Prophecy and Discernment

If people claim to speak for God, what enables us to know when to credit or discredit the claim? This book analyses the criteria for discernment of prophetic authenticity in the Old Testament, and for discernment of apostolic authenticity in the New Testament; and also considers their validity and viability in a contemporary context. After explaining the biblical concept of prophetic and apostolic speech on God's behalf, Moberly offers close readings of the biblical text so as to bring to life the distinctive voices, especially those of Jeremiah and St Paul, which speak of critical discernment. He addresses contemporary difficulties with the whole idea that humans might speak for God and analyses the nature of authentic spirituality. Throughout the discussion the premise is that the biblical treatment of discernment illuminates the fundamental human issue of the need to know who may be trusted and why.

Preface; List of abbreviations; 1. What is prophecy, and can it be validated?; 2. Jeremiah: the formulation of criteria for discernment; 3. Micaiah ben Imlah: the costs of authenticity and discernment; 4. Elisha and Balaam: the enabling and disabling of discernment; 5. John: God's incarnate love as the key to discernment; 6. Paul: cruciformity and the discernment of apostolic authenticity; 7. Prophecy and discernment today?; List of references; Index of authors cited; Index of scriptural references; Index of subjects.

If people claim to speak for God, what enables us to know when to credit or discredit the claim? Moberly analyses the criteria for discernment of prophetic authenticity in the Old Testament, and apostolic authenticity in the New Testament; and considers their validity and viability in a contemporary context.

Dr R. W. L. Moberly is Reader in Theology at the University of Durham. He is author of The Bible, Theology and Faith: A Study of Abraham and Jesus (2000), the fifth volume in the Cambridge Studies in Christian Doctrine series.