Prophecy

At a close analysis, Abū Ḥāmid al-Ġazālī's Maqāṣid al-falāsifa [Intentions/Doctrines of the Philosophers] reveals itself as a richly stratified work, where the most rational trends of Avicennan falsafa intertwine with an approach strongly influenced by religious revelation. Focusing on the fifth and final treatise of the Physics of the Maqāṣid, this paper analyses the way in which prophecy is not only discussed as the subject-matter of a specific philosophical analysis, but also prominently employed throughout the treatise as a doctrinal authority in the context of otherwise purely philosophical argumentations. The great number of quotations from the Qurʾān and from the tradition of prophetic deeds and sayings (aḥādiṯ) showcases in particular al-Ġazālī's ability to weld and crosspollinate the two traditions of Greek-Arabic philosophy and Islamic religion.

No nation has been subjected to a wider range of biblical attitudes and emotions than Edom. In some sources, Edom is perceived as Israel's brother; in many others, the animosity toward Edom is tremendous. The book of Genesis introduces Isaac, his wife Rebecca, and their twin sons, Esau and Jacob. Rivalry between the brothers emerges even before their birth and escalates over the course of their lives. The question which son should be favored also causes tension in the parents' relationship, and most of the Genesis text concerning Isaac and Rebecca revolves around this issue. The narrative describes the fraternal conflict between Jacob and Esau at length, and many hold that this description is a reflection of the hostility between Edom and Israel. However, the relationship between the brothers is not always depicted as strained. The twofold relationship between the brothers in Genesis—brotherhood and fraternity coupled with hatred and rivalry— introduces a dichotomy that is retained throughout the Hebrew Bible. In this monograph, Assis elucidates the complex relationship between Edom and Israel reflected in the Bible, to attempt to clarify the source of this complexity and the function that this relationship serves in the various biblical texts and Israel's early history. He shows how this relationship plays an important role in the formation of Israel's identity and how the historical interaction between the nations influenced the people's theological conception, as reflected in prophetic literature, poetry, and biblical narrative. Eisenbrauns, 2016. Pp. x + 214. English. Cloth. ISBN: 978-1-57506-417-8 List Price: $47.50

The tale of a meeting between Leonardo and Savonarola in the summer of 1495, later reported by Vasari (1550 and 1568) but confirmed by a memorandum remained in Leonardo's possession (Codex Atlanticus, f. 628 r), which refers explicitly to a "mission" assigned to him (presumably by Ludovico Sforza) to go to Florence, in order to get (through a competent mediator, probably Bernardo Rucellai) a detailed report about the new political rules promoted by the friar, lends credibility to a hypothesis of comparison between their anthropological conceptions, especially as they emerge from their "transfigured" use of the prophetic semantics, despite their shared repudiation of astrological quackery. If, on the one
hand, Savonarola's preaching does not have any properly predictive character, in terms of intentional "divination", standing rather as a projection or representation of the contingency of the current days, in purely political terms, Leonardo's riddles, which he literally called "prophecies", on the other hand - and similarly - transform the genre of presages or predictions into entertainment tools for courtly audiences, that, however, in some cases, become a vehicle for a critical evaluation of the troubles of contemporary society. The likelihood that, on the occasion of his convocation in Florence in 1495, Leonardo was able to listen to Savonarola's sermons, so steeped in apocalyptic prophecy, may provide an
explanation to the appearance of writings called "prophecies", among his notes, just in the last five years of the century. Their underlying vision of man, clearly pessimistic, offers significant points of contact with the negative anthropology advocated by Savonarola's preaching, which also makes use of animal apology, especially in the conceptual and ideological interpretation of the "anti-human" conflictuality among men, that makes them "beasts" towards themselves, in a sort of anticipation of Hobbes' famous motto homo homini
lupus.

