Prophecy

The title of this article is ambiguous. For other meanings, see Prophecy (disambiguation).

In religious contexts, prophecy is the proclamation of messages by prophets, inspired by or commissioned by God or a deity. Prophets are people who see themselves called to this service by God or a deity. In the scientific context, the phenomena prophet and prophecy are usually treated under the term prophecy. Prophecy is the generic term for collected oral or written prophecies, usually of an individual. This term derives from ancient Greek propheteía 'to utter, to testify, or to speak for someone' (φηµί phēmí, German 'I speak'; pro 'for, out of, in place of'). In the context of prophecy, the phenomena of promise, prophecy or divination can also be located.

Colloquially, prophecy usually means a forecast of events in the future.

Prophecies occur in many religions in a wide variety of contexts, on different occasions and due to different ways of receiving the prophesied message. The ancient Oriental cults know manifold kinds of oracles, regular questionings at sacrificial sites or before battles, ecstatic exceptional messages, dream visions, mediums interpreted as prophecy such as animal organs, bird flight, rapture, or audition, etc. Classical scriptural prophecy in Judaism, however, hardly knows such forms. Here, as a rule, a calling of a prophet by the God of Israel forms the starting point of word messages that refer to the history of Israel as a whole. In Christianity, prophecies have been mentioned since the early church in Jerusalem. Subsequently, prophecies have become a popular topic of literature.

In the historical sciences, a prophecy is also called a vaticinium (plural "vaticinia"; from Latin vates "diviner", "prophet"). In particular, prophecies after the fact are called vaticinium ex eventu.

Prophecy

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