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Prophetic Authority: Democratic Hierarchy and the Mormon Priesthood
by Michael MacKayThe Mormon tradition's emphasis on prophetic authority makes the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints unique within America's religious culture. The religion that Joseph Smith created established a kingdom of God in a land distrustful of monarchy while positioning Smith as Christ's voice on earth, with the power to form cities, establish economies, and arrange governments. Michael Hubbard MacKay traces the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' claim to religious authority and sets it within the context of its times. Delving into the evolution of the concept of prophetic authority, MacKay shows how the Church emerged as a hierarchical democracy with power diffused among leaders Smith chose. At the same time, Smith's settled place atop the hierarchy granted him an authority that spared early Mormonism the internal conflict that doomed other religious movements. Though Smith faced challenges from other leaders, the nascent Church repeatedly turned to him to decide civic plans and define the order of both the cosmos and the priesthood.
Prophetic Encounters: Religion and the American Radical Tradition
by Dan MckananThough in recent years the religious right has been a powerful political force, making "religion" and "conservatism" synonymous in the minds of many, the United States has always had an active, vibrant, and influential religious Left. In every period of our history, people of faith have envisioned a society of peace and justice, and their tireless efforts have made an indelible mark on our nation's history. In Prophetic Encounters, Dan McKanan challenges simple distinctions between "religious" and "secular" activism, showing that religious beliefs and practices have been integral to every movement promoting liberty, equality, and solidarity. From Frederick Douglass, John Brown, and Elizabeth Cady Stanton in the nineteenth century to Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., and Starhawk in the twentieth, American radicals have maintained a deep faith in the human capacity to transform the world. This radical faith has always been intertwined with the religious practices of Christians and Jews, pagans and Buddhists, orthodox believers and humanist heretics. Their vision and energies powered the social movements that have defined America's progress: the abolition of slavery, feminism, the New Deal, civil rights, and others. In this groundbreaking, definitive work, McKanan treats the histories of religion and the Left as a single history, showing that American radicalism is a continuous tradition rather than a collection of disparate movements. Emphasizing the power of encounter--encounters between whites and former slaves, between the middle classes and the immigrant masses, and among activists themselves--McKanan shows that the coming together of people of different perspectives and beliefs has been transformative for centuries, uniting those whose faith is a source of activist commitment with those whose activism is a source of faith. Offering a history of the diverse religious dimensions of radical movements from the American Revolution to the present day, Prophetic Encounters invites contemporary activists to stand proudly in a tradition of prophetic power.
Prophetic Evangelicals: Envisioning a Just and Peaceable Kingdom (Prophetic Christianity Series)
by Bruce Ellis Benson Peter Goodwin Heltzel Malinda Elizabeth BerryIn this inaugural Prophetic Christianity volume, fifteen contributors share their visions for a biblically centered, culturally engaged, and historically infused evangelicalism. Interacting with a wide variety of influential thinkers, they articulate several approaches to creating a socially responsible, gospel-centric, and ecumenical evangelical identity.
Prophetic Faith: Exploring Social Justice Advocacy As A Congregation
by Trish GreevesThis highly praised, seven-session study explores the relationship between Christian faith, social justice, and the public role of the church. It invites individuals and congregations to explore how and why to respond to the biblical call for social justice in ways that are faithful to our vocation as followers of Jesus Christ and yet respect the pluralistic democracy in which we live and the separation of church and state mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Topics addressed in this accessible Participant Book include the political implications of biblical faith; public and private arenas for expressing faith; individual and communal forms of religious practices; the difference between systemic change (justice) and social outreach (charity); the impact of social location and false certainties on our perspectives; resistance to addressing controversial issues in church; civil religion as the unexamined conflation of God and country; how social justice advocacy strengthens the roots and fruits of our faith; what the separation of church and state means and doesn’t mean; and how to overcome paralysis when facing the complexity of social issues. Personal reflection questions throughout the book prepare the reader for group discussions.
