Chapter 8 The Tree of Life in the Apocalypse of John
In: The Tree of LifeSearch for other papers by Douglas Estes in
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Abstract
This essay focuses on the tree of life as a visual image in the Apocalypse of John. The tree of life seems ambiguous, and therefore readers of Revelation have visualized the tree image in different ways throughout its reception. This is because the tree of life is an image that is intentionally multistable and polyvalent. With input from ancient and modern interpretive strategies such as Artemidorus’ Oneirocritica and rhetography, this essay looks at the tree image along three visual perspectives—literal, metaphorical, and symbolic—for convergence and divergence of interpretation. These various visual perspectives of the tree come together in the reader’s eye once the reader looks for the use of the tree instead of its meaning.