Summary: A Hybrid Genre We have seen in this chapter that the label “hybrid genre” is appropriate because of Revelation’s own self-identification in the first few verses and because of its literary character, which Frank Matera summarizes for us: As an apocalypse, it reveals what “must soon take place” (1:1). As a prophecy, it testifies to the Word of God and Jesus Christ (1:2). As a letter, it addresses seven churches in the Roman province of Asia (1:4).36