Prophetic Fragments: Illuminations of the Crisis in American Religion and Culture
by Cornel WestThe articles include political commentary, cultural critique, literary analysis, extended book reviews, and even a short story by West. All of these are held together by a prophetic Afro-American Christian perspective.
Prophetic Imagination
by Walter BrueggemannIn this challenging and enlightening treatment, Brueggemann traces the lines from the radical vision of Moses to the solidification of royal power in Solomon to the prophetic critique of that power with a new vision of freedom in the prophets. Here he traces the broad sweep from Exodus to Kings to Jeremiah to Jesus. He highlights that the prophetic vision not only embraces the pain of the people but creates an energy and amazement based on the new thing that God is doing.
Prophetic Integrity: Aligning Our Words with God's Word
by R.T. KendallWhat happens when prophets are wrong?In 2020, many Christians claiming to be prophets said God told them that Donald Trump would be re-elected as president. Over thirty years before that, one the famous Kansas City Prophets, Paul Cain, prophesied that there would be a revival in London in 1990, which never came to pass. These examples make us wonder:What happens when prophets get it wrong?Are there consequences for misleading God's people?What would a genuine prophet look like today?And how can you tell a false prophet from a genuine one? In recent years, misjudgments among Charismatic Christians claiming to speak for God as well as moral failures within Evangelicalism have resulted in a crisis of belief. In Prophetic Integrity, bestselling author and speaker, R.T. Kendall gives a warning to those speaking in God's name and offers a way forward in trusting God despite the failures of the church.To unpack this difficult topic, Kendall, a self-described "Reformed charismatic," relates accounts of visions and supernatural experiences and shares stories and thoughts about Christian leaders that he knew personally, such as Paul Cain and Ravi Zacharias. He gives examples of good and bad prophecies and teaches a biblical and theologically-sound understanding of prophetic gifting and use.Prophetic Integrity is a book for those who believe that God still speaks today but have serious questions about those within the church that identify as prophets. It's a call for honesty, vulnerability, and repentance; and it speaks to Christians of many different traditions, including Charismatic and Evangelical.Discerning Christians of many different traditions can and must take both God's word and the gift of prophecy seriously and recognize how humans can abuse such gifts or use them to advance God's Kingdom.
Prophetic Jesus, Prophetic Church: The Challenge of Luke-Acts to Contemporary Christians
by Luke Timothy JohnsonIn this and every age, the church desperately needs prophecy. It needs the bold proclamation of God’s transforming vision to challenge its very human tendency toward expediency and self-interest — to jolt it into new insight and energy. For Luke Timothy Johnson, the New Testament books Luke and Acts provide that much-needed jolt to conventional norms. To read Luke-Acts as a literary unit, he says, is to uncover a startling prophetic vision of Jesus and the church — and an ongoing call for today’s church to embody and proclaim God’s vision for the world.