A Kr. u. második század a keresztyén egyház önértelmezésének legformatívabb időszakának tekinthető. A század végére a kialakulófélben lévő kánon, az intézményesülő egyházszervezet és a regula fidei saját létezése és üzenete alappilléreinek tekinthető. Ezt az egyre csak szilárduló önképet kérdőjelezte meg az „Új Prófécia” mozgalom, amely azonban nem minden előzmény nélkül tűnt fel az egyház horizontján. Az Apostoli Atyák, közelebbről a Didakhé, 1Kelemen, Antiókhiai Ignác, Polikárp Filiipiekhez írott levele és Hermász Pásztora vizsgálatával az apostoli kor utáni egyház helyzete és élete viszonylag pontosan körvonalazódik előttünk. Előadásomban ezen dokumentumokban vizsgálom a prófécia és ihletettség kérdéseit. Amellett kívánok érvelni, hogy a kezdeti időkben jelentős szerepet betöltő prófétai tisztség és tevékenység az intézményesülő egyházi szerveződés intenzitásával egyenes arányban csökkent a közösségeken belül. Ez a folyamat azonban nem mindenhol és nem egyforma mértékben vert gyökeret a birodalom területén szétszórt egyházak életében. Azokon a helyeken, ahol kevésbé szilárdult meg az intézményesült presbiteri-püspöki irányítás, a prófétai tevékenység jelenléte továbbra is jól nyomon követhető. Ilyen terület volt Kis-Ázsia több része is, közöttük a Filadelfia vonzásköréhez tartozó Frígia is, ahol néhány évtizeddel később Montanus és női prófétatársai megkezdték munkásságukat. A tanulmány célja annak a térségben fellelhető és mélyen gyökerező hagyománybeli kontintinuitásnak a kimutatása, amely a kezdeti időktől fogva a második század közepéig-végéig a prófétai tevékenységet és bizonyos apokaliptikai jellemzőket tiszteletben tartott, s amely értelmezést az olyan jelentős tekintéllyel bíró egyházi személyek vélekedései sem tudtak megingatni, mint például Antiókhiai Ignác.

Montanism: seeking the roots
Prophecy, inspiration and the question of authority in the Apostolic Fathers
The second century C.E. can be regarded as the most formative period in the history of the Christian Church in the formation of her own identity. By the end of the century the evolving canon, the church hierarchy and the regula fidei was starting to become the foundations of her existence and message. This accommodating self-understanding was questioned and challenged by the “New Prophecy” movement (later labelled as Montanism) which appeared on the horizon of the church not without any antecedence. By the examination of the so-called Apostolic Fathers namely the Didache, 1Clement, the letters of Ignatius of Antioch, Polycarp’s letter to the Philippians and The Shepherd of Hermas we can get a more or less accurate picture of the situation and life of the post-apostolic church. In my presentation I am looking for the notions of prophecy and inspiration in the named documents. I intend to argue that the prophetic office and activity which enjoyed special prominence in the early period (i.e. the apostolic era) suffered a significant decrease within the Christian communities due to the rising of the hierarchical ecclesiastical order. This process, however, did not gain equal support within the life of the churches now scattered all around the Empire. In those places where the office and order of the presbyterate was not accepted with sheer joy by the members of the churches, the presence of the prophetic activity was still valued highly. To such areas belonged some parts of Asia Minor, especially Phrygia which was in the sphere of influence of Philadelphia. Some decades later Montanus and his fellow prophetesses started their activity here. The aim of this paper is to point out the continuity of that deeply-rooted tradition in the region which from the very beginning up until the middle and end of the second century valued and honoured the prophetic activity mingled with certain apocalyptic characteristics. This understanding could not be challenged even by such prominent ecclesiastical figures as Ignatius of Antioch.

Da un Dio etnico e vendicativo a un Dio che si pente del male minacciato: percorso di conversione divina. Il libro del profeta Giona racconta una storia ricca di colpi di scena e accentuazioni emotive. Tutto è "grande": grande la paura, grande il timore, grande la città di Ninive, grande la collera del profeta e naturalmente grande è il pesce. È una narrazione fantastica, ma imbevuta di un messaggio più attuale che mai. La salvezza che Dio opera a favore del "pagano", del "diverso" e del "nemico" si radica nel Dio creatore di ogni essere che vive e respira sotto il sole.

