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Chapter 72: PROPHECY

INTRODUCTION

THE name of prophet signifies, throughout a great part of the western tradition, an eminence and dignity not shared by the scientist, the philosopher, the statesman, or even the sage. The soothsayer and the seer in pagan antiquity and the prophet of the Lord in Israel do not claim to speak from a merely human wisdom or to declare truths they have learned by inquiry or reflection. Nor are their utterances concerned with the nature of things. The prophet claims to know what men cannot know by any exercise of human powers. He enjoys special gifts. He is divinely inspired. He is instructed by God or has in some way been admitted to the secrets of the gods. His knowledge is not only of supernatural origin; it deals with supernatural matters.

Prophecy is more than a prediction of the future. It unveils what Fate holds in store for men; it foretells the course of providence. In most cases, the future predicted has deep moral significance, expressing the pleasure or displeasure of the gods with individuals or nations, or manifesting God’s justice in the rewards promised those who keep His commandments, and the punishments awaiting those who break them. The prophet’s foresight discerns more than the future; it discovers what men can hope for or must fear according to their merits, not in the eyes of men but in the sight of God.

This understanding of prophecy seems to be involved in the major issues which the great books raise about prophets. For example, the problem of distinguishing between true and false prophets goes beyond the mere truth or falsity of a prophet’s utterances to the validity of his claim to special sources of knowledge or a supernaturally inspired understanding of dreams and visions, omens and portents. The false prophet is not like the mistaken scientist or philosopher—just a person in error. He is either a deceiving impostor or a self-deceived victim of his own pathology.

Similarly, the Christian theologians who criticize the pagan cult of oracles and all forms of divination which seek to pry into divine mysteries, seem to imply that the seers and soothsayers of Greece and Rome, unlike the Hebrew prophets, did not have the gift of prophecy. The acceptance or rejection of prophets and of ways of foreseeing what has been planned in Heaven cannot, it seems, be separated from a whole system of religious beliefs. In this respect, prophets are like miracles. Without faith, both are incredible. “There be two marks,” writes Hobbes, “by which together, not asunder, a true Prophet is to be known. One is the doing of miracles; the other is the not teaching any other religion than that which is already established.” In Hobbes’ view, that there be a religion already established among a people is the one indispensable condition for their reception of prophets or their experience of miracles.

Issues concerning prophecy may, therefore, occur within a single religious community, or be relative to differences between religious communities, as, for example, the opposition between the Jewish and Christian interpretation of the messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. Necessarily, then, there is an issue between the unbelievers and the religious of any faith. Those who deny the existence of God or the gods, or divine agency in the temporal affairs of men, and certainly those who deny the credentials of revelation, cannot but regard prophets as misled and misleading and those who accept prophecy as gullible or superstitious. In the pagan tradition, a philosopher like Aristotle may, however, be critical of divination, and an historian like Thucydides may cast doubt on oracles, without discrediting all other religious beliefs or being themselves atheists.

Some who reject religious prophecy do not concede that man’s natural desire to peer into the future need be completely balked. But the secular substitutes for religious prophecy appear to alter the meaning of prophecy. Scientific predictions of the future of the world or of life on this planet (as, for example, those which occur in the writings of Lucretius or Darwin) may be accompanied by attributions of moral qualities to Nature, but usually they connote Nature’s sublime indifference to man’s welfare. They are seldom, if ever, read as promises or threats of what man deserves to have befall him.

Similarly, historians turned prophets, or philosophers of history who, like Spengler, prophesy decline and doom, do not exhort men to avert disaster, as do the prophets of the Old Testament. Nor do those who, like Hegel and Marx, foresee the ultimate goal toward which events inevitably march, urge men to prepare themselves for it as do the prophecies of the New Testament, which speak of the second coming of Christ. Secular prophecies which bespeak the inevitable operation of necessary causes are, in this respect, like pagan previsions of Fate. At most, they leave man only the illusion of free choice. Jewish and Christian prophecy, in contrast, addresses man as a responsible agent, who, even when he knows something of God’s will, remains free to will good or evil for himself. If, according to the theologians, divine providence or predestination does not abolish human freedom, neither does prophetic knowledge of the divine plan.

