It’s common knowledge now that no one interprets from an objective perspective. Everyone brings their own history and experience to the work of exegesis. (Esau McCaulley demonstrates the value of this insight in Reading While Black). This is why I’m excited to read pentecostals writing about Ezekiel. Our experience with the prophet resonates on an affective level not always explored by other interpreters.

Lisa Ward describes the experience of Pentecostals:

Pentecostals believe strongly in the manifest presence of God and consider worship as an encounter with the divine mediated through his divine presence and power, which shapes them spiritually. (249)

Could Ezekiel be considered a proto-pentecostal? He was certainly indwelt by the Spirit, saw visions, prophesied, and conveyed the weight of that experience. The divine presence and power is clearly evident by language such as “the hand of the Lord” that serves as a weighty reminder of the power of the Spirit of God.

As the title makes clear, Ward interprets the text from an explicitly pentecostal perspective. She devotes a whole chapter to reception history, showing how the themes of Ezekiel were used by early pentecostals in both the Wesleyan and Finished Work traditions.

The core of Ward’s book is her interpretation of Ezekiel’s four significant visions where she pays careful attention to the conflagration of Spirit language with affective language. This chapter on Ezekiel’s visions provides plenty of material for careful reflection.

In the end, Ward suggests components of a pentecostal theology of visions, rooted in Ezekiel’s experience. I argued in Pentecostal Prophets that we should learn not just from the content but from the experience of the Old Testament Prophets. Ward’s work shows that we have a lot to learn from the that exiled priest-turned-prophet.

Ward, Lisa R. A Pentecostal Encounter with Ezekiel’s Visions: The Spirit, Power, and Affectivity. CPT Press, 2021.