Editing Book of Revelation (section)

==== Paschal/eucharistic liturgy ====
This interpretation, which has found expression among both Catholic and Protestant theologians, considers the [[Christian liturgy|liturgical]] worship, particularly the [[Easter]] rites, of early Christianity as background and context for understanding the Book of Revelation's structure and significance. For Marilyn Parry, "there is a large loose structure which focuses on the eucharistic liturgies of the early church."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parry |first1=Marilyn |title=The Significance of the Book of Revelation to the Development of the Liturgy (PhD thesis) |date=2000 |publisher=University of Manchester}}</ref>

This perspective is explained in ''The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse'' (new edition, 2004) by [[Massey H. Shepherd]], an Episcopal scholar, and in [[Scott Hahn]]'s ''The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth'' (1999),<ref name=hahn/> in which he states that Revelation in form is structured after creation, fall, judgment and redemption. Those who hold this view say that the Temple's destruction (AD 70) had a profound effect on the Jewish people, not only in Jerusalem but among the Greek-speaking Jews of the Mediterranean.<ref name=hahn>{{cite book |first=Scott |last=Hahn |title=The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth |isbn=0-385-49659-1 |location=New York |publisher=Doubleday |year=1999}}</ref>

They believe the Book of Revelation provides insight into the early Eucharist, saying that it is the new Temple worship in the New Heaven and Earth. The idea of the Eucharist as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet is also explored by British Methodist Geoffrey Wainwright in his book ''Eucharist and Eschatology'' (Oxford University Press, 1980).

According to [[Pope Benedict XVI]] some of the images of Revelation should be understood in the context of the dramatic suffering and persecution of the churches of Asia in the 1st century.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Pope Benedict XVI |title=John, the Seer of Patmos |url=http://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/audiences/2006/documents/hf_ben-xvi_aud_20060823.html |location=Vatican City |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |access-date=31 May 2020 |author1-link=Pope Benedict XVI }}</ref> Accordingly, they argue, the Book of Revelation should not be read as an enigmatic warning, but as an encouraging vision of Christ's definitive victory over evil.<ref>{{cite web |first=John |last=Thavis |url=http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=20995 |title=Pope Benedict: Read Book of Revelation as Christ's victory over evil |website=Catholic Online |agency=Catholic News Service |date=23 August 2006 |access-date=25 April 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005010122/http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=20995 |archive-date=5 October 2013 }}</ref>

This view builds from scholarly insights that identify various hymns or liturgical sequences in Revelation that are likely derived from, as well as informing, early church liturgy: [[Sanctus|Holy Holy Holy]]/{{lang|la|Sanctus}}/{{lang|el|trisagion}} (Rev 4:8,11), "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” followed by “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen" (Rev 20:20), "Worthy is the Lamb" (Rev 5:9-13), and many others.<ref name=westermeyer/>{{rp|432}} Some of the hymns may have had an anti-imperial theology.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Jeffcoat Schedtler |first1=Justin P. |editor-first1=Craig R. |editor-last1=Koester |title=The Hymns in Revelation |journal=The Oxford Handbook of the Book of Revelation |date=10 September 2020 |pages=114–130 |doi=10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190655433.013.7|isbn=978-0-19-065543-3 }}</ref>