Prophetic Lament: A Call for Justice in Troubled Times
by Soong-Chan RahMissio Alliance Essential Reading List of 2015Hearts Minds Bookstore's Best Books of 2015, Social Criticism and Cultural EngagementRELEVANT'sEnglewood Review of Books Best Books of 2015, Theology
Prophetic Leadership and Visionary Hope: New Essays on the Work of Cornel West
by Barbara WillThirty years have passed since Cornel West’s book Race Matters rose to the top of the bestseller lists in 1993. Yet his book remains as relevant as ever to American culture—even more so, if one considers its influence on contemporary racial justice movements such as Black Lives Matter, prison justice, and the fight for police reform. Prophetic Leadership and Visionary Hope, an edited volume of essays by leading scholars in Black studies, religious studies, and social justice history, looks back to the original 1993 text and forward into the future of racial understanding and healing in our current century, responding to Dr. West’s own repeated insistence that we can only understand our present and future by looking back.By reengaging with West’s book at this seminal moment, Prophetic Leadership and Visionary Hope offers new points of entry into the thorny issues that the 1993 text addressed: the challenge of leadership in a culture marked by the legacy of white supremacy; the limited value of liberal affirmative action programs in promoting the affirmation of Black humanity; the dangerous seductions of African American conservatism and the question of Black self-regard (what West called “black nihilism”); the necessity and difficulty of cross-race solidarity and cross-religious affinity; the need to channel legitimate Black rage over untenable conditions of existence into productive opportunities and viewpoints. All of these issues are even more marked in American society today. The voices collected in this volume are the legitimate intellectual heirs of the original Race Matters. With essays that span the topics of history, politics, philosophy, religion, cultural studies, music, and aesthetics, Prophetic Leadership and Visionary Hope is as wide-ranging as the thinker whose ideas it engages, interrogates, and celebrates.Contributors: Nkosi Du Bois Anderson, Paul A. Bové, Matthew M. Briones, Farah Jasmine Griffin, Susannah Heschel, Lucius T. Outlaw Jr., Andrew Prevot, Brandon M. Terry, Cornel West, Barbara Will.
Prophetic Literature: From Oracles to Books
by Ronald L. TroxelProphetic Literature: From Oracles to Books presents an in-depth introduction to the origins and development of the Prophetic Books of the Old Testament, including an examination of the literary structure, authorship, and editorial processes that produced each book. The only introductory textbook that explores both how the prophetic books were composed and edited Accessible and engaging, the book contains numerous student features to encourage learning, including introductions, summaries, tables and boxes, etc Based on international scholarship on the individual prophetic books, including German scholarship that is otherwise inaccessible to most English readers
Prophetic Prayer Warrior and Spiritual Warfare: Building a Strong Prophetic Prayer Life
by Robin DinnanauthIf you’ve been a Christian for a while you probably know that prayer is one of the staples of the Christian life. Although we know that, how much time and consideration have we given to really understanding this thing called prayer? Building a strong prophetic Prayer life and understanding Spiritual Warfare through prophetic prayer is very important. One of the most effective strategies of Satan is to keep believers ignorant of his devices. Paul said it is important to know Satan’s strategies… ….Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. (II Corinthians 2:11) We should learn all we can about Satan’s strategies of attack and how to counter-attack it. We must also understand the Scriptural basis of victory over Satan and the forces of evil. We are called to intelligent combat. The great spiritual warfare in which we are engaged demands unceasing and diligent commitment to prayer. That is exactly what the apostle Paul says as he closes his appeal for Christians to put on the full armor of God. No matter how complete the armor; no matter how skilled we may be in the science of war; no matter how courageous we may be, we can be certain that without prayer we shall be defeated. God alone can give the victory; and when the Christian soldier goes forth armed completely for the spiritual conflict, if he looks to God through prayer, he can be sure of a triumph.
Prophetic Rage: A Postcolonial Theology Of Liberation (Prophetic Christianity Series (PC))
by Johnny Bernard HillIn this book Johnny Bernard Hill argues that prophetic rage, or righteous anger, is a necessary response to our present culture of imperialism and nihilism. The most powerful way to resist meaninglessness, he says, is refusing to accept the realities of structural injustice, such as poverty, escalating militarism, genocide, and housing discrimination.Hill’s Prophetic Rage is interdisciplinary, integrating art, music, and literature with theology. It is constructive, passionate, and provocative. Hill weaves through a myriad of creative and prophetic voices of protest -- from Jesus to W. E. B. DuBois, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and President Barack Obama -- as well as multiple approaches, including liberation theology and black religion, to reflect theologically on the nature of liberation, justice, and hope on contemporary culture.
Prophetic Spiritual Warfare: Partnering With the Holy Spirit to Manifest Your Destiny
by Kathy DeGrawHow do you fight and resist something you can't see? Receive prophetic revelation to combat spiritual warfare in your life! We have a power source that can assist us in conquering the warfare around us. Jesus relied on this power source when He was baptized in the Spirit and fire. The Holy Spirit is our Helper and when we partner with Him in prophetic spiritual warfare, we will conquer and win the battle. Tap into the power of the Holy Spirit to: Effectively bind and rebuke the enemyLive victoriously as spiritual warfare attacks over your life ceaseClose demonic portals as you learn how to shut down demonic access Rely on the Holy Spirit to assist you in annihilating spiritual darknessBreak the bonds of fear over evil as you become a powerful spiritual warrior In Prophetic Spiritual Warfare, learn that you are not alone. You have a Helper—the same Holy Spirit that empowered Jesus also dwells within you. Activate His power today! This book will show you that spiritual warfare cannot be done with natural tools, reliance on the strength of the Holy Spirit is needed. You will learn that the battle between the natural and the spiritual realm has a direct impact on how you live and what happens to you.
Prophetic Visions of the Future
by Diane SteinWe all want to know what will happen to the earth and to those who come after us, our children and our grandchildren. Diane, seeking an answer, has gone to women visionaries and seers: women who channel the future and those who bring it to life in their writings. This is the time, Diane avers, for women to define what needs to be changed and begin to do the work. By women's power of thought and creation, we together can make a better world.From the Trade Paperback edition.
Prophetic Wisdom: Engaged Buddhism's Struggle for Social Justice and Complete Liberation (SUNY series in Religious Studies)
by Charles R. StrainClassical Buddhism lacked an understanding of systemic injustice and its contribution to collective suffering. Despite the teaching of impermanence, classical Buddhist schools viewed social institutions as given and offered no path to social transformation. Today, Buddhists are shaped by multiple religious and secular traditions, including those stemming from the Hebrew prophets. The prophetic tradition offers a socially and religiously powerful concept—the concept of justice—that reconfigures the Buddhist dharma.In a time of unparalleled peril, Buddhists are challenged as never before to turn wisdom into strategic action to foster systemic social change. Compassion is not enough. Prophetic Wisdom shows how Engaged Buddhists can expand their understanding of the causes of collective suffering and develop nonviolent means for social transformation through a dialectic of love, power, and justice. It concludes by confronting the poison of racism in the American body politic.
Prophetic Witness and the Reimagining of the World: Poetry, Theology and Philosophy in Dialogue- Power of the Word V (Routledge Studies in Religion)
by Mark S. Burrows Hilary Davies Josephine Von ZitzewitzThis book explores the prophetic characteristics of literature, particularly poetry, that seek to reimagine the world in which it is written. Using theological and philosophical insights it charts the relentless impulse of literature to propose alternative visions, practicable or utopian, and point toward possibilities of renewal and change. Drawing from each of the three main Abrahamic religions, as well as Greek and Latin classics, an international group of scholars utilise a diverse range of analytical and interpretive methods to draw out the prophetic voice in poetry. Looking at the writings of figures like T. S. Elliot, Blake, Wittgenstein and Isaiah, the theme of the prophetic is shown to be of timely importance given the current state of geo-political challenges and uncertainties and offers a much-needed critical discussion of these broad cultural questions. This collection of essays offers readers an insight into the constructive power of literature. As such, it will be of great interest to scholars working in Religion and the Arts, Religious Studies, Theology and Aesthetics.
Prophets and Kings
by Ellen G. WhiteVolume 2 of the 'Conflict of the Ages' book series, 'The Story of Prophets and Kings,' covers the Biblical history of the world from King Solomon to Malachi. This key Seventh Day Adventist text explains in detail the SDA understanding of the conflict between God and Satan and their understanding of the Bible and much of world history. White wrote the series based on her research of other authors and special information which she claimed to receive through visions from God. The books thus include unique insights and concepts not found in other works of the time.
Prophets and Kings Discovery Guide: Being in the Culture and Not of It (That the World May Know)
by Ray Vander LaanExplore the turbulent history of Israel's prophets and kings.In the second volume of the That The World May Know series, take a tour through the land of the Bible as teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan teaches lessons from the Bible—in the land of the Bible—that will help you build your devotion to and trust in God today.This discovery guide includes passages of Scripture explored in the DVD (sold separately); questions for discussion and personal reflection; personal Bible studies to help you deepen your learning experience between sessions; as well as sidebars, maps, photos, and other study tools.Lessons include:Innocent Blood Part 1 – Filmed in MegiddoInnocent Blood Part 2 – Filmed in MegiddoWho Is God? – Filmed in Mount CarmelThe Wages of Sin – Filmed in LachishThe Lord Is My Shepherd – Filmed in NegevGod with Us – Filmed in Arad Designed for use with the Prophets & Kings Video Study (sold separately)._______________THAT THE WORLD MAY KNOWJoin renowned teacher and historian Ray Vander Laan as he guides you through the land of the Bible. In each lesson, Vander Laan illuminates the historical, geographical, and cultural context of the sacred Scriptures.Filmed on location in the Middle East and elsewhere, the That the World May Know film series will transform your understanding of God and challenge you to be a true follower of Jesus.
Prophets and Prophecy in the Ancient Near East (Writings from the Ancient World)
by Martti NissinenThis is the first book to gather the available ancient Near Eastern extrabiblical sources containing prophetic words or references to prophetic activities. Among the 140 texts included in this volume are oracles of prophets, personal letters, formal inscriptions, and administrative documents from ancient Mesopotamia and the Levant from the second and first millennia B.C.E. By collecting and presenting evidence of the activities of prophets and the phenomenon of prophecy from all over the ancient Near East, the volume illumines the cultural background of biblical prophecy and its parallels. It makes these valuable primary source materials accessible to students and general readers in contemporary English along with transcriptions of the original languages, indexes, and an extensive bibliography.
Prophets and Protons: New Religious Movements and Science in Late Twentieth-Century America (New and Alternative Religions #4)
by Benjamin E ZellerThis in-depth study shows how new religious movements offer a variety of strategies for reconciling science and religious faith. By the twentieth century, established religious traditions were forced to grappled with the challenges presented by scientific knowledge and innovation. But emerging religions, still led by a living founder to guide them, found news ways to respond to science. The Hare Krishnas, the Unification Church, and Heaven&’s Gate each found distinct ways to incorporate major findings of modern American science, understanding it as central to their wider theological and social agendas. In Prophets and Photons, Benjamin Zeller examines how these New Religious Movements (NRMs) crafted their views on science during their founding period, and how those views evolved over time. These NRMs shed light on how religious groups—new, old, alternative, or mainstream—could respond to the tremendous growth of power and prestige of science in late twentieth-century America. In this engrossing book, Zeller carefully shows that religious groups had several methods of creatively responding to science, and that the often-assumed conflict-based model of &“science vs. religion&” must be replaced by a more nuanced understanding of how religions operate in our modern scientific world.
Prophets of Love: The Unlikely Kinship of Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul (Advancing Studies in Religion #15)
by Matthew R. AndersonLeonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul might be imagined as brothers with wildly different characters but a strong family resemblance. Paul, the elder sibling, was awkward, abrasive, and zealous. Leonard, the successful younger brother, was a smooth-talking romantic, prone to addiction and depression. Paul died a martyr, not knowing his words would have any effect on the world. Leonard could see his canonization within his lifetime. Yet each became a prophet in his own time, and a poet for the ages.In Prophets of Love Matthew Anderson traces surprising connections between two Jewish thinkers separated by millennia. He explores Leonard's and Paul’s mysticism, their Judaism, their fascination with Jesus, their countercultural perspectives on sex, their ideas about love, and how they each embodied being men. Anderson considers their ambiguous relationships with women, on whom they depended and from whom they often profited, as well as how their legacies continue to evolve and be re-interpreted. This book emphasizes that Paul was first and foremost a Jew, and never rejected his Judaism. At the same time, it sheds new light on the biblical worldviews and language underlying and inspiring every line of Cohen’s poetry.Prophets of Love alters our views of both Leonard Cohen and the Apostle Paul, re-introducing us to two poetic prophets of divine and human love.
Prophets of the Great Spirit: Native American Revitalization Movements in Eastern North America
by Alfred CaveProphets of the Great Spirit offers an in-depth look at the work of a diverse group of Native American visionaries who forged new, syncretic religious movements that provided their peoples with the ideological means to resist white domination. By blending ideas borrowed from Christianity with traditional beliefs, they transformed “high” gods or a distant and aloof creator into a powerful, activist deity that came to be called the Great Spirit. These revitalization leaders sought to regain the favor of the Great Spirit through reforms within their societies and the inauguration of new ritual practices. Among the prophets included in this study are the Delaware Neolin, the Shawnee Tenkswatawa, the Creek “Red Stick” prophets, the Seneca Handsome Lake, and the Kickapoo Kenekuk. Covering more than a century, from the early 1700s through the Kickapoo Indian removal of the Jacksonian Era, the prophets of the Great Spirit sometimes preached armed resistance but more often used nonviolent strategies to resist white cultural domination. Some prophets rejected virtually all aspects of Euro-American culture. Others sought to assure the survival of their culture through selective adaptation.Alfred A. Cave explains the conditions giving rise to the millenarian movements in detail and skillfully illuminates the key histories, personalities, and legacies of the movement. Weaving an array of sources into a compelling narrative, he captures the diversity of these prophets and their commitment to the common goal of Native American survival.
Prophets of the Past: Interpreters of Jewish History
by Michael BrennerProphets of the Past is the first book to examine in depth how modern Jewish historians have interpreted Jewish history. Michael Brenner reveals that perhaps no other national or religious group has used their shared history for so many different ideological and political purposes as the Jews. He deftly traces the master narratives of Jewish history from the beginnings of the scholarly study of Jews and Judaism in nineteenth-century Germany; to eastern European approaches by Simon Dubnow, the interwar school of Polish-Jewish historians, and the short-lived efforts of Soviet-Jewish historians; to the work of British and American scholars such as Cecil Roth and Salo Baron; and to Zionist and post-Zionist interpretations of Jewish history. He also unravels the distortions of Jewish history writing, including antisemitic Nazi research into the "Jewish question," the Soviet portrayal of Jewish history as class struggle, and Orthodox Jewish interpretations of history as divinely inspired. History proved to be a uniquely powerful weapon for modern Jewish scholars during a period when they had no nation or army to fight for their ideological and political objectives, whether the goal was Jewish emancipation, diasporic autonomy, or the creation of a Jewish state. As Brenner demonstrates in this illuminating and incisive book, these historians often found legitimacy for these struggles in the Jewish past.
Prophets, Priests and Politics
by Stephen DisraeliThe prophets of the Old Testament were speaking, in the first instance, to the people of their own time. This means that we need to locate the prophets in the history of their own time, in order to understand them in the first instance. I propose to survey Israel’s history mainly in terms of the work and role of the prophets, from Moses to Malachi. Of course, they were interacting with the temple priesthood and with the disciples of Machiavelli, who cannot be left out of the story. God himself is in the background of this history, pursuing his purposes through these events and making his will known, which brings us back to the prophets. I’ve been a student of history since I was nine years old, a simple transition from an interest in maps. My mind itches, instinctively, to arrange things in chronological order. In fact, I was trying to synchronise the kings and prophets, for my own interest, while I was still at school. However, this will not be an academic work. My chief source of information will be the Old Testament itself. The story is told from a Christian viewpoint, or even a Protestant viewpoint, as will be evident from time to time. Yet faith will not be over-powering the critical spirit. The charioteer will be running these two horses as a team.