One of the signature beliefs of the Spirit-empowered tradition is the idea that prophecy is for today. Not only did the day of Pentecost reimagine the people of God as the “prophethood of all believers,” but it is also a continual reminder that the Spirit is still speaking in every generation.

The 1 Corinthians 12 list of gifts includes prophecy as one of the manifestations of the Spirit. That gift is the ability to hear the voice of the Lord and share what is on his heart for his people. Paul said prophecy was extremely important to the health of the church. Of all the gifts mentioned in that passage, it has the most continuity with the Old Testament, which is filled with common individuals feeling called to share what the Lord is saying in their generation.

The original name for “prophets” in the OT was a “seer” (1 Sam 9:9). By the Spirit of God, these individuals were able to see things from God’s perspective and communicate that to the people. Often, those words came to communities that thought they were doing what was right. But the prophet was able to see past the superficiality of things into a deep and critical place of honesty that others could not see.

These truths were often uncomfortable and upset the narrative of the status quo being perpetuated by the leaders. As a result, many of the prophets were persecuted for such insights. They were accused of being disloyal, false, or troublemakers. But in reality, the critical eye of the Prophet was the real truth, not the image being upheld by Israel that appeared to be faithful to God, but was rotting away from the inside.

Having spent almost a decade in the world of scholarship, I cannot help but see a parallel between the role of the prophet and the role of the scholar. Prophets were empowered by the Spirit with a critical eye necessary to see things that the larger public could not see. Scholars are not much different.

This is what scholars do: they bring a critical eye to try to better understand and provide a more accurate assessment of communities, ideas, and situations. They have insights from that research that provide more nuance and often scrutiny than most people have access to. They are both teachers and prophets to bring those insights to the community.

Though prophets had special insight that enabled them to see things differently, they did not consider themselves superior to the people or in an “ivory tower.” Most of them were ordinary people minding their own business when God gave them their message. But the people needed the prophet because they did not have access to the same information as the prophet. They saw only part of the picture, where the prophet received knowledge from the Spirit to fill in the picture more fully.

Unfortunately, like prophets, many scholars are misunderstood and rejected for these critical insights. Those who look at Christianity or the church through a critical eye have been accused of being disloyal, negative, or worse, unfaithful believers. But, in my experience, most of the Christian scholars I know do what they do out of a desire to help the church fully understand itself, not to tear it down. Many scholars study their own communities because of a burning desire to truly serve the church. They are trying to help.

The problem is that the church is an institution filled with and led by flawed humans. We do our best to tell our best story in ways that validate ourselves. But when these narratives are interrogated, they often reveal layers of false understanding that have been used to keep an image that is comfortable. Sometimes digging deep gets ugly. People we thought were heroes are exposed as villains. Decisions we thought were good were actually detrimental to the community. What we called good was actually evil. And many times we didn’t even know it.

The community may prefer the sanitized or idealized version, but it doesn’t make it the truth. This can be particularly painful or even threatening for those who are part of the community. Certainly, no one liked it when the prophet came to town. Similarly, it can be extremely uncomfortable for leaders who have to face the prospect of someone exposing the community to a new level of scrutiny. I have wondered if my own work would make me a friend or an enemy of my denomination. Thankfully, it’s been well received. But not by everyone.

The truth is, the prophet and the scholar are tasked with the painful burden of telling a community and its leaders things they don’t always want to hear. But, like prophecy, the goal of that scholarship and that critical insight is to expose distortions or uncover unhealthy aspects of the community. This is not to hurt the community, but to help the community address and resolve the issues, encouraging it to return to its core purpose. There is a burden that comes with a scholarship. It’s hard to see things the same way after that critical lens is applied. You can’t unsee those things. You cannot go back to the idealized reality that you once knew and that most people enjoy.

But it should be noted that not all critical scholarship is negative in nature. There are times when prophets come with insights that bring encouragement and validation. That certainly is also a role of scholars. Sometimes, critical scholarship corrects negative stereotypes and assumptions about a community. I have found that in my own research on the AG. Many of the negative characterizations that have been asserted (from inside and out) have now been corrected by digging into the research and telling a more accurate story.

This is why I have come to understand scholarship to be very much like the gift of prophecy. Both are callings. Both try to bring new insights (from God) into a community that needs deeper introspection. Both can be unpopular with those who lead these communities, but in the end, they are ultimately gifts to the community to make it healthier and more faithful to God. Both should be seen as a gift from God, even if it’s not always pleasant to hear what the prophet is saying.

“Do not despise prophecy.” (1 Thes 5:20)