Season Four (2026-2027)
Season Four of the Revelation Reception Network Seminar is planned as follows. All sessions will be held via Zoom at the following link. Sessions that are recorded will have their videos posted on the Network's YouTube page (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster) and via the links below.
1. Francis X. Gumerlock: "The Hermeneutics of Distinguishing Between the First and Second Coming of Christ in the Apocalypse Commentary of Primasius of Hadrumetum (c. 550s)"
Time: Mon, Sept 14, 2026 — 5:00 PM Germany / 11:00 AM US Eastern.
Webinar link: https://uni-regensburg.zoom-x.de/my/revrecnet (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Abstract: In the Apocalypse commentary of Primasius of Hadrumetum (c. 550s), Primasius provides a lengthy excursus on biblical hermeneutics. This is found in his comments on Rev 5:1 about the book sealed with seven seals. Here he enumerates seven "modes of speech" found in Scripture: 1) historical action, 2) allegorical action, 3) both historical and allegorical action, 4) the unchangeable essence of the divine Trinity, 5) comparisons, 6) the twofold coming of the Savior, and 7) instructions in the divine commandments. After listing these, he describes each mode with examples from Scripture. This presentation focuses on the sixth mode of speech called "the twofold coming of the Savior." In his description of this mode, Primasius teaches that this is the mode by which an interpreter may distinguish "which passages should be referred to the first coming and which ones should be referred to the Second Coming." While he provides a few examples from the Hebrew Scriptures of passages that refer to each respective coming, he never explains the methods, or principles, used to determine these. Therefore, this presentation explores Primasius's Apocalypse commentary, his only extant exegetical work, for the methods he used for distinguishing the two comings, and identifies four principles he seems to have employed for interpreting whether a vision or phrase in the Apocalypse refers to the first or the Second Coming of Christ.
Bio: Francis X. "Frank" Gumerlock earned his Ph.D. in historical theology from Saint Louis University in 2004, where he was a research assistant to Kenneth B. Steinhauser. Over the last two decades he has taught courses at Providence Theological Seminary, Colorado College, and the University of Colorado, and Latin to high schoolers in the Denver area. His main contribution to the reception of Revelation consists of translations of commentaries on the Book of Revelation from late antiquity and the early Middle Ages. These include The Seven Seals of the Apocalypse: Medieval Texts in Translation (2009), Revelation and the First Century (2012), Early Latin Commentaries on the Apocalypse (2016), Tyconius. Exposition of the Apocalypse (with David C. Robinson, 2017), Carolingian Commentaries on the Apocalypse by Theodulf and Smaragdus (2019), Pseudo-Cyril of Alexandria. Commentary on the Apocalypse (with Francesca Lecchi and Tito Orlandi, 2021), and Cassiodorus, St. Gregory the Great, and Anonymous Greek Scholia. Writings on the Apocalypse (with Mark DelCogliano and T.C. Schmidt, 2022). His latest book is entitled An Anonymous Irish Gloss on the Apocalypse (2025).
2. Jean-Michel Roessli: "The Emperor Augustus, the Tiburtine Sibyl, the Woman of the Apocalypse, and the Immaculate Conception: Texts and Images"
Time: Thu, Oct 1, 2026 — 5:00 PM Germany / 11:00 AM US Eastern.
Webinar link: https://uni-regensburg.zoom-x.de/my/revrecnet (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Abstract: In this talk I intend to discuss the merging of the vision of Augustus also known as the legend of the Araceli with the vision of the Woman of the Apocalypse (Rev 12:1-5), both in its textual and visual expression. As known from the 12th-century Mirabilia Urbis Romae, the emperor Augustus, wondering if he should be worshiped as a god, consults the Tiburtine Sibyl, who shows him the Virgin Mary with her child seated on an altar in the sky. Amazed by this vision, the emperor kneels in front of the celestial apparition and renounces his power. At some point toward the end of the Middle Ages, this legend, which had been variously depicted and retold thus far, began to be merged with the vision of the Woman of the Apocalypse, particularly in devotional contexts and on all sorts of media (manuscripts, paintings, textiles, stain-glass windows, plates, block books, etc.). Sometimes, this iconography also served to depict the Immaculate Conception. The purpose of this talk is to trace the origins of this iconography and provide an overview of its development during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance. To illustrate the meaning and function of this amalgamation of visions, I will refer to both texts and images.
