Over the past fifty years, studies pertaining to the reality of the church in the Apocalypse have, for the most part, tended to be either selective or sketchy in their treatment of the relevant material of the book. Yet in all fairness to the seer of Patmos, his portrayal of the church as a reality decidedly complex and at once profound can only be attained in a thoroughgoing study of the principal ecclesial narratives of his work, so as to allow for that indispensable 'synoptic' overview of such intentionally correlated material. Woman, Mother and Bride is such a study. It re-examines the relevant imagery of the Apocalypse but from the perspective of the seer's ecclesial 'thought-world' and on the basis of his overriding pastoral concerns for the 'seven churches' without which his work will continue to puzzle and trouble at every page. The ensuing outlook on the church is panoramic in its scope yet compelling in its appeal which further goes to confirm the Apocalypse as one of the most significant theological achievements of early Christianity.