Published in The Baptist Bulletin, this brief article (written for a non-academic yet informed Church audience) explores and clarifies the biblical link between eschatology and the Christian life by way of several key New Testament texts. Specifically, it argues that a Christian’s understanding of what the Bible says about the future has a direct impact on their daily discipleship and sanctification in the present.

Niniejsza praca ma na celu przedstawienie teorii mitotwórczej J. R. R. Tolkiena, z perspektywy jej wymiaru duchowego. Od czasów antycznych teorie, tudzież filozofie, opierały się na myśleniu abstrakcyjnym i miały za zadanie wyjaśnienie ówczesnemu człowiekowi otaczającej go rzeczywistości. Nie inaczej było z Tolkienowską teorią, na potrzebę której ukuł swój termin Mitopoeia. „Duchowy wymiar Tolkienowskiej Teorii Mitotwórczej” – tłumacząc tytuł tej pracy na język Polski – przekłada się na wiele sfer życia Tolkiena. Pierwsza z tych płaszczyzn, to przypisywany mu przez niektórych krytyków program filozoficzny. Na tym wymiarze skupia się pierwszy rozdział tej pracy: „The Philosophical Disenchantment.” Jednak jak sugeruje tytuł, stanowi on zaledwie tło wszelkich dalszych poszukiwań, gdyż oferuje badaczom Tolkienowskiej myśli jedynie jej racjonalizację i demitologizację. Życiowa pasja Tolkiena, filologia komparatywna, daje wystarczające zrozumienie jego fenomenu, a przynajmniej zdaniem kilku krytyków. Niezaprzeczalnie stanowiła ona inspirację, a zarazem była narzędziem, którego Tolkien użył podług swej ogromnej wiedzy z zakresu językoznawstwa. Pomimo, iż w tej pracy „Comparative Philology” jest omawiana w drugiej kolejności, to właśnie ta dyscyplina była źródłem znajomości filozofii u Tolkiena. Podążając krokami Tolkieniany nie można jednak na tym poprzestać. Trzeci wymiar, jakże metafizyczny i filozoficzny w swych założeniach i implikacjach to odkrycie Owena Barfielda, znajomego Tolkiena. Barfield odkrył Teorię „Jedności Semantycznej,” co Tolkienowi przyszło łatwo przyjąć do wiadomości: język jako narzędzie może również być transcendentny, ze względu na swe początki. Dla Tolkiena była to jedna z tych rzeczy, która pozwoliła mu uwierzyć w smoki. „Philological Philosophy: Let There Be Dragons” – jest zatem łącznikiem między dwoma światami. Jednakże Tolkien nie był byle fantastą, oderwanym od ziemi. Teoria Barfielda, obudziła w nim nadzieję. Pomimo to, tak jak każdy rozsądny i racjonalny człowiek Tolkien musiał dowiedzieć się, „czy to prawda.” Potrzebował czegoś, aby idee odnieść do nie tyle rzeczywistego doświadczenia, ile prawdy. Prawda, bowiem wyzwala. Mimo nieustannego negowania jego wiary, to właśnie ona umożliwiła mu dalsze rozważanie tych teorii. I nie da się inaczej wytłumaczyć jego mitotwórstwa, jak przez uznanie jego wiary. Miłości do Boga, która była tak głęboka, że aż sięgała wiedzy teologicznej. Tego, między innymi, tyczy ostatni rozdział tej pracy: „Myth Becomes Truth.”
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In 1 Pet. 4:11a, those who exercise χαρίσματα involving speech acts are instructed to carry out their tasks ὡς λόγια θεοῦ. Two interpretations of this phrase have gained prominence within Petrine scholarship. Some claim that Scripture is being referenced to establish a standard for regulating the use of communicative gifts in the church. Others contend that the verse sets up a hypothetical comparison designed to emphasize the appropriate manner in which the spoken word should be performed. The problem is that both of these positions have left crucial questions unattended. The purpose of this study is to provide a close examination of the three issues which most significantly impact the interpretation of 1 Pet. 4:11a: (1) the meaning of λόγια; (2) the reconstruction of verbal elision; and (3) the Petrine author’s view of divine revelation through human mediation. In the end, we suggest that the verse is intended to convey a direct correspondence between the comparative image (i.e., one who delivers oracles from God) and the ministry of those who exercised speaking gifts within the Anatolian congregations. That is, when Christians rendered service to the community through various forms of verbal communication, they were understood to be dispensing divine revelation.

