Original citation: Francis, Leslie J. and Tania ap Siôn, . (2017) Reading the Lucan call of the first disciples differently : the voices of sensing and intuition. Journal of Beliefs and Values, 38 (2). pp. 188- 198. Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/85762 Copyright and reuse: The Warwick Research Archive Portal (WRAP) makes this work by researchers of the University of Warwick available open access under the following conditions. Copyright © and all moral rights to the version of the paper presented here belong to the individual author(s) and/or other copyright owners. To the extent reasonable and practicable the material made available in WRAP has been checked for eligibility before being made available. Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for profit purposes without prior permission or charge. 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For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications Running head: THE VOICES OF SENSING AND INTUITION 1 Reading the Lucan call of the first disciples differently: The voices of sensing and intuition Leslie J Francis* University of Warwick, UK Tania ap Siôn University of Warwick, UK Author note: *Corresponding author: Leslie J Francis Warwick Religions & Education Research Unit Centre for Education Studies The University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)24 7652 2539 Fax: +44 (0)24 7657 2638 Email: [email protected] C:\Users\lyshai\Downloads\0771349-ces-030217-reading_the_lucan_call_of_the_first_disciples_differently-2.docx 06/02/2017 THE VOICES OF SENSING AND INTUITION 2 Abstract This paper argues that discipleship is a notion of growing importance to the Christian denominations and that the Marcan narrative of the call of the first disciples has been of particular importance in giving shape to this notion. The Lucan narrative of the call of the first disciple, involving the great catch of fish, is problematic in two ways, concerning its relationship with the Marcan understanding of call and also with the Johannine post- resurrection narrative. Against this background this paper reports on an empirical study, drawing on the reader perspective and on the SIFT approach to biblical hermeneutics, that illuminates the distinctive voices of sensing types and intuitive types reading Luke 5: 1-7. Keywords: discipleship, reader perspective, SIFT, psychological type THE VOICES OF SENSING AND INTUITION 3 Introduction The primacy of the call to discipleship within the narrative of the Christian life, Christian witness, and Christian ministry has emerged across a range of Christian denominations. For example, within the Church of England, an emphasis on discipleship has been prominent in the three reports, Formation for ministry (Archbishops’ Council, 2003), Shaping the future (Archbishops’ Council, 2006), and Developing discipleship (Archbishops’ Council, 2015). This emphasis on discipleship has consequent interest in the processes that consolidate the response to the call (see Jones, 2014). These processes are variously expressed across the denominations in a variety of ways, among which Astley (2015) lists the following examples: discipleship courses, education for discipleship, learning for discipleship, discipleship education, education for lay discipleship, extending discipleship, developing discipleship, Christian formation, formation in the Christian faith, liturgical formation, theological formation, human formation, spiritual formation, pastoral formation, formation in Christian service, faith formation, and ministerial formation. Reading Mark This emphasis on the call to discipleship is often resourced and justified by reference to the Gospel narratives and in this context particular emphasis is placed on the Marcan account as the ‘Gospel of Discipleship’. The case is made, for example, by Francis (2015a) in an essay entitled ‘Taking discipleship learning seriously’. In this essay Francis agrees with Farrer (1951) that Mark’s decision to begin his Gospel with the call to discipleship is, on face value, a very strange thing to do. Mark’s Gospel begins so very abruptly after the intriguing prologue (1: 1-13) with the announcement that, following John’s arrest, Jesus came proclaiming the Reign of God (1: 14-19). Then Jesus began his ministry not by teaching about the Reign of God through words, not by displaying the Reign of God through actions, but by calling into discipleship his first four followers to experience, to reflect on and to bear THE VOICES OF SENSING AND INTUITION 4 witness to the Reign of God: Simon Peter and his brother Andrew (1:16-18), and the brothers James and