Bio: Jean-Michel Roessli is a Full Professor in the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada). His PhD dissertation (2004) was dedicated to the Christian portions of the Oracula Sibyllina (Books VI, VII, VIII, 217-428) and their reception in late antiquity and early modernity. He has published extensively on various topics pertaining to the Sibylline tradition and the history of Christianity.
3. Luke Stevens: "How the Nicolaitans became gnostics: the lost roots of a heresiological tradition"
Time: Thu, Nov 5, 2026 — 5:00 PM Germany / 11:00 AM US Eastern.
Webinar link: https://uni-regensburg.zoom-x.de/my/revrecnet (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Abstract: The Nicolaitans, whom Revelation briefly mentions, undergo puzzling developments in the early patristic reports, which in various respects transform them into gnostics. They and their imputed founder Nicholas are included among the demiurgist heresiarchs, Nicholas is explicitly identified as the origin of the gnostics, and specific protological myths and other teachings are attributed to Nicholas's heresy. How did all this come about? Through an examination of the heresiological texts in context, their interrelationships, and their discernible lost sources, an explanation is here developed, including a novel hypothesis on the first heresy catalogue to mention the Nicolaitans and how its readers were misled.
Bio: Luke Stevens is an independent scholar in Southern California, a software engineer by profession, with a decade of publications in early Christian history, exploring lost patristic writings and the origin of the New Testament. His work has appeared in the Journal of Early Christian Studies, the Journal of Theological Studies, Ephemerides Theologicae Lovaniensis, and other leading journals. Regarding Revelation, he has examined the exegetical traditions on the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures, as well as the portrayal of the heresiarch Cerinthus. His recent research has focused on the Latin heresiologists Filastrius and Pseudo-Jerome, along with the broader patristic heresiological tradition and its origins.
4. Pierre de Marolles: "How Did Joachim of Fiore Unwittingly Transform the Sealed Book into a Book of Destinies?"
Time: Thu, Feb 4, 2027 — 5:00 PM Germany / 11:00 AM US Eastern.
Webinar link: https://uni-regensburg.zoom-x.de/my/revrecnet (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Abstract: This presentation explores how Joachim of Fiore radically transformed the interpretation of the seven-sealed book from the Book of Revelation at the end of the twelfth century. Long viewed as a symbol of Holy Scripture, the sealed book evolved into a detailed blueprint of future events foreknown by God: a book of destinies. To understand this shift, we will first examine how the Abbot of Fiore built upon a synthesis of exegetical traditions surrounding this motif: the system of concordance between the two Testaments. We will then follow his transition to his famous three-age periodization of history. Finally, we will show how this new historical model reshaped the understanding of the Book of Revelation as a whole and the image of the sealed book in particular. This case study will allow us to analyze a remarkable example of the interdependence between the history of exegesis and the philosophy of history.
Bio: Pierre de Marolles, O.P., is a Catholic priest and friar belonging to the Dominican Order. Originally from France, he studied theology in Fribourg, Switzerland. In October 2019, he began a PhD on the Book of Revelation under joint supervision between the University of Geneva in Switzerland and the University of Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium. Since September 2025, he has been based at St. Stephen's Priory, home to the École Biblique et Archéologique Française de Jérusalem (French Biblical and Archaeological School of Jerusalem).
5. Harri Huovinen: "The Reception of the Book of Revelation in Paulinus of Nola"
Time: Thu, Mar 4, 2027 — 5:00 PM Germany / 11:00 AM US Eastern.
Webinar link: https://uni-regensburg.zoom-x.de/my/revrecnet (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Abstract: Among late antique ecclesiastical writers, Paulinus of Nola (c. 353–431) offers significant yet surprisingly understudied evidence of Patristic engagement with the Book of Revelation. His principal work, the Epistulae, contains thirty-three references to Revelation, with an additional eight found in the Carmina. While Paulinus never provides a systematic commentary, he employs the Johannine Apocalypse as a rhetorical and theological resource across six thematic contexts. Most references concern (1) depictions of the Godhead and (2) exhortations to perseverance and Christian piety amid trials. Further, (3) his episcopal peers are described as lamps on the seven-branched candlestick of the Church; (4) Revelation's imagery illuminates the believer's heavenly goal; (5) "Apocalypsis" figures as a warning against moral laxity; and (6) demonic activity is portrayed in apocalyptic terms. The study highlights Paulinus as a revealing counterpoint to Scripture-centered Greek contemporaries such as Cyril of Jerusalem and John Chrysostom, who may have known Revelation yet never cite it.