This paper is a critique and correction of premillennial dispensationalism, the theological theory that God has divided up all of history into seven periods in which he distributes, or dispenses, grace in different ways.  We should be careful to note that nowhere in the Bible does God mention seven different eras in which he is going to be dispensing grace and testing people in seven different ways; this concept is the result of a theological construct that has a relatively recent origin and the result of a flawed understanding of the Bible.  Those flaws are identified, explained, and corrected in the paper.

INDICE GENERALE



I passi iniziali
Attualità, complessità e creatività

1. Con gli studiosi della Bibbia contro i «profeti di sventura»

2. Il “bilinguismo” dell’Apocalisse

Primo sentiero
L’alfabeto dei simboli: astri, numeri e colori

1. «Ci sarà sempre qualcosa di nuovo»

2. Gli astri simbolici
Le stelle del cielo
Gli sconvolgimenti cosmici
Lo scioglimento del sesto sigillo
La scomparsa progressiva del sole
La scomparsa progressiva della luna

3. La cornice simbolica degli sconvolgimenti cosmici
L’Onnipotente attrae a sé per salvare
Gli angeli e la creazione reagiscono contro i peccatori
Il diavolo “distrae” da Dio per dannare
Gli sconvolgimenti cosmici procedono verso la nuova creazione
Le visioni pedagogiche degli sconvolgimenti cosmici

4. I numeri simbolici
Il nome del seicentosessantasei
La perfezione del sette
L’imperfezione del sei
La parzialità del tre e mezzo
L’illimitatezza del centoquarantaquattromila

5. I colori simbolici
Il Risorto sul cavallo bianco
La guerra sul cavallo rosso
L’ingiustizia sul cavallo nero
La morte sul cavallo verde
La profezia dei quattro cavalli e cavalieri

6. Il fine profetico
Il manuale profetico per il discernimento
Il carisma profetico
L’epoca interpretata profeticamente
La rivelazione profetica del Dio vivente
Profezie per i nostri tempi

Il secondo sentiero
Il discernimento profetico della storia

1. «Sete di potere» nei cristiani delle origini
Il superamento di un fraintendimento
La necessità del discernimento

2. La storia delle Chiese dell’Asia Minore
Le persecuzioni
Il rimprovero per la stanchezza di una Chiesa disinnamorata
L’invito a tornare al primo amore per Cristo
Il rimprovero per la ricchezza di una Chiesa intiepidita
L’invito ad aprirsi di nuovo a Cristo

3. La profezia mediante visioni e segni
Il genere letterario apocalittico delle visioni profetiche
La realtà delle visioni di Giovanni
Un linguaggio di segni incomprensibili ai persecutori
Un linguaggio di segni comprensibili ai semplici
Un linguaggio di segni utili al discernimento

4. Il contesto esistenziale della liturgia
Il prologo del profeta
Il dialogo liturgico nella Chiesa

5. La teologia della «rivelazione» del Dio vivente
L’«apocalisse di Gesù Cristo»
L’invocazione: «Fino a quando...?»
La rivelazione dell’azione incessante di Dio
La rivelazione dell’amore efficace di Cristo
La rivelazione del fine salvifico della storia

6. L’«etica del discernimento» fondata sulla speranza nel Risorto
La visione di minaccia contro Babilonia
La visione contemplativa di Gerusalemme
I criteri di discernimento
La lettura dell’Apocalisse alla luce di Cristo
La conversione permanente in vista del discernimento

