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Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World . By David E. Aune. Pp. xii + 522. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983. £24.20.

Prophecy in Early Christianity and the Ancient Mediterranean World. By David E. Aune. Pp. xii + 522. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983. £24.20. Professor Aune's book is a landmark in the continuing debate on the nature of prophecy. Through its comprehensive and clear coverage all the major issues receive thorough and fresh treatment which penetrates through the layers of historical scholarship to cast exciting new light on the familiar texts. Aune's first task is to examine the antecedents of Christian prophecy. Here he breaks fresh ground with his encyclopaedic treatment of the forms, the procedures and the purposes of Graeco-Roman prophecy which, he insists, had a widespread and profound effect on the development of Christian prophecy. The Jewish background is similarly explored, with particular attention being given to the intertestamental revelatory literature in which can be seen not the decline of Old Testament prophecy but its development. Throughout these investigations Aune's aim is to draw attention to the social context of prophecy and to develop objective criteria by which prophetic speech may be classified and assessed. In the major part of the work these criteria are employed first in an historical reassessment of the prophetic role of Jesus, the practice of prophecy in the Early Church and its effects on the tradition of the sayings of Jesus, and then in an exhaustive analysis of every example of Christian prophetic speech to the middle of the second century A.D. He concludes that 'the distinctive feature of prophetic speech was not so much its content or form but its supernatural origin... discourse... presented either in the absence of more rational structures of institutional authority, or in conflict with them'. Its eventual decline within the Church is attributed to the takeover by more institutional forms of ministry of the prophet's function as the articulator of the norms and values of the Church's head. Aune's incisive judgements and constructive theorising are bound to give rise to a new and invigorated debate on many subjects in this field. This rich and well-constructed study, supported as it is by the most thorough documentation, bibliographies and indexes, will ensure that that debate moves forward on a more sound and objective basis. It is sure to be the major textbook on this subject for years to come.