Number of the Beast Rescriptus" have led some scholars to regard 616 as the original Number of the Beast. According to Paul Louis, "The number 666 has been substituted for 616 either by analogy with 888, the [Greek] number of Jesus (Gustav Adolf Deissmann), or because it is a triangular number, the sum of the first 36 numbers (1+2+3+4+5+6+...+36 = 666)" Interpreting the identity and the number of the beast usually falls into three categories: In Greek isopsephy and Hebrew gematria, every letter has a corresponding numeric value. Summing these numbers gives a numeric value to a word or name. The use of isopsephy
The Number of the Beast (novel) plays into the ideology of "Thou Art God" from Heinlein's earlier work "Stranger in a Strange Land". Jack Kirwan wrote in the "National Review" that the novel is "about two men and two women in a time machine safari through this and other universes. But describing "The Number of the Beast" thus is like saying "Moby Dick" is about a one-legged guy trying to catch a fish". He goes on to say that Heinlein celebrates the "competent person". Sue K. Hurwitz said in her review for the "School Library Journal" that it is "a catalog of Heinlein's sins as an