Wednesday, December 07, 2016

Number of the Beast on Bible Mysteries

I get to the last lecture in my Introduction to the New Testament course tomorrow, and it provides the opportunity to talk about Revelation. I generally find that the subject matter is so interesting that I ask myself why I don't try to teach a whole course on Apocalyptic and the Apocalypse. 

One issue that has to be on the agenda is the number of the beast, something I have occasionally blogged on. On one of those occasions, I linked to a video in which Ian Boxall, sitting on Patmos, explains how it works, using pieces of pottery. Alas, that video long since disappeared. The clip was from a BBC series, Bible Mysteries (2003), which has never been commercially released. I am happy to have found a copy recently from which I have extracted the relevant clip. 

 

As well as Prof. Ian Boxall (now of Catholic University of America), we see Prof. David Parker, OBE, of the University of Birmingham.