Journal of Biblical Literature - Society of Biblical Literature

Friesen: Myth and Resistance in Revelation 13 313
well. New versions of myths were supplemented by new relations between
myths. In this sense, Revelation can be considered a form of religious resistance
literature. Its dreams of destruction were told with a mythic method that
disoriented the audience: familiar tales took strange turns, colliding with other
stories at unexpected intersections. The method dislodged familiar axioms and
appealed to experiences that did not fit mainstream norms. 96
All of this points to the conclusion that John’s Revelation is a classic text of
symbolic resistance to dominant society. John deployed myths in an eclectic,
disjunctive fashion, and did so for a ritual setting. The production of new, disruptive
mythology for a ritual setting is not conducive to the maintenance of
social hierarchies. It was a dangerous deployment in defense of a minority perspective.
96 Said, Culture and Imperialism, 31–32, 240.