I did some reading yesterday afternoon about the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. This topic comes in the section of our Human Identity module on vocation, with the link being a sense of calling and purpose. The most interesting reading was from John Goldingay’s book Israel’s Life (2009). He starts his section on ‘Prophets, Central and Marginal’ with the statement that ‘defining prophets is problematic’, and there are a number of ways for thinking about prophecy. There is a sense of social criticism, and a sense of looking forwards into the future. Goldingay suggests that ‘a Wittgenstinian set of “family resemblances” offers a more plausible approach. There is a focus on Amos, Isiah, Jeremiah, and Ezeziel, and he writes that ‘all four… declare what Whwh is going to do in the future, none are reformers; are individuals working on their own if they can help it. He goes on to explore Biblical prophecy under a number of headings: Voice of Tradition, A Specific Divine Initiative, An Invariable Divine Initiative, Guides Keeping Israel on the Right Road, Lookouts with Eyes Open, Passing the Moral Test, A Word from Outside the Self?, Avoiding False Promises, Beware the False Prophets.
A second section on prophecy examines ‘True Prophets’. ‘Kingship’, he writes, ‘is a human initiative of which Yhwh can wrest control. Prohecy is more like a divine iniative of which humanity can wrest control. When Yhwh is in control of prophecy, what does it look like?’
Prophecy is a really interesting theme, and one I need to return to. To really do justice to this topic, it will be necessary to revisit Biblical history, and put each prophet (or prophet) into their specific context.
Religion, Environment, History 