These matters are discussed elsewhere—secular prophecy in the chapters on HISTORY and PROGRESS, and the problem of foreknowledge and freedom in the chapters on FATE and NECESSITY AND CONTINGENCY.

IN PAGAN ANTIQUITY, prophecy does not seem to be confined to men especially appointed by the gods. The gods themselves foretell the future to men. When people wish to know the future, they go or send emissaries to the temple at Delphi over which a goddess, the Pythoness, presides. The institution of the oracles, of which Delphi is perhaps the most illustrious example, leaves foresight in the hands of the gods; for, as most of the anecdotes in Herodotus and Thucydides show, only the Pythoness herself knows unequivocally the meaning of her oracular utterances.

To men is left the task of interpreting what the oracle means. The pagan unlike the Hebrew prophet seems to be a man of skill in penetrating the secrets of the gods—a skill which may itself be divinely bestowed—but he is not a man to whom the gods have spoken plainly, so that he may in turn unerringly advise others. “No man, when in his wits,” according to Plato, “attains prophetic truth and inspiration.”

There are passages in the Greek poets and historians which seem to suggest that the gods begrudge men too clear a vision of the future, and may even on occasion mislead them or at least permit them to be misled. In Aeschylus’ play, Prometheus declares that “because he gave to men gifts claimed by the gods,” he is “bound in durance here.” He gave them radiant fire, the mechanical arts; he “took from men the expectancy of Death”; he gave them medicines and healing drugs. Last in his own enumeration and in a sense most significant, he endowed men with the divine gift of foresight.

“I drew clear lines for divination,” Prometheus says, “and discerned (before all others) what from dreams is sure to come to pass in waking. I disclosed the mysteries of omen-bringing words, and pathway tokens, and made plain the flight of taloned birds, both of good augury and adverse … I cleared the way for mortals to an art hard of discernment, and made bright and clear fire-auguries, heretofore obscure and blind.”

The chorus questions whether “the power of creatures creeping for an hour” shall by wisdom overpass the bounds set for their little lives by “the mind of Zeus.” Does the wisdom of foreknowledge, gained through the arts of divination, give men strength to resist the will of the gods or to struggle against them?

Prometheus himself is the answer to the question. The power he wields over Zeus, which Zeus tries to wrest from him by bribes and threats and by the infliction of titanic pain, is the foreknowledge which Prometheus possesses of the doom to befall the son of Kronos. No threat of Zeus will get him to divulge it, Prometheus says, because “nought can surprise me who foreknow … Nought in his power shall bend me to reveal whom Fate prepares to work his overthrow.”

A myth which Socrates relates in the Gorgias appears to contain a sequel to the legend as told by Aeschylus. It also seems to confirm the point that foresight is a divine privilege in which men should not share, lest they become too god-like. According to the myth, Zeus, in order to prevent men from evading the divine judgment, says: “In the first place, I will deprive men of the foreknowledge of death; this power which they have, Prometheus has already received my orders to take from them.”

The oracles never make the future so plain that men can act with a foreknowledge equal to that possessed by the gods, but sometimes oracular utterances seem to be contrived not merely to veil the future, but to lead men astray. Herodotus tells the story of Miltiades who, on the advice of Timo, a priestess of the goddesses of the underworld, acted in a way which brought him to grief. When the Parians sent to Delphi to ask whether Timo should be punished for this, the Pythoness forbade them, saying, “Timo was not at fault; ’twas decreed that Miltiades should come to an unhappy end; and she was sent to lure him to his destruction.”

There is also the story, told by Thucydides, of Cylon who, inquiring at Delphi, was told to seize the Acropolis of Athens on the grand festival of Zeus. This, too, turned into a disastrous misadventure, apparently because, as Thucydides observes, “whether the grand festival that was meant was in Attica or elsewhere was a question he never thought of, and which the oracle did not offer to solve.”

