This essay develops a theory of apocalyptic texts and movements by applying Kenneth Burke's conception of the tragic and comic frames of acceptance to the text of the Christian Apocalypse and to the history of its interpretation. Burke's “psychology of form” is used to explain the recurring patterns of apocalyptic argument as functions of rhetor/audience interaction. Viewing the Apocalypse as an epochal rhetoric that structures human experience of temporality through the rhythms of drama leads to insights on the possibilities and limitations of interpretive argument.
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Stephen D. O'Leary (1993) studied this question.
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