Conclusion

Abstract

Abstract The body is vital and necessary to prophetic mediation. Even as a long history of mind-body dualism has contributed to the privileging of word over body, recent developments in and beyond biblical studies furnish tools for an embodied paradigm of analysis that recognizes the synergy of word and body. This paradigm combines insights from studies of embodied cognition, senses, affect, and anthropology with linguistics, literary and cultural theory, and more. Prophetic commissioning narratives offer a programmatic portrayal of bodily encounter and mediation. Bodily transformations ranging from visibly altered face and skin to ascetic practices and altered states of consciousness contribute to the character of the prophetic body as mediating bridge. Prophetic mobility, immobility, affect, and emotion continually link the body of the prophet to the bodies of God and people. The study concludes by highlighting two areas for further research, namely forms of embodied prophecy and prophecy’s embodied reception.