Soundscape, Weeping Scenes and the Constructs of Resistance in Revelation 18
| dc.contributor.advisor | Punt, Jeremy | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.author | Michael, Matthew | en_ZA |
| dc.contributor.other | Stellenbosch University. Faculty of Theology. Dept. of Old and New Testament. | en_ZA |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-04-01T09:01:38Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-04-01T09:01:38Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2024-12 | |
| dc.description | Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2024. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.abstract | The dissertation engages the acoustic poetics of the book of Revelation by examining the strategic use of sounds as a subversive instrument of resistance in Revelation 18. It interrogates Revelation in the construct of its animated soundscape, and the lethal appropriation of this sensory space for its subversive polemics against Rome in the double ciphers of Babylon and the Prostitute. While past scholarship has generally ignored the central importance of weeping scenes in the study of Revelation, this dissertation underscores the acoustic poetics of the weeping scenes and the subversive deployment of city-laments for the purpose of resistance in Revelation 18. Using a sound-centred approach, it repositions the studies in Revelation, and apocalyptic literature in general for an interdisciplinary conversation with the emerging field of sound studies. Thus, the first chapter of the dissertation introduces the critical importance of soundscape and weeping scenes in the book of Revelation, the sound-driven hermeneutics, the research questions, the research scope and objectives respectively. Chapter Two examines the rhetorical character of weeping scenes in the book of Revelation in direct conversation with the sonic enthronement of the divine voice, the weaponised acoustics of its Christology, the sonic representation of a traumatised church, the aural operations of its punitive angels, the exploitative acoustics of its ecology, and the auditory character of its territorial spaces. Chapter Three focuses on Revelation 18 through its acoustic background, genre, literary environment, chiastic structure, the interactive character of the weeping voices, and the distinctive sonic features of Revelation 18 as an important weeping scene in the construct of a city-lament. In Revelation 18, we encounter the entire empire of Rome in mourning, and the vocal protest of its hegemonic control, powers and global order. In particular, the acoustics of this city-lament projects the defeat of God’s enemies whose cries in Revelation 18 resonate with the earlier cries of the martyrs, and fulfil their longing for vengeance (6:9-10 cf. 7:10; 8:2-3). Chapter Four describes the important acoustic devices in Revelation 18 which are creatively deployed to the task of resistance. In this site of great resistance, Revelation 18 presents subversively the loud acoustics of angelic protests, the polemics of dystopian sounds, the sonic attacks of boycotts, the alienating power of sonic sanctions, the acoustic design of mimicries, the polemic identities of submerged voices, and the sonic constructs of disability and animal sounds in cohesive attacks against Rome. In its resistance against the established order, the poetics of Revelation 18 harnessed the lethal character of lament that called defiantly for the destruction of the status quo, the birth of a new world, and the dramatic reordering of the present society. Lastly, Chapter Five concludes the findings of this dissertation which are primarily centred on the acoustic importance of weeping scenes in the book of Revelation, the lethal character of its soundscape as instrument of resistance, the polemic construct of Revelation 18 as a city-lament, the interactive symphony of Revelation 18, and its contribution to the acoustic agenda of apocalyptic literature. | en_ZA |
| dc.description.version | Doctoral | en_ZA |
| dc.format.extent | 200 pages | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://scholar.sun.ac.za/handle/10019.1/131834 | |
| dc.publisher | Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
| dc.rights.holder | Stellenbosch University | en_ZA |
| dc.title | Soundscape, Weeping Scenes and the Constructs of Resistance in Revelation 18 | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis | en_ZA |