Anti-Roman Cryptograms in the New Testament: Symbolic Messages of Hope and Liberation (The Westminster College Library of Biblical Symbolism)

It is quite easy to recognize coded messages of hope for the end of Roman persecution within the Book of Revelation. «Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, the wicked harlot who is seated upon many waters¿» clearly refers to the city of Rome. The more skillfully constructed, more subtle and effective anti-Roman cryptograms discreetly placed throughout most of the other documents of the New Testament, however, present a much more formidable challenge to modern readers. These symbolic messages of hope and liberation are the subject of the present study, the first concerted analysis of these cryptograms.