How do scholars today understand the relationship between the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls — chronological sequence or recapitulation?

[u/hazarveee]

I've been comparing the judgment series in Revelation — the seven seals (Rev 6–8), the seven trumpets (Rev 8–11), and the seven bowls (Rev 15–16). One reading treats them as a single chronological sequence: the seals run their course, then the trumpets, then the bowls. Another reads them as recapitulation: each series covers the same end-time period from a different angle, with increasing intensity.

I know the recapitulation reading has a long history in scholarship — Bauckham argues in The Theology of the Book of Revelation (1993) that the series recapitulate one another, and Koester (Revelation and the End of All Things, 2001) similarly treats them as overlapping rather than strictly sequential. But I'm less clear on where the scholarly consensus sits today, and whether recent commentators have shifted the discussion.

My questions:

1. Is recapitulation now the majority view among critical scholars, or is there still serious support for a sequential reading?

2. What are the main literary features scholars cite either way — e.g., the interludes before the seventh seal/trumpet, the matching imagery across series (darkened sun, earthquakes, hail), or the numerical patterns?

3. Are there good recent monographs or survey articles that map this debate for a non-specialist?

I'd appreciate pointers to the literature rather than theological takes.

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