The book of revelation apocalypse and empire leonard l thompson thompson here examines the importance of the genre apocalypse and analyzes the form and structure of the revelation its narrative and metaphoric unity the world created through johns visions and the social conditions of the empire in which john wrote. His thesis is that christians lived stable and peaceful live within the empire the crisis that is the persecution envisioned by most interpreters of the book of revelation is characteristic of the genre as an apocalypse and not of political circumstances occasioning the genreapocalypses are not always occasioned by great political and social crises nor do political crises always result in an apocalyptic response the presence of the theme in revelation tells us nothing about . The book of revelation apocalypse and empire leonard l thompson google books about seventy years after the death of jesus john of patmos sent visionary messages to christians in seven. The book of revelation is believed to be infused with anti roman sentiment and the politics of revelation has been discussed in a variety of ways by specialists for nearly 2000 years during the late twentieth century empire emerged as a crucial term in the interpretation of johns apocalypse this chapter explores the relationship between apocalypse and empire with reference to imperial rome after discussing several important trends in revelation studies in the late