Il terzo sentiero
Il parto del “Cristo totale” e il suo combattimento contro il drago

1. La visione dei tre segni celesti
Suoni e visioni rivissuti nella liturgia
La cornice letteraria della visione

2. Il primo segno celeste: la donna vestita di sole
Le pietre antiche del nuovo edificio letterario
La donna-popolo di Dio
“Nel” mondo, ma non “del” mondo
La corona di dodici stelle
Il parto travagliato

3. Il secondo segno celeste: l’enorme drago rosso
L’identità misteriosa di Satana e dei demoni
Inferiori a Dio e superiori agli uomini
La potenza astuta e distruttiva del drago
La strumentalizzazione satanica degli uomini
La strumentalizzazione satanica delle strutture di potere

4. L’incessante persecuzione satanica della donna
La percezione dell’impotenza di fronte al male
Il parto del figlio
La rinascita pasquale di Cristo
La nascita del corpo ecclesiale di Cristo
La crescita del corpo ecclesiale di Cristo

5. L’infaticabile aiuto divino alla donna
Il rapimento celeste del figlio
La fuga della donna nel deserto
La vicinanza misteriosa di Dio
I milleduecentosessanta giorni di persecuzione
La profezia di speranza ai perseguitati

6. Maria, madre di Cristo e dei cristiani
Il ricordo di Maria di Nazareth
Il ricordo di Maria risorta

Il quarto sentiero
La vittoria di Cristo e della Chiesa su Satana

1. Dal nemico di Gesù al drago dell’Apocalisse
Il diavolo necessario e il brusio dei demoni
Il “libro dei diavoli”

2. La tattica vincente di Dio e la sconfitta completa di Satana
Dio «non può rapire, può soltanto corteggiare»
La speranza della sconfitta di ogni male

3. Le «strutture di peccato» in ambito politico
La bestia-pantera dello stato totalitario
La bestia-agnello della propaganda politica
4. I settori in cui s’insinua il «serpente antico»
Le infiltrazioni demoniache nella società
Le infiltrazioni demoniache nella Chiesa

5. Lo svelamento di Satana
L’impossibilità di smascherare il volto “celeste” di Satana
La doverosità di smascherare le trame terrene di Satana

6. La rivelazione biblica su Satana
La vittoria di Cristo su Satana
Una verità rivelata non dimenticabile

Il sentiero conclusivo
Un filo d’Arianna per l’Apocalisse

1. Un libro ben articolato da “vivere” nella liturgia
Un libro enigmatico dalla discussa struttura letteraria
Un libro originale dall’indiscussa tonalità liturgica

2. La struttura bipartita del libro

3. La prima parte (Ap 1,4-3,22): la conversione delle Chiese
La struttura a raggiera delle sette lettere
Il raggio di attrazione salvifica verso il Risorto
La comunione delle Chiese in Cristo
Il rimprovero alla Chiesa di Pèrgamo
L’invito alla Chiesa di Pèrgamo

3. La seconda parte (Ap 4,1-22,5): il discernimento della storia
La sezione introduttiva del trono di Dio (Ap 4,1-5,14)
La sezione dei sette sigilli (Ap 6,1-7,17)
La sezione delle sette trombe (Ap 8,1-11,14)
La sezione dei tre segni e delle sette coppe (Ap 11,15-16,16)
La sezione conclusiva della fine dei tempi (Ap 16,17-22,5)
L’epilogo sponsale (Ap 22,6-21)

5. L’itinerario a tappe nella storia
Come una partitura musicale…
Il complesso “teodramma” della storia

6. L’itinerario verso la «nuova Gerusalemme»
Come un viaggio nella notte…
L’affidamento completo a Cristo

Bibliografia selezionata sull’Apocalisse
Commentari scientifici e divulgativi
Monografie e miscellanee
Articoli

