About The Book
Lincoln, NE: Announcing release of “The Apocalypse – Letter by Letter, a Literary Analysis of the Book of Revelation”
When a dying man spends his last years writing a book, people often take notice. When the book claims to reveal the secrets of the Book of Revelation, even more interest is generated.
“The Apocalypse – Letter by Letter,” by Steven Paul, iUniverse, Inc. Publishers, has been described as “a masterpiece.” In it, the author pens a series of letters to his brother-in-law to show how the Bible contains all the information a reader would need to decode the symbols, forms and sequence of events in the Apocalypse. Paul’s literary genius is as fascinating as the subject is compelling. His unique knowledge of history, the Church, military strategy, literary forms, and wit and humor combine to take the reader on a tour of the Bible’s most enigmatic book.
After being diagnosed with cancer, the author sent a series of typewritten letters to his brother-in-law. Many of the letters included example passages handwritten in ancient Greek, to show how translators had often distorted the original meaning of the scripture. As Paul lay dying in a hospital bed, he gave instructions to his brother-in-law about how to assemble the information he had written into a book. Alas, he had only transmitted half of it when he passed away. Then handwritten notes were found near his manual typewriter and the brother-in-law spent the next many months entering the entire project into a computer along with the previously received letters.
So, what does the Apocalypse have to do with the world as it is today? Is the book of Revelation still relevant? As world events are literally exploding all around us, you just may find out why by reading this book. The book treats such controversies as The Woman Clothed with the Sun, The Burning Mountain, The Millennium, Antichrist, The False Prophet, the Mighty Angel, Armageddon, and many other hot topics.
So if you’re ready for the answers to some of the more vexing questions raised in the Apocalypse, get “The Apocalypse – Letter by Letter.”
“When I was young, I never thought I would write something like this. When it is all typed up, I will not even speculate on what God will do with it. I have not the foggiest idea. I only know I must finish it. And, that is my cue to get back to the typing.”
“Do not expect to grasp all after one reading. You will have to become familiar with it, gradually. The Apocalypse can be understood, in entirety, only by seeing the relationships among the integral parts. The worst thing you could do would be to isolate with ‘tunnel vision’ one part from the rest. It is like learning a park, a very big park: after a while, you know exactly the paths and trees and everything, each in relation to all the others. Indeed, as you will find out for yourself, the whole Bible is one resounding theme: ‘that one, far-off divine event toward which the whole creation moves.’ [Tennyson: In Memoriam]”
Apocalyspe Blog
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What People Are Saying
By Matt Abbott
Catholic Online
The Book of Revelation is perhaps the most mysterious book in Sacred Scripture. And there has been much speculation about it --some of it bordering on off-the-wall, but some of it serious and scholarly.
The following is the forward and a portion of a chapter from a forthcoming book which, in my view, falls in the latter category. The 333-page book, titled The Apocalypse-Letter by Letter: A Literary Analysis of the Book of Revelation, is a compilation of notes and letters written by the late Steven Paul, a Catholic scholar who died of cancer in 2000.
It has been put together by Paul's brother-in-law.
"The book is not one of fancy or speculation, but rather an exegesis of what the Apocalypse means based on the Bible and the writings of the Church Fathers," he says. "It is an analysis of the Apocalypse, from a Catholic perspective, for those who are serious about Bible study."
From Roger in Canada:
Ordered the book from Amazon.ca and it blew me away. There are far too many Catholics who don’t have a clue about what’s going to unfold in the future. I must admit I have to go back and re-read the book at a slower pace to fully absorb its’ contents, I struggled in sections. I raced through the book. It was all so new. It felt as if each turn of the page was pulling me along to the next train of thought. I fell asleep with the book on my face more times than my wife would care to count. I couldn’t put it down.
A guy with a great purpose... God's.,
Steven Paul, wrote a very good in depth summary of his thoughts about all he had learned from the Bible (namely the book of Revelations) and its truths about our future. He wrote and thought as an ordinary guy but sought to do and understand extraordinary things. I recommend this book for those who have a zeal to understand the tougher books of the Bible and would like to hear some great insights from a great man.
Reading the Signs of the Times: Apocalypse no longer " Greek to me" ,
The quirky, doughnut-scarfing author of this book is proof positive that God is no respecter of persons when he chooses his Prophets. Rigorous attention to grammar and syntax results in precision not only of meaning, but understanding that meaning: Stephen Paul's rigorous attention to the simple words of the Greek of the Apocalypse demonstrates the inaccuracies of previous English translations of the Bible's last book about things to come. Paying close attention to textual use of metaphorical and literal statements , Paul makes the Apocalypse astoundingly comprehensible in the contemporary context; and useful as a practical guide for "reading the signs of our times" explaining the spiritual zeitgeist precipitating the rise of the Anti-Christ--.
Coincidentally, I read this book just after reading "Hope of the Wicked" by Ted Flynn: Stephen Paul's book delineates the spiritual dynamic, --and Flynn's the socio-politic arena where history is forged by current events. Reading both these books in conjunction makes for an eerie but coherent picture of what will soon be upon us. Fear not, --but hold on to your hats; it's gonna get worse before it gets better . . . .
