Louisville, KY — In a national moment marked by rapid change, rising instability and the felt experience of social, political, and spiritual disorientation, the Institute for Black Church Studies at BSK Theological Seminaryis offering a timely and theologically rich resource for students, church leaders, and community members. This spring, the Institute launches “The Book of Revelation,” a full-semester course taught by Dr. Lewis Brogdon, Executive Director of the Institute for Black Church Studies. Both enrolled students and auditors will be a part of this course, seeking deeper insight into the most misunderstood—and most needed—book of the Christian Scriptures.
Revelation for a Nation in Crisis
Across the past year, the Institute has released a series of widely shared articles interpreting the American moment through the lens of faith—naming our present as a time of collapse, reckoning, and transformation. This course represents the Institute’s next major contribution to equipping the church for faithful discernment amid crisis.
Revelation, perhaps more than any other biblical text, was written for such a time as this.
Emerging from the margins of the Roman Empire around 94–96 CE—penned by John during exile on Patmos—Revelation speaks from within a community living under imperial domination, social precarity, and rising fear about the future. And yet, it responds to these conditions with a fierce theological imagination. It unveils a God who is both sovereign over history and intimately present with the oppressed, revealing a world in which evil does not have the final word.
“Revelation,” Dr. Brogdon notes, “is an apocalyptic text written for people who know what it means to suffer, to be exiled, and to resist powers that claim absolute authority. African American Christians have long resonated with its message because it names both the depth of tribulation and the certainty of divine victory—a truth sung across generations: ‘Trouble don’t last always.’”
Apocalypse as Revelation—not Destruction
Drawing from years of research and pastoral experience, the course emphasizes that apocalyptic literature is not about predicting catastrophe. It is a genre that uses symbols, metaphor, numbers, and coded imagery to reveal deeper truths and conceal them from oppressive powers.
Key features explored in the class include:
- The challenges of balancing hope and despair in oppressive times
- Bizarre and subversive imagery that critiques imperial power
- A steadfast confidence in God’s sovereignty amid political and moral collapse
- A call to ethical, counter-cultural witness, patience, and faithfulness
Students will examine Revelation not as a blueprint for the end times but as a pastoral, prophetic, and political word for communities facing fear, injustice, and uncertainty.
A Black Church Hermeneutic for Today’s Struggles
The course also centers the Black theological tradition—where Revelation has always had “mileage,” as Dr. Brogdon writes. African Americans have long understood the text’s ability to speak to:
- experiences of exile and marginalization
- sustained encounters with oppressive systems
- the hope of God’s eventual triumph over evil
- the moral courage required to endure tribulation
Revelation’s cosmic vision becomes a way of naming the forces of domination at work today—from resurgent Christian nationalism to racialized violence—and asserting that these powers are neither ultimate nor eternal.
Distinguished Guest Lecturers
To deepen these conversations, the course features leading voices in apocalyptic and prophetic interpretation:
- Dr. Allan Boesak, global liberation theologian and anti-apartheid activist
- Dr. Anna Bowden, New Testament scholar and expert in early Christian apocalypticism
- Dr. Brian Blount, New Testament scholar, former president of Union Presbyterian Seminary, and author of the groundbreaking commentary Revelation: A Commentary (using African American culture as interpretive lens)
Together, these scholars help students and auditors wrestle with questions such as:
- What does Revelation teach us about resisting corrupt political and religious power?
- How does the imperial cult illuminate modern expressions of Christian nationalism?
- Why did John give persecuted churches a cosmic story about the downfall of empire—and why do churches today still need that story?
- How can apocalyptic texts form Christian communities capable of discernment, courage, and ethical clarity in a collapsing world?
A Course for This Moment
The Institute for Black Church Studies believes that communities of faith need more than information right now—they need apocalyptic imagination, the capacity to see through chaos to God’s redemptive horizon.
This course is designed to help students, clergy, and lay leaders:
- interpret Revelation responsibly and contextually
- understand apocalyptic eschatology as a resource for hope
- discern present crises through a theological and historical lens
- cultivate the resilience, patience, and faithfulness Revelation demands
As Dr. Brogdon puts it: “Revelation teaches us that trouble is real, tribulation is real, but they are not final. God’s victory is the last word. This is a message the church must reclaim if we are to navigate our current moment with wisdom, courage, and hope.”