William Tabbernee: Prophets and Gravestones
William Tabbernee, Prophets and Gravestones: An Imaginative History of Montanists and Other Early Christians (Peabody: Hendrickson, 2009), 385 pages, ISBN 9781565639379.
The Montanists were an important early Christian movement that began in Asia Minor during the late second century. They were essentially a charismatic upstart group, headquartered in the towns of Pepuza and Tymion, and disliked by the bishops for their perceived resistance to the bishops’ authority. Montanism is a movement that Pentecostals should know something about. Although they were widely condemned by a number of church fathers, virtually all their modern students, beginning with John Wesley, have found nothing heretical within their belief system.
As the world’s leading authority on Montanism, William Tabbernee is just the person to write a popular level introduction to the Montanists’ textual and archaeological remains. Prophets and Gravestones, however, is no normal introduction. As the subtitle suggests, this is an “imaginative history”. It is written in narrative form as a series of very short stories. This is Tabbernee’s way of fleshing out to the remains of this movement. Each narrative vignette is based upon a specific inscription or patristic detail. In effect, Tabbernee tries to imagine what went through a Montanist’s mind in the face of some personal crisis.
Montanism is a movement that Pentecostals should know something about.
I can recommend this book only to those inclined toward an “imaginative history”. The study of Montanism is important, but most readers (and all serious students) should discover the facts about Montanism through some other source.
Reviewed by John C. Poirier
Preview this book online at: books.google.com/books?id=cDuQwlKJqdUC
Publisher’s page: bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/prophets-and-gravestones/334550
Category: Church History, Spring 2010