The Restoring of a Prophetic Community

The article discusses the future of global pentecostalism, focusing on the context of Australia. It first explores the self-identification of pentecostalism as a prophetic community in continuity with the narrative of Luke-Acts. In particular, the implications of the Isaianic mission of Jesus and the early church are discussed. The socially transformative nature of this mission includes not only miracles and healing, but also concern for the poor and marginalized. From this foundation, the article secondly addresses issues within contemporary Australian pentecostalism of individualism and self-reliance that are incompatible with the Isaianic vision. It presents, thirdly, a vision for the Australian pentecostal community that moves beyond a preoccupation with personal empowerment of the Spirit to participate with God in bringing healing and justice to the world.

Food insecurity, Eucharist, and community: Reading Jean-Marc Éla’s “shade-tree” theology in light of Balthasar’s ecclesiology

This article discusses how the African church together with the church catholic can develop a theological response to rising food insecurity in Africa. Considering food insecurity is only a symptom of a much broader set of sociological and political issues that determine the church’s response to the problem, this article explores the ecclesiological formulations of Jean-Marc Éla’s “shade-tree” theology in light of Balthasar’s ecclesiology. The differences in Éla’s and Balthasar’s visions of the nature and purpose of the church elucidate the complementary differences between the church as a prophetic community committed to social justice and a worshipping community committed to the performance of the Eucharist. Consequently, engaging the two Catholic theologians highlights the tensions of the church–world relationship the church must negotiate if it is to offer a robust response to food insecurity.

Hold My Mule

This chapter explores the music and political activism of Shirley Caesar. Drawing on a rich body of archival sources, this chapter makes three important interventions: (1) it complicates conventional representations of Caesar as solely a traditional gospel artist by charting the influence of R&B and country on her music; (2) it details how Caesar’s signing with Word Records in 1980 signaled white Christian labels’ efforts to claim a bigger share of the black gospel market; and (3) it explores how Caesar navigated the black church’s gender politics. Along with illuminating Caesar’s remarkable success as an artist who identified strongly with the New South, this chapter also examines how she used her platform to build what religious studies scholar Cheryl Sanders calls “prophetic community.”

Transformations in Early Muslim Prophetology: From Typology to Teleology in Narratives of Jonah and the Ninevites

Qur'anic and post-Qur'anic accounts about Jonah and the Ninevites encode traces of ideological transformations in the early Muslim community. This article explores how the story of a prophet's anguished mission to a foreign, enemy people appears in early Muslim materials in varied iterations. Whereas the Qur'anic telling of the Jonah narrative has an inclusivist, universalist subtext, post-Qur'anic retellings have clear supersessionist overtones, a change which reflects attitudinal shifts in the way early Muslims imagined themselves as a prophetic community in relation to a prophetic past. This article describes the shift as a transition from a typological to a teleological mode of historical legitimation.

Exegetical Designs of the Sīra

This chapter outlines the trends, methodological approaches, and developments pertaining to the relation between the biography of Muḥammad (sīra), and Qur’anic exegesis (tafsīr). It starts with a survey of the main trends in modern scholarship offering a critical examination of present academic discourses. The endeavours undertaken by early compilers of sīra narratives aimed at articulating the attempts of the early community to constitute itself as a post-Prophetic community, whose emerging consciousness was shaped not only by the word of God, but also within the concrete historical events of the hierophanic time. Perceived as such, the sīra does not represent a scheme of salvation history, but rather reveals a communal cultural memory which took on the form of a historical narrative. Since these events are congruent with both the life of the community and its social fabric, some sīra narratives are intended to explain the setting in which the communicative act took place. The chapter accentuates the function of tafsīr as a tool for sīra. Occasionally, a narrative comes to serve exegetical purposes, especially when a certain Qur’anic word or expression remains vague and needs to be explained in relation to other literary genres or life situations.

Embodiment and the Prophetic Message in Isaiah’s Memoir

In the Isaiah memoir, the prophet refers to three children that function as signs that embody his message. The signs of all three children are connected to the political situation of the Syro-Ephraimite Crisis preoccupying Judah at that time. The physical presence of Shear-Jashub (Isa 7:1–9) emphasized the immanence of the prophetic word. It highlights a value of the prophetic community of Isaiah: that a prophetic word, like embodiment, is present. The second child, Immanuel (Isa 7:10–16), highlights the importance of the physical presence of bearers of the prophetic message as imperative to the prophetic message. That is, the message of Isaiah relied upon the prophet and those that embodied his signs to be visible in the community, even when their presence was uncomfortable and unwanted. The third sign (Isa 8:1–4) is produced by the collaboration of Isaiah and the woman-prophet. This highlights the prophetic community of Isaiah as a discerning community that emphasized inclusivity as imperative. Like Isaiah’s community, the pentecostal family both historically and today identifies itself as a prophetic community. Isaiah’s memoir reminds us that prophetic communication should be relevant and immediate. A prophetic community addresses real-world problems and offers solutions that promote the holistic well-being of people and creation in their context. A prophetic community is committed to embodying its message. Yet, while this community is embodied and located in a culture, it needs to see beyond its own culture and the political challenges of its location. While it is important to identify and address the theological and social issues of each location, however, this should not be the sole lens through which we envision the future of Pentecostalism and the future of the Society for Pentecostal Studies.

A Review of Luke Timothy Johnson’s Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church: The Challenge of Luke–Acts to Contemporary Christians

Johnson cogently makes the case that in Luke–Acts the prophetic message articulates God’s vision for humanity: a message presented in words but also embodied in the deeds and character of the Church as a prophetic community. Luke’s perspective confronts the Church with an ongoing challenge to realize its full potential in living out this utopian vision. One might quibble with certain exegetical conclusions and points of emphasis within the argument but that does not detract from the valuable contribution made by this study.

Review of Luke Timothy Johnson’s Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church

Menzies acknowledges Johnson’s ability to creatively organize and summarize Luke’s powerful message. He also affirms Johnson’s overall emphasis: Luke does call the church to follow in the footsteps of the Prophet-like-Moses. However, Menzies argues that Johnson’s vision for the contemporary church as a prophetic community is too restricted, too quiet, and too rational. It is too restricted in that Johnson suggests that only a select group are called to take up the prophetic mantle. Menzies maintains that for Luke, the church is not simply a prophetic community; rather, it is to be a community of prophets. Johnson’s vision is too quiet in that he tends to stress the ethical teaching of Jesus and downplays the call to bear verbal witness. But, for Luke, bold witness is the key manifestation of the Spirit’s inspiration and this theme dominates his narrative. Finally, Johnson’s vision is too rational in that he fails to take seriously the narrative of Acts as a model for the contemporary church. Thus, his prophetic vision for the contemporary church largely ignores ‘visions and dreams’, ‘inspired witness’, and ‘signs and wonders’, three key elements of Joel’s prophecy as quoted by Peter on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2.17-21).