I recreated a painted image using a traditional understanding of John of Patmos’ rhetography, which I will compare to my reimagined version from today’s modern context, photographs seen above.
The first image contains a simple pairing of the woman clothed with the sun and the seven headed dragon. The woman depicted here wears a white robe with a subtle reveal of a child carried within her, …show more content…
For instance, the globe in the traditional painting is situated to showcase John of Patmos’ geographical location. Whereas the modern painting’s globe consumes the lower right corner to enhance the sense of vulnerability the woman feels while simultaneously reiterating the American society’s ethnocentric views. The moon is noticeably different in each painting. The traditional image shows a full moon to represent the gnostic revelation as Christianity began to take hold around the Mediterranean. The modern image shows a sliver sized crescent moon to symbolize the upcoming “new phase” of Christianity as many denominations in the United States work toward defining their inclusive guidelines. The rainbow, a symbol not found within this particular excerpt of Revelation, is found supporting the modern and not the traditionally cast woman clothed with the sun. God’s weapon of choice lies hidden behind the female minority figure, just within reach, as the cosmic onslaught of raining stars continues in case the legal document does not sooth the societal