Indice generale

En este trabajo se da noticia y se estudia por primera vez un manuscrito medieval compuesto por 11 folios que contienen un dossier de profecías, la mayor parte de ellas de origen castellano. Una parte de estos vaticinios se sitúan en la tradición merliniana: algunos corresponden a piezas de las que se conservan otros testimonios (básicamente la traducción al catalán de tres profecías castellanas y el «Apéndice profético» del Baladro del sabio Merlín), pero también hay otros textos desconocidos hasta ahora, o que fueron aprovechados y reescritos en el citado «Apéndice». Se ofrece una relación pormenorizada de los contenidos de este nuevo manuscrito, con transcripción de la mayoría de las piezas y comentario de sus tradiciones. Y se estudian con detenimiento la Profecía cerca de la ciudad de Londres y la Visión de Alfonso X, explorando sus relaciones e implicaciones.

JBL 137.3 (2018): 555-79.

The postmodern turn in the humanities is now at a point that requires response and revision to some deconstructionist trends. As a case study, this article examines the inversion principle formulated by Claude Lévi-Strauss against Yair Zakovitch’s analysis of mirror narratives through three examples. In the first example, the mirror narratives of two destructions in Genesis are shown to be better explained by the inversion principle. The second example considers aspects of the Mesopotamian flood hero Utnapishtim that have been divided in subsequent Jewish traditions between Enoch and Noah. The third example considers the transformation of the myth of the sacrificial son in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. These three examples lead to the following conclusions: (1) that other myths, particularly in Genesis, should be reconsidered in light of the inversion principle; (2) that this principle is crucial for the reception history of biblical narratives, as seen in the development of the figure of the flood hero in Second Temple Judaism; and (3) that intentional adaptations are equally susceptible to the subconscious structural changes that occur in the intercultural journeys of myth, as described by Lévi-Strauss.

This essay reappraises the origins of French Quakerism based on new archival research conducted on both sides of the Channel. It identifies 34 Quaker missionaries in 17th- and early 18C France, sheds new light on the French reception of Quakerism and suggests possible connections with non-violent, charismatic movements in Languedoc.

Der Gesandte Muhammad gilt für Muslime als nachzuahmende, schönste Vorbildfigur in Bezug auf die religiöse Praxis und für alltägliche Lebenssituationen. Auch im Islamischen Religionsunterricht soll und wird er eine zentrale Rolle spielen.

Die Verehrung Muhammads reicht von einer reinen Vorbildfunktion bis hin zu Formen des Personenkultes. Es braucht eine theologische Reflexion um solchen Überhöhungstendenzen in traditionsgespeisten Prophetendarstellungen entgegenzuwirken. Die Arbeit zeigt unterschiedliche Diskurse traditioneller Apologetik islamischer Prophetie auf, um im Anschluss eine rational verantwortbare Kriteriologie für Propheten und im Besonderen für Muhammad darzulegen. Da Prophetie eng mit der Offenbarungstheologie zusammengedacht wird, wird die Bedeutung Muhammads als Offenbarungsempfänger im Offenbarungsverständnis untersucht.

Die Arbeit würdigt Muhammad in seiner regulativen Funktion und präsentiert ihn als geerdete Prophetengestalt für den Islamischen Religionsunterricht, der v.a. in seiner Menschlichkeit in den Vordergrund gestellt wird. Damit ist dies eine erste an den methodischen Standards moderner westlicher Religionspädagogik orientierte, islamisch-theologisch ausgerichtete Arbeit.

In the 1690s, a series of enthusiastic episodes rocked Pietist circles. Scholars have often pointed to Pietism's "heart religion" to explain these events. This essay demonstrates, however, that such experiences belonged to an older, firmly established cultural pattern in an Early Modern Europe in which a magical world view prevailed. Martin draws on dozens of texts, most previously overlooked by historians of Pietism, that document the continuity of this tradition from the sixteenth century into the Pietist era . She traces the integration of ecstatic events into Pietist conventicles and shows how Pietists adapted and transformed these older patterns to fit the new context of Pietism.

