Apocalyptic thought in early Christianity is a collection of essays that were originally presented at the 2004 annual conference of the Pappas Patristic Institute of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts. The essays are wide-ranging, addressing specifics of Revelation, early Christian apocalyptic artwork, the AntiChrist in Hippolytus and Cyril, end-time expectations in Syriac Christianity, apocalyptic literature in fourth-century ascetical writers, eschatology according to the Cappadocian Fathers, images of the second coming in Byzantine art, etc. Robert Daly, the editor of the volume, argues that a central theme running through all of the essays is that ‘in early Christianity apocalyptic ideas are not heavily dominated by negative and terrifying ideas of a terrible, fearsome end-event’. In contrast, after the second-century, apocalyptic ideas were being interpreted in relation to present church experience (p. 13). Brian E. Daley's essay highlights this point more specifically. He traces the transformation of apocalyptic themes in the second century and onward, focusing on how they influence Christian understanding of the cosmos, the person of Jesus and the Church's hope (p. 115). The transformation involves a shift from future expectation to the present reality of the Church. Bogdan G. Bucur points out that in the writings of Araphat ‘the Persian Sage’ and Clement of Alexandria we see angelic designations being used of the Holy Spirit (‘angelomorphic pneumatology’, p. 153). Bucur contends that this is evidence of a reworking of Jewish apocalyptic traditions about the hierarchy of angels being applied to the seven-fold Spirit (p. 148). Ute Possekel argues that apocalyptic themes were known to Syriac Christians, but these Christians ‘generally chose not to convey their theologies through the medium of apocalyptic’ (p. 173). Lorenzo DiTommaso's essay on the Daniel Apocalyptica points out the difference between apocalypses and apocalyptic oracles (p. 226). This book offers a breadth of perspectives on apocalyptic thought in early Christianity. However, one significant drawback is the lack of a definition of ‘apocalyptic’ or ‘apocalypse’ in the majority of essays and in the introduction. Daley shows awareness of the current issues and does address the question of definition in his essay, but it is more typical to find essays making equations between ‘apocalyptic’ and the material in the book of Revelation. One example is John Herrmann and Annewies van den Hoek's article on apocalyptic themes in early Christian art where they refer to the letters ‘alpha’ and ‘omega’ as ‘apocalyptic letters’ (p. 36, cf. p. 38). This is not an entirely helpful way of using the term ‘apocalyptic’, since the letters existed in non-apocalyptic contexts long before the Apocalypse was penned. Apocalyptic thought in early Christianity provides an excellent introduction to the interpretation of Revelation and the transformation of broader Jewish apocalyptic themes in early Christianity. The indebtedness of Christianity to Jewish apocalyptic thought is made abundantly clear.