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Document Details :

Title: The Apocalyptic Lamb and Dragon
Subtitle: From Symbols to Ugly Images
Author(s): PORTALATÍN, Antonio
Journal: Biblica
Volume: 101    Issue: 2   Date: 2020   
Pages: 248-271
DOI: 10.2143/BIB.101.2.3288265

Abstract :
The description of the fantastical lamb and dragon in Rev 5,6 and 12,3-4 is symbolic but also intended to create images which support the characterization of their two allegorical referents. Once one has overcome the difficulty of composing their images from disruptive descriptions, one faces ugly monsters. But the aesthetic of ugliness has different functions with each one: in the dragon, it depicts the supreme evil of an otherworldly being; in the lamb, it discloses a supernatural being in the sphere of the divine.

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