A Pentecostal Encounter with Ezekiel’s Visions: The Spirit, Power, and Affectivity

In this monograph, Lisa R. Ward offers an examination and articulations of the literary and theological relationships between the activities of the divine ‘Spirit’, the ‘hand of YHWH’, and the affective language (e.g. ‘stunned or overwhelmed’, and ‘my anger’) in the four significant visions in the book of Ezekiel (Ezek. 1-3; 8-11; 37.1-14; 40-43). After offering an overview of the history of literature on the ‘Spirit’ and ‘hand of YHWH’ in Ezekiel scholarship, the author lays out and then executes her methodological approach that includes the early Pentecostal reception of the relevant Ezekiel texts, a narrative reading of these same texts in their literary context within Ezekiel, before concluding with overtures toward a Pentecostal Theology of Spirit-inspired visions. Ward’s work takes its rightful place in the recent renaissance of Ezekiel studies amongst Pentecostal scholars and contributes greatly to a better understanding of the visionary, pneumatological, and affective dimensions of this intriguing biblical book.