Reviews
PROPHECY PAST AND
PRESENT
Prophecy Past and Present by Clifford Hill
EAGLE (Inter
Publishing Service), Guildford. 1995
pp xiii +
337 £12.99
ISBN: 0 86347 170
6
Dr Clifford Hill
is the editor of Prophecy Today
magazine. Prophecy Past and Present
was first published in 1989 and this is a revised and updated edition,
subtitled 'An Exploration of the Prophetic Ministry in the Bible and the Church
Today'. The book is divided into three
parts: 'Prophecy in Ancient Israel', 'Prophecy in the Early Church', and
'Prophecy Today'. There are seventeen chapters which are helpfully sub-divided
so that although Prophecy Past and
Present is quite a large book, one need not get lost in it. In addition, Dr
Hill's fluent style combine with a clear structure to make his book a considerably
easier read than its size and subject might suggest.
The book is
marked by a spirit of reverence for God and of love for his Word. There is
recognition of the need to exercise careful discernment and an emphasis upon
spiritual maturity through prayerfulness. Much is to be gained from Dr Hill's
overviews of the Scriptural material. Chapter four, 'The Method of the Prophet'
and chapters seven and eight, 'The Prophet at Prayer', and 'The Message of the
Prophets' are truly edifying. The
description of the hope of the Old Testament
prophets in chapter six, the overview of Old Testament to New Testament
changes in chapter nine, and the summary of Jesus' teaching in chapter ten, all
contain very helpful material.
There are,
however, a number of criticisms which can be levelled at the book. Given that
Dr Hill is aiming at the serious reader and that he is undoubtedly familiar
with recent debates about the nature of biblical prophecy, it is disappointing
that he deliberately refrains from interacting with the works of other
scholars. The selected bibliography has no mention of David Hill, David Aune,
Wayne Grudem, or others whose contribution must at least be assessed before
pronouncing as definitely as Dr Hill does upon these difficult subjects.
The sub-theme of
the stifling of the church's natural and Spirit-given spontaneity by the growth
of institutionalism is presented in either-or and hero-villain categories that
are unhelpful (pp. 4, 253-69, 273, 285-6) . The reading of history is
tendentious: ' ... from the fourth to the nineteenth century there was no major
movement of openness to the Holy Spirit, to prophetic revelation, or to the
exercise of spiritual gifts' (p.2). And
the teasing sketch, in chapter fifteen, of 'Contemporary Practice' is built upon
generalisation, even though the specific identifications of Paul Cain as a
false prophet (pp.288-9) and Hal Lindsey as a false teacher (pp.293-4) are long
overdue.
The single
biggest criticism, however, of a book which will nonetheless bring much benefit
to the careful reader, relates to its central thesis. Dr Hill defines prophecy
as 'revealed truth that comes directly from God' and the prophet as 'the
mouthpiece of God'. He sees Old
Testament, New Testament, and contemporary prophets as standing in the same
line: they receive and they deliver 'divine revelation'. (pp.3-5, 13, 20, 181,
268). He dismisses, rather than refutes,
those who would point out the uniqueness of apostolic authority and their
revelatory calling, the sufficiency of Scripture, and the particularity of the
NT prophets' task.
Early in his book
Dr Hill writes, 'In a world of
violence, of rapid social, economic and political change, when man's grasp of
technology outstrips his wisdom in using it, there is a desperate need for divine
guidance that could literally mean the difference between the annihilation of
mankind and man's salvation'. He is
surely right in this. What is needed, however, is not that we should hear new
words from God, but rather that we should hear more carefully and obey more
consistently what God has already said, once for all, in Scripture.