Articles by Jean-Pierre Ruiz
Jean-Pierre Ruiz is Associate Professor of Theology & Religious Studies at St. John's University, New York, where he is also a Senior Research Fellow of the university's Vincentian Center for Church and Society. He earned his doctoral degree in biblical studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome. His recent publications include the award-winning book, Readings from the Edges: The Bible and People on the Move (Orbis, 2011), as well as introductions to the Apocalypse of John in the New Oxford Annotated Study Bible and in the Anselm Academic Study Bible. A Past-President of the Academy of Catholic Hispanic Theologians of the United States, Ruiz serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biblical Literature and the Journal of the American Academy of Religion.
by Jean-Pierre Ruiz
The author presents the point that John sets before his audience visions of two imagined cities, one the mighty city that was a distant presence looming large through its local surrogates in Asia, the other a holy city descended from above. He urges them to choose between them, to decide their allegiance. This decision is a matter of who is the proper object of worship: the emperor or the Christ. John positions his readers at the intersection of power and praise.
