Prophetic Rivalry, Gender, and Economics - A Study in Revelation and Sibylline Oracles 4-5

Olivia Stewart Lester examines true and false prophecy at the intersections of interpretation, gender, and economics in Revelation, Sibylline Oracles 4-5, and contemporary ancient Mediterranean texts. With respect to gender, these texts construct a discourse of divine violence against prophets, in which masculine divine domination of both male and female prophets reinforces the authenticity of the prophetic message. Regarding economics, John and the Jewish sibyllists resist the economic actions of political groups around them, especially Rome, by imagining an alternate universe with a new prophetic economy. In this economy, God requires restitution from human beings, whose evil behavior incurs debt. The ongoing appeal of prophecy as a rhetorical strategy in Revelation and Sibylline Oracles 4-5, and the ongoing rivalries in which these texts engage, argue for prophecy's continuing significance in a larger ancient Mediterranean religious context.

Born 1984; 2007 BA, Southeastern University; 2010 MDiv and 2011 STM, Yale Divinity School; 2017 PhD, Yale University; 2017-18 John Fell Postdoctoral Fellow, Oriel College, University of Oxford and Visiting Scholar, Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies; currently Assistant Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at Loyola University Chicago.