Apocalyptic vision (dreams, ecstasies, tableaux) combines many symbols and myths in a single view. The vision cannot be read as a theological text dealing with ideas (as a text from St. Thomas would be read, for example). The vision is above all to be contemplated and thereby to be translated into action. The vision seeks to transmit a fundamental conviction or to develop a spirituality. That is why the liturgy plays so central a role in the Revelation of John; it is there that almost all Revelation’s visions take place. This liturgy leads us to the heart of the community, where the hymns sung by the community provide us with keys for interpreting the texts of Revelation. The vision fulfills the same function as the parenesis. Revelation provides visions of an alternative world to give heart to Christians and increase their ability to resist under persecution.
Like poetry, a vision seeks to organize the people’s imaginative experience; its function is that of creative imagination. Apocalyptic creates visions to help the people to imagine and create a world that is an alternative to the world that is no more or to the oppressive dominating world. It is especially through its myths and visions that apocalyptic serves to keep memory alive. The people recall the past and the message of Revelation because they have the apocalyptic visions stamped in their memory. By means of vision, apocalyptic leads us into God’s world, into the transcendent world, not in order to remove us from history, but to make us live history in a different manner.
