Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia by Sir William Ramsay

Today’s free book is Sir William Ramsay’s classic study of the letters to the seven churches of Asia in the book of Revelation. Ramsay examines the historical context of each of the cities and applies this to the interpretation of the letters.

My thanks to Book Aid for providing a copy of this public domain title for digitisation.

William M. Ramsay [1851-1939], The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia and Their Place in the Plan of the Apocalypse. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1940. Hbk. pp.446. [Click here to visit the download page for each title]

Table of Contents

• Preface

1. Writing, Travel, and Letters among the Early Christians
2. Transmission of Letters in the First Century
3. The Christian Letters and Their Tranmission
4. The Letters to the Seven Churches
5. Relation of the Christian Books to Contemporary Thought and Literature
6. The Symbolism of the Sevwn Letters
7. Authority of the Writer of the Seven Letters
8. The Education of St. John at Patmos
9. The Flavian Persecution in the Province of Asia as Depicted in the Apocalypse
10. The Province of Asia and the Imperial Relgion
11. The Cities of Asia as Meeting-places of the Greek and Asiatic Spirit
12. The Jews in the Asian Cities
13. The Pagan Converts in the Early Church
14. The Seven Churches of Asia
15. Origin of the Seven Representative Cities
16. Plan and Order of Topics in the Seven Lettes
17. Ephesus: The City of Change
18. The Letter to the Church in Ephesus
19. Smyrna: The City of Life
20. The Letter tro the Church in Smyrna
21. PergamumL The Royal City: The City of Authority
22. The Letter to the CHurch in Pergamum
23. Thyatira: Weakness made Strong
24. The Letter to the Church in Thyatira
25. Sardis: The City of Death
26. The LEtter to the Church in Sardis
27. Philadelphia: The Missionary City
28. The Letter to the Church in Philadelphia
29. Laodicea: The City of Compromise
30. The Letter to the Church of Loadicea
31. Epilogue

• Notes

Main image: The angels standing guard to the seven churches of Asia. Source: Wikipedia.