The Lay Voice Reclaiming the Apocalypse,
The great good of this book is that it is written by someone who does not owe his first born to academia or some dicastery of the Church. This is the voice of a layman during this hour of the laity, to borrow from Pope John Paul II. His insights seem fresh and new, and indeed some are like long lost treasures brought out once more into the light.
On occasion he makes a declaration or takes a decision one may wish he did not. But no one should be looking for infallibility in this work. What one will find is the inspiration of the Holy Spirit touching the author with a reading of the Revelation to St. John that is a great help to all us during the times in which we live.
I no longer esteem the works of Biblical literary critics or those who must grind out verbiage in order to keep their niche in academia. This account is far more trustworthy because it is honest about what it is and because it is far more concerned about being faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ and his Church than serving some earthly-minded agenda.
From Michael in Florida
I love this book. I've just purchased what think is my 7th copy. I lend them out, but if they don't come back, it's okay. I've also given them as gifts. It has so many insights into Revelation!
About The Author
Steven Paul
Steven Paul was born in Massachusetts, the second of six children born to a Polish-American World War II veteran father from Chicago and an Irish Catholic mother from the Boston area. After the family moved to California he attended Our Lady Queen of Angels Seminary in the Los Angeles area but then enlisted in the Marines and served in the Vietnam War. He picked the toughest unit he could. While serving his country, he was diagnosed with cancer. Surgery and chemotherapy saved his life but required a long convalescence. Though given a short life expectancy, Steve beat the odds. During this period, Steve read many books. Literary analysis and the use of language became his passion.
He enrolled in Boston University where he studied religion, history, and classical literature and graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature. He also shoveled snow at the local parish and served as lector and eventually married a woman from Vietnam he had met while working as a volunteer teaching English to the refugees from the war.
Steve would passionately quote from the Bible, from classical literature, history books, and works by the Church Fathers such as, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, Tertullian, and others.
One book that really struck Steve was The Book of Destiny, by Rev. Herman Bernard Kramer, [Tan Books, 1954]. Steve once said that Rev. Kramer was on the right track but missed some important clues.
At age 52 Steve's cancer recurred and he was undergoing chemotherapy. He seemed to be improving but then disaster hit. Steve, had been brought to the hospital with a ruptured colon and was not expected to survive the day. Apparently, a thinning of the intestinal walls is one complication from the cancer treatment.
The doctors were in a dilemma. He was too weak to operate on and too sick not to. His vital signs were unstable. They decided to operate and by some small miracle, he survived the night. The family arranged for the sacrament of healing from a priest at the hospital. Steve was in a death grip. His face was contorted and pale. During the prayers for the sick, he changed. He took on a pinkish color and his whole body seemed to relax. He lived. By one count, he had 14 IV bottles hooked up at once. Although he survived, he was mostly in a coma. For four weeks, he lay in a coma, heavily sedated and with a tracheotomy tube.
It was then that his brother-in-law visited him in the hospital and grabbed his hand and told him he needed to recover because God had work for him to do.
As he recovered, the brother-in-law told him how he had prayed that he would live so that he could write down what he knew about the Apocalypse. Then the letters started coming, typewritten on an old manual typewriter. [Steve had no use for technology. He still had a rotary phone in 1999. No computer, no cell phone. He was still driving a 1984 Ford Escort in 2000]. First, a short letter arrived that explained the symbols in the Book of Daniel and how they will be important in interpreting the Apocalypse. Then a beautiful letter, a commentary, an Introduction to the Apocalypse followed.
As the letters kept coming, they kept getting more detailed, and more vivid. Because of Steve's medical history, he knew that time was short to complete the task. He would stop by his sister's house from time to time, always armed with a box of Boston Crème donuts, to explain some aspect of his letters.
His letters also changed during this time. He began to feel the strong hand of God in his work and began to see it as more than just letters for the family. He wrote, “When I look at what I have written, I am greeted by evidence of the grace of God, for some of the things explained have not been explained in nineteen centuries. When I was young, I never thought I would write something like this. When it is all typed up, I will not even speculate on what God will do with it. I have not the foggiest idea. I only know I must finish it. And, that is my cue to get back to the typing.” And he started to give instructions on how it should be shared.
Alas, he had only sent his analysis up to Chapter 12 when he got sick again and went to the hospital. After several weeks it became clear he wasn't improving and the doctor told his family there was nothing left they could do. As he lay dying, he mustered the strength to utter, “I understand, now.”
In the weeks after the funeral, Steve's wife mailed his notes to his brother-in-law. And that launched the project that became "The Apocalypse Letter by Letter. The title is a play on words, a pun if you will, because Steve had transmitted the book in a series of letters, his job was carrying letters for the Post Office, and the Apocalypse itself is a letter.
Cardinal Joseph Zen of Hong Kong has denounced the Vatican for not speaking out on behalf of the persecuted Catholic Church in the People’s Republic of China.