Towards Understanding of the Practice of Proclamation: The Core Element of Russian Baptist Worship, Timofey Cheprasov, 2015

ellowship to be involved in the process of communal hermeneutics, developing into a community of interpreters, which involves both formal 245 and church-based educational opportunities for its members similar in spirit to the baptistic experiments at the beginning of the 20°" century, considered in Chapter 3. Since Baptists perceive the Bible to be the Holy Scripture, rather than an ordinary ancient text, they employ reading strategies which might be different from the hermeneutical tools used in academic study. The church, first of all, seeks literal and spiritual senses in the biblical text, through its typological reading. Their safeguarding strategy against potential misinterpretations, is reading the Scripture in a community of fellow Christians, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. The conclusions of this chapter, however, must not be seen as a prescriptive approach to biblical interpretation in Baptist churches. Rather, it is a theological justification for an argument that reading the Bible in the community, understood and practiced within a wider cluster of practices, and preaching as one of them, serves as a sufficient safeguarding strategy against the destructive potential of various powerful practices, including the practice of proclamation. The final chapter aims to answer the question — what kind of preaching is required, considering the previous discussion of the powerful practices, and the call for the Church to rediscover the communal aspect in biblical interpretation guided by their baptistic vision. | have argued that an important lesson might be drawn from the existing Russian Baptist phenomenon of multiple preaching in a worship service. However, instead of focusing on at its present form, | believe it is necessary to look into the formative years of the movement, which could be seen as a successful experiment in communal hermeneutics, with preaching being the formative force behind the emergence of a particular ecclesial identity, despite the resistance of the surrounding dominant religious culture and political establishment. However, this thesis was not meant to offer a homiletical method that could be immediately employed by the local churches in Russia. If anything, this is a call to re- think and re-evaluate the existing emphasis on preaching as the practice, responsible for the transition of the biblical narrative into the lives of the listeners. The rediscovery of the communal aspect of biblical interpretation implies significant shifts in the churches’ understanding (and existing forms) of leadership and authority, as well as various other theological convictions (for example, the role and place of the Holy Spirit in biblical hermeneutics). Therefore, practical implications of this study must, first of 246 all, be seen in the University, theological educational institutions, which are involved in the preparation and training of future preachers and pastor