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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
I am not by any means suggesting that the experience of God in the world is accessible for casual perusal. These matters require careful attention and delicate diagnosis. The process of discernment is risk-filled, and never self-validating. The interpretation of the present moment in terms of God 's activity is perilous, prone to error and false prophecy, and at the very least requires constant renewal and revision. But such discernment, such interpretation of God 's word as speaking through the fabric of human lives is the absolutely fundamental and necessary task of theology. Without it, there is no subject matter.
– luke timothyjohnson (johnson 1995:283; cf. johnson 1996:31)In this final chapter I will seek briefly to do five things. First, I will draw together the threads of the preceding argument. Secondly, I will argue that some common assumptions about the nature of prophecy and its evaluation are mistaken. Thirdly, I will seek to clarify the nature of the biblical criteria of discernment through consideration of possible difficulties affecting their use. Fourthly, I will present some case studies that illuminate the possible use of the criteria. Finally, I will offer some concluding reflections on what is at stake in the whole discussion.
The question, the approach, and the thesis a summary
Restatement of the problem
My focal concern throughout has been prophetic authenticity and the criteria for its discernment within both Old and New Testaments.
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