Cette étude propose une lecture de He 10,1-4 basée sur les parallèles séman-tiques et thématiques de ce texte avec la Lex sacra de Sélinonte, le célèbre passage du Phèdre de Platon (244d-245a) sur la folie télestique et le commen-taire à ce dernier texte par Hermias d'Alexandrie. Une phrase de ce même texte de Platon étant souvent citée en rapport à 1 Co 1,25, on peut parler d'un « lieu commun » à l'oeuvre dans les écoles d'origine paulinienne. ABSTRACT We propose a reading of Heb 10:1-4 based on semantic and thematic parallels of this text with the Lex sacra found in Selinunte, the famous passage of the Plato's Phaedrus (244d-245a) on telestic madness, and a comment on this text done by Hermias of Alexandria. Since a sentence from that Plato's text is often cited in relation to 1 Cor 1:25, we can speak of "common place" at work among the Paul's disciples.

Prophecy is rarely a self-executing force. Instead, it is a message about potentiality, an invitation to what can be if we respond appropriately. The hallmark of prophecy, according to Thomas Hobbes, is the miracle. Something extraordinary is required because prophecy not only describes a possible future, it describes as possible a future that otherwise appears unlikely if not unthinkable. While prophecy fires the imagination, its effect relies on the embrace of prophetic possibility, which drives actions towards a particular outcome. However ephemeral in origins then, any prophecy or prognostication that can convince believers of its credibility, becomes the source of real-life effects. Hobbes devoted half of Leviathan to addressing this effect, explaining how it presented obstacles and resources to sovereign authority. By leaving critical questions of prophecy to individual conscience, however, Carl Schmitt believed that Hobbes introduced a fatal flaw into the sovereign order. This paper considers Hobbes’ thinking on the relationship of sovereignty and prophecy, and asks whether Schmitt’s critique really holds. It then considers whether the dynamic that Hobbes identifies with prophecy may have evolved into the language of interest since the seventeenth century.

This chapter explores the oral prophetic culture of several French Protestant movements that emerged in south-eastern France in the aftermath of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. While Huguenots largely dismissed beliefs in prophecy and miracles as “superstitious” and “popish”, intensifying persecution in the 1680s led many to believe that they were living in the end times. Charismatic lay preachers replaced their pastors who had fled abroad and several generations of prophets survived underground in the remote mountains of Languedoc and Dauphiné over the eighteenth century. Their predictions of the relief of the ‘True’ --Protestant-- Church and the fall of Rome circulated in manuscript form and some were even published abroad. This chapter therefore sheds lights on the oral prophetic culture of the clandestine Huguenot community, starting with Isabeau Vincent and the “petits prophètes” of Dauphiné, whose prophecies circulated as far as New England; the French Quaker Daniel Raoux; the Camisards in the Cévennes; Isaac Elzière and the New Zionists; and the Huguenot minister Paul Rabaut. Considering these against the backdrop of other prophetic movements, it argues that the French eighteenth century was prophetic.

Avicenna’s doctrine of prophecy has a “systemic” dimension, since Avicenna deals with this central event of Islam in various disciplines and parts of his works: in psychology (theory of perception, doctrine of locomotion, and noetics), as to its cognitive and operational aspects, and in the three branches of practical philosophy, because of the prophetic foundation of ethical, economical, and political conduct. A further account of prophecy interconnects all these diverse and scattered treatments: it is its discussion in metaphysics, the highest discipline of the system, which conveys the proof of the necessary existence of prophecy. Metaphysics is deputed to provide this proof since it takes “existent qua existent” as its subject-matter and, by considering restricted areas of the scope of “existent”, it grounds the epistemological principles of all the other disciplines. To document at its best the dependence of the accounts of prophecy in psychology and practical philosophy on the metaphysical discussion of it, the present article examines the doctrine of prophecy in Avicenna’s philosophical magnum opus Kitāb al-Šifāʾ (Book of the Cure/Healing), with particular regard to its psychology (Kitāb al-Nafs, Book of the Soul), metaphysics (Ilāhiyyāt, Science of the divine things), and practical philosophy (the appendix on this subject in the last two chapters of the Ilāhiyyāt).