John, the sons of Zebedee (1: 19-20). Only after the School of Discipleship has been formed around these four fishermen, did Jesus’ ministry begin to take shape and begin to make sense. Francis (2015a) sees significance in the way in which, immediately after their call, Jesus took these four disciples with him into the synagogue in Capernaum (1: 21-28). In the synagogue Jesus displayed what life is like when God reigns: the possessed man is healed. Then Jesus followed Simon Peter to his home (1: 29-31). There again Jesus displayed what life is like when God reigns, as Simon Peter’s mother-in-law was healed of her fever. The puzzle posed by Mark’s narrative is to posit why Peter and Andrew, James and John decided to follow Jesus in the first place, when the very signs of God’s reign that may have attracted them do not emerge until later. If the view of Marcan priority is accepted, then Matthew has done little to disturb the basic structure of the Marcan narrative. While chapters one and two present the extended birth narrative, chapter three expands the account of John the Baptist, and chapter four expands Jesus’ sojourn in the wilderness, the Matthean extended preface to Jesus’ emergence in Galilee does nothing to change or soften the surprising nature of the call of the first four disciples. Their willingness to follow remains unexplained and problematic. Again accepting the view of Marcan priority, Luke has recast the narrative in major ways. Like Matthew, Luke introduces the birth narratives, provides an extended introduction to the teaching of John the Baptist, and expands Jesus’ sojourn in the wilderness. Like Matthew, Luke changes the direction of the divine pronouncement from the personal affirmation of Mark (You are my son) to the public announcement (This is my son). However, unlike Matthew, Luke prefaces the call of the first disciples with the powerful appropriation of the Isaiah prophecy (the Spirit of the Lord is upon me), and with the Marcan narratives of exorcism in the Capernium synagogue, the healing of Simon’s mother-in-law, THE VOICES OF SENSING AND INTUITION 5 and the multiple healings. Yet, while in Mark Jesus ‘would not let the devil speak because they know who was’ (Mark 1: 34), in Luke the devils came out shouting, ‘You are the Son of God’ (Luke 4: 41). Clearly, good grounds are accruing for the first disciples to leave their boats behind and to follow Jesus. Most powerfully of all, however, Luke prefaces the call of Simon, James and John (whatever happened to Andrew?) with the narrative of the great catch of fish, after the fishermen had laboured all night long and caught nothing. From the perspective of the case that Luke is making, these disciples now have good grounds for following Jesus, and as a consequence the process of discipleship learning may emerge differently from Luke than from Mark. From the perspective of textual criticism, the fascinating question remains about the linkages between the miraculous catch of fish preceding the call of the first disciples in Luke (Luke 5: 1-11) and miraculous catch of fish in John 21 presented as a resurrection narrative (see for example, Marsh, 1963, pp. 655-660; Bailey, 1963; Neiryneck, 1990). Attending to the Reader perspective In the foregoing analysis the weight of interpretation has been on trying to recover the intention of the gospel writers (especially Mark and Luke) in the way in which they presented their narratives of the call of the first disciples. The reader perspective approach to biblical hermeneutics redresses the balance by placing the emphasis on the distinctive voices of multiple readers. In the first recension of the reader perspective approach, a sociological analysis of the readers’ location was taken seriously (see Segovia & Talbert, 1995a, 1995b), giving birth to diverse perspectives like liberation readings (see Botta & Andiňach, 2009), feminist readings (see Schottroff & Wacker, 2012), and black readings (see Brown, 2004). In a more recent recension of the reader perspective approach psychological theory came into play, as part of a wider renaissance of psychology interacting with the study of the Bible. In particular, the SIFT approach to biblical hermeneutics, as developed by Francis and Village THE VOICES OF SENSING AND INTUITION 6 (2008) argues that psychological type theory can illuminate consistent patterns in the reading of the scripture. Psychological type theory distinguishes between the two core psychological processes of perceiving (P) and judging (J). The perceiving process is concerned with gathering information, while the judging process is concerned with evaluating information.