Bio: Harri Huovinen is University lecturer in Systematic Theology and Church History at the University of Eastern Finland and the author of Images of Divine Participation: A Reappraisal of Fourth Century Views on Church Membership (Finnish Patristic Society, 2022). His key research projects include The Place of Religious Experience in Patristic Ecclesiology, which is funded by the Finnish Cultural Foundation, and he is co-leader with Prof. Lukas Bormann (Philipps-Universität Marburg) of The Book of Isaiah and its Jewish Exegetical Tradition: Luke-Acts as a Model for Isaiah's Reception in Premodern Christianity. Huovinen earned his ThD in Systematic Theology and Patristics in 2022 from the University of Eastern Finland and is currently the chairperson of the Finnish Patristic Society.
6. Emily Pothast: "The Layered Reception of Revelation in Metropolis (1927)"
Time: Thu, Apr 1, 2027 — 5:00 PM Germany / 11:00 AM US Eastern.
Webinar link: https://uni-regensburg.zoom-x.de/my/revrecnet (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Abstract: The science fiction silent film Metropolis, which turns 100 in 2027, presents its hypermodern future in apocalyptic terms, culminating in the seductive performance of the Maschinenmensch as the woman Babylon from Revelation 17. This paper examines Metropolis's engagement with Revelation through a critical analysis of a single frame which appears twice in the film: a spread of a printed Bible, open to the Book of Revelation, rendered in a Gothic typeface and illustrated with a woodcut of the woman Babylon astride a seven-headed beast. Creating a visual parallel with the robot's dance which echoes across centuries, this filmic image of the printed page calls for a reading of the film's futuristic allegory within the context of the historiography of the early centuries of printing, particularly within Germany. It argues that the concept of "apocalypse," both within the film's allegory and in the early modern past that it calls upon, functions as a theology of history through which the technical-social affordances of new configurations of media are investigated and negotiated.
Bio: Emily Pothast (United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities) is an interdisciplinary artist and historian who examines how material practices mediate cultural memory. She holds an MFA with an emphasis in Printmaking from the University of Washington and a PhD in Art and Religion from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley. Emily's dissertation Mediating Revelation: Apocalypse as Divine Media Theory (2026) traces the reception history of ancient apocalyptic literature through transitional moments where new media paradigms made possible new configurations of community. Her research interests include apocalypticism, theories of religion and media, print culture, film and television studies, music and sound studies, ritual and ceremony. As a musician and improviser, Emily is a cofounder of the groups Hair and Space Museum, Midday Veil, and the Soft Landing Ensemble. Since 2017 she has been a regular contributor to the London-based experimental music magazine The Wire. Her writing has also appeared in Art in America, Hyperallergic, Jacobin, and the edited volume Religious Dimensions of Conspiracy Theories: Comparing and Connecting Old and New Trends (Routledge, 2022).
7. Benedikt Brunner: "The Heavenly Jerusalem in the Reformation Revelation Commentaries of Bullinger, Chytraeus, and Hoffman"
Time: Thu, May 6, 2027 — 5:00 PM Germany / 11:00 AM US Eastern.
Webinar link: https://uni-regensburg.zoom-x.de/my/revrecnet (externer Link, öffnet neues Fenster)
Abstract: Precisely because of the importance of apocalyptic thinking during the Reformation, Revelation was one of the books of the Bible that was commented on particularly intensively. The presentation compares the commentaries of Heinrich Bullinger, David Chyträus and Melchior Hoffman and examines the significance of the heavenly Jerusalem in an interdenominational comparison. The focus is on the imagined future for Christianity. Furthermore, I would like to compare the pastoral intentions of the interpreters with each other.
Bio: Benedikt Brunner is a Visiting Professor for Early Modern and Modern Church History at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University in Munich and a Privatdozent for Church History in Mainz. He received his PhD in History in 2020 in Münster. His research interests lie in Contemporary and Early Modern Church History. He recently developed a new research project about the theology of history and pastoral contents of Reformation commentaries of the Book of Revelation.