For the most part, however, the calamities which befall men who seek guidance from the oracle seem to be due to their own misinterpretation of the Delphic deliverance, itself always admittedly difficult to understand. Herodotus and Thucydides abound with such stories, and also with instances in which the same oracular statement is given conflicting interpretations, one of which must be wrong. Nevertheless, Herodotus declares himself unwilling “to say that there is no truth in prophecies,” and he is certainly not willing to question “those which speak with clearness.” Giving an example of a clear prediction, he adds, “When I look to this, and perceive how clearly Bacis spoke, I neither venture myself to say anything against prophecies, nor do I approve of others impugning them.”

Thucydides appears to take a contrary view. He singles out one example as “an instance of faith in oracles being for once justified by the event.” He puts into the speech of the Athenians at the Melian Conference the warning not to “be like the vulgar, who, abandoning such security as human means may still afford, when visible hopes fail them in extremity, turn to invisible, to prophecies and oracles, and other such inventions that delude men with hopes to their destruction.”

THE PROBLEM OF THE reliability of prophecies, and of the faith or credulity of those who rely upon them, applies not only to oracles, but also to dreams or visions, and to omens and portents of all sorts. Two stories about Croesus, told by Herodotus, show that oracles and dreams can be equally ambiguous and are equally liable to misinterpretation. Croesus dreamed that his son Atys would die by the blow of an iron weapon. Subsequently when Atys wished to go boar hunting with Adrastus, he persuaded Croesus that the dream could not have been a warning against this undertaking because a boar does not have hands to strike with, nor does it wield iron weapons. But during the hunt Atys was killed by the spear which Adrastus intended for the boar.

On another occasion, Croesus inquired of Delphi how long his kingdom would last. The Pythoness answered, in effect, until “a mule is monarch in Media.” This not only pleased him because “it seemed incredible to him that a mule should ever become king of the Medes,” but also gave him confidence when he engaged in war with the Medes and Persians, led by Cyrus. The war ended in his defeat and capture but, according to Herodotus, he had no right to complain of the oracle because “he had misunderstood the answer which had been given him about the mule. Cyrus was that mule; for the parents of Cyrus were of different races and of different kinds”—his mother a Median princess, his father a Persian subject.

The attitude of the ancients toward these various instruments of prophecy or divination does not seem to be consistent or constant. Herodotus reports at one place how Xerxes, “despising the omens,” carried out his plans against their forebodings; and at another how an eclipse of the moon, being interpreted as of good omen, rejoiced Xerxes who, “thus instructed, proceeded on his way with great gladness of heart.” And again, when Xerxes reports to Artabanus the advice—concerning his war against the Greeks—which he received from a dream apparition, Artabanus scoffs, saying, “Such things, my son, have of truth nothing divine in them. … Whatever a man has been thinking of during the day, is wont to hover round him in the visions of his dreams at night.” But when Artabanus himself experiences the same apparition which had occurred to Xerxes in his dream and, in addition to giving the same advice, the vision threatens him, Artabanus changes his mind about dreams and reverses his policy with regard to the expedition against Greece.

“As to the divination which takes place in sleep, and is said to be based on dreams,” Aristotle writes, “we cannot lightly either dismiss it with contempt or give it implicit confidence.” Nevertheless, he himself seems to conclude that most so-called prophetic dreams are “to be classed as mere coincidences”; and that “dreams are not sent by God, nor are they designed for this purpose,” i.e., foretelling the future. One proof that they are not sent by God is, in his opinion, the fact that the persons having them “are not the best and wisest but merely commonplace persons.” The fact that “the power of foreseeing the future and of having vivid dreams is found in persons of inferior type implies that God does not send them.”

