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141 Jean-Daniel Plüss, Therapeutic and Prophetic Narratives in Worship: A Hermeneutic Study of Testimonies and Visions. Their Potential Significance for Christian Worship and Secular Society (Studies in the Intercultural History of Christianity, 54; Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1988). xxx+ 394 pps. ISBN 3-8204-1199-2. $53.80. Reviewed by David Bundy ‘ This volume is an important contribution to several aspects of Pente- costal theological reflection. It was originally submitted as a doctoral dissertation at the Katholieke Universiteit te Leuven. The central issue is the nature and function of oral communication in Christian worship. The case used as a base for the study is the liturgy of the Pentecostal churches which is shaped by personal religious narratives including therapeutic testimonies and prophetic visions. The significance of these narratives for Pentecostal worship has long been recognized, but there were no scholarly tools available within the workshops of theologians and historians of religion which provided bases for understanding and analysis. Earlier efforts came to an impasse attempting to decide . whether the phenomena were psychological deviations, self-deceptions or “really” of divine origin. Pluss makes an initial contribution by cutting the Gordian knot of methodology. Drawing upon the work of . Vladimir Propp (Morphology of the Folktale [2nd ed. Austin: Univer- sity of Texas, 1968, original Russian 1928]) and the subsequent insights of phenomenologists and scholars of linguistics, Pluss devel- ops a phenomenological approach. The presentation is divided into two parts. The first part is theoretical and explores the structures of the methodology, locating the “herme- neutics of narrative” in the “tensional field between theology, philo- sophy, and sociology.” It argues that the narrative approach to religious communication is valid because narratives are used by persons to .. integrate their own experience with that perceived to be God’s absence, presence and/or prophetic word, and that within a secular society, the ‘ . ‘ presence of narratives in the liturgy allow humans to approach the ‘ Holy and to explore their own interrelationships. The second part is an essay in constructive theology which examines the logic, semantic structures and liturgical function of personal testi- monies (Chapter 4) and visions (Chapter 5) in Pentecostal worship. The final chapter offers reflections on the “theological and liturgical consequences” of the analysis. A narrative “postlude” explores the concerns of the volume using a narrative developed by Pluss based on an experience in a Caribbean Pentecostal Church in Birmingham, . England. Extensive appendixes contain a “Short Essay on Pentecostal- . ism” and examples of testimonies and visions from European Pente- 1 142 costal publications analyzed according to the structures and methods discussed in the text. The analysis suggests that narratives of both secular and religious origins as well as biblical narratives can function to expedite theologi- cal reflection and development of Christian community. This requires a “bilingualism” between secular and religious structures as communica- tion occurs between two value systems. The resultant interpretations are provided validity as they are contextualized in the liturgical com- munity, and as the concerns of the individual, community, larger soci- etal context and of “the Holy” are taken into account. This means that the testimonies and visions are not self-delusions, psychological devia- tions, but sophisticated and complex metaphors and parables that are used to address ultimate human concerns. The primary interpretative issue is not to ask “what really happened,” but rather how do the narra- tives function within the worshipping community and what are the possibilities for the use of a given narrative in theological reflection. This has implications for both those who would study Pentecostalism and for Pentecostal constructive theologians. For the former, it chal- lenges the traditional canons of historical and comparative religions paradigms used to analyze religious experience and communities of faith. For the Pentecostal theologians, it suggests that new ways must be found to formulate doctrines of scripture, anthropology and the church as well as understandings of divine action which are congruent with their own tradition. Other theologians will be challenged to reexamine the narrative’and theological structures of their own tradi- tions. Significantly, it offers a solid philosophical and theological basis for intercultural ecumenical theological reflection. David Bundy is Associate Theological Seminary Professor of Christian Origins, Asbury 2