This article juxtaposes Jesus of Nazareth’s ‘provocative one-man street theatre’ in the Jerusalem temple reported in the biblical Gospels (Mark 11:15-19 and parallels) with actress Rachel Griffiths’ ‘art installation, one-woman protest’ at Crown Casino, Melbourne, in 1997. The juxtaposition is undertaken as a means of apprehending in the (post)modern world the radical nature of ancient prophetic symbolic actions (sign-acts) in the Bible, such as Jesus’ temple-action. I consider that Griffiths’ casino-action echoes the style and content of the ancient prophetic symbolic actions.  I suggest that the affronting and offensive style and content of such actions may generate an ‘alienation-effect’ (Brecht) provoking critical engagement with a commonly assumed reality. And in the ‘society of spectacle’ (Debord), in which a revolution against the spectacle can only take the form of spectacle (Baudrillard), the appropriation of powerful images from the Bible may introduce an alternative reality.

Most of the voluminous book of Zohar was written in Spain at the turn of the 13th and 14th centuries. Its texts are written either as homilies or as stories (and very often as a combination of both genres). There are about 350 stories in the Zohar, but about 20 of them combine together into describing the life story and spiritual development of R. Shimeon bar Yochay and his circle (fraternity). These stories are literarily very sophisticated and are characterized by acute messianism.
Here one scene in this biography is described, in which a new novice, R. Hiyya the Great, joins the fraternity. Thus the fraternity consists now of 10 members and is therefore "whole". At the same time R. Hiyya is being rewarded with an awesome mystical experience and is to be considered a prophet, just like all other members.
This article presents a critical edition of this story, based on 28 sources – manuscripts, different printed editions and quotations. It also presents an additional, unknown version of the story, probably an earlier one, which is extant in one manuscript only.
The article begins with detailed introductions which lay special emphasis on literary and theological analysis.

This article explores the socio-linguistic innovations of eighteenth-century German Pietists, a register that they themselves referred to as the "Language of Canaan." This unique sociolect (group language) was but one of many esoteric models of knowledge taken up by Pietists, who styled themselves as "true" Christians and thus adepts who – in contrast to "worldly" contemporaries – could understand the deeper (esoteric) significance of Scriptures and indeed, the semiology of the world itself. The article outlines the cultural and social functions that language fulfilled for the group before tracing Pietists' esoteric views on language back to the literature of Johann Arndt, a Lutheran pastor who was a follower of Paracelsus. Finally, the article presents one case study of Pietists' use of the Language of Canaan to argue for radical social and theological positions.

A critical assessment of the claim that “Yahweh’s holiness governs Ezekiel’s message of judgement and hope.” , and also the significance for Christian ministry.

Upon reading the book of Ezekiel there is little doubt that contained therein is a strong message of judgement followed in the latter part, by a message of hope.  Governing both of these messages is the overarching theme of Yahweh’s awesome and terrifying holiness.  In fact, it could be argued that the primary message of Ezekiel is that Yahweh is holy.  By reflecting on the oracles of judgement and of hope, and by considering the visions of Ezekiel, the emphasis on Yahweh’s holiness and how it governs His message very quickly to surface.  However, the more important concern of this exercise is to seek to understand the significance of this to Christian ministry today.

This contribution is a recension of Janina Maria Hiebel’s, Ezekiel’s Vision Accounts as Interrelated Narratives: A Redaction-Critical and Theological Study, Berlin, de Gruyter (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 475), 2015, that studies the continued vision in the book of Ezekiel (1:1–3:15; 3:22-27; 8:1–11:25; 37:1-14; 40:1–43:12; 44:1-2.4-6; 47:1-12) according to a redactional and theological approach and concludes to its successive rewritings. If there is no doubt that the vision as the book itself is not the work of a unique scribe, however one may question the systematic subdivisions of the text in light of its coherence. This note seeks to pursue a methodological debate concerning the legitimacy of a practice claimed historical when it separates texts and contexts.