THE CHRISTIAN THEOLOGIANS, distinguishing between prophecy and divination, condemn the latter as a kind of presumption or impiety. Though their criticism seems to be directed especially against astrology, it applies to the interpretation of terrestrial as well as celestial signs. Augustine refers to “the lying divinations and impious dotages of the astrologers,” and Aquinas explains how the astrologers are able to foretell things in a general way without attributing to them any genuinely prophetic power.

In his consideration of the difference between true and false religion, Hobbes goes further than the theologians in condemning “the innumerable other superstitious ways of divination,” such as “the ambiguous or senseless answers of the priests at Delphi, Delos, Ammon, and other famous oracles,” or “the prediction of witches that pretended conference with the dead, which is called necromancy, conjuring, and witchcraft, and is but juggling and confederate knavery,” or, in general, the recourse to omens, portents, and dreams for purposes of prognostication.

That the things Hobbes calls superstitious are not confined to pagan antiquity is manifest in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. The witches and the omens there are like the soothsayers and the portents in Julius Caesar; and Macbeth’s misunderstanding of “’til Birnam Forest come to Dunsinane” is as fatal as Croesus’ reliance on “until a mule is monarch in Media.”

In one other respect, pagan and Christian cultures seem to exhibit a certain parallelism with regard to the belief in supernatural foreknowledge. The spirits of the departed, in the Odyssey and the Aeneid, are able to inform the visitor to the underworld of coming events on earth. They speak plainly and with perfect prescience. The veil which hides the future from mortal eyes has been lifted. So, too, the damned souls and the blessed foretell future things to Dante, no less accurately though less extensively than, in Paradise Lost, the archangel Michael unfolds to Adam the whole future history of mankind.

But so far as the foreknowledge of mortal men is concerned, the Hebrew prophets seem to be unique. Unlike pagan diviners or soothsayers, they do not probe the future in order to help men anticipate the turns of fortune or the lines of fate. They do not have to employ arts or devices for penetrating divine secrets. God speaks to them directly and, through them, to the Chosen People. For the most part their prophetic speeches, unlike those of the oracles, seem to be unambiguous. At least the intention seems to be to reveal, not to conceal, God’s plan on such matters as He Himself wishes men to foresee the course of providence.

Where pagan prognosticators may claim to be divinely inspired in the sense of having special powers of interpretation, the Hebrew prophets speak from a different kind of supernatural inspiration. They are the vessels through which the Lord Himself speaks. They are interpreters only in that they make known to others what God has made known to them.

The content of the divine communication is seldom exclusively a foretelling of the future. It is often accompanied by instruction concerning the actions to be performed by the Jewish people—the direction of their conduct toward the Promised Land or the rebuilding of the Temple. Sometimes when the prophecy is one of doom rather than of hope, as in the case of the destruction of Jerusalem, the Babylonian captivity, or the dispersion of Israel, the prediction of the future is accompanied by moral instruction of another sort—the lessons of the Law which the Jews have forsaken, meriting thereby the punishments the prophets foresee.

Mere prognostication does not seem to be the chief purpose of Hebrew prophecy. Just as the Covenant which God makes with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob consecrates the Jewish people to a special mission; just as the Law which God hands down through Moses sets them apart from the Gentiles and prescribes for them the way of righteousness and sanctity; so the revelations of God’s providence through the prophets tend to remind the Chosen People of the meaning of the Covenant and the Law as well as to disclose their destiny as a nation.

The prophets speak not only of the future, but of the present and the past. They are divinely appointed teachers, no less than the patriarchs and Moses. Yet they may rank below Moses (who is sometimes also regarded as a prophet) by reason of the manner in which they are addressed by God. As Hobbes points out, “God himself in express words declareth that to other prophets he spake in dreams and visions, but to his servant Moses, in such manner as a man speaketh to his friend”—face to face.

The content of Hebrew prophecy, in short, seems to be continuous with the rest of God’s revelation of Himself to His Chosen People. The difference between the prophets as the instruments of God’s teaching and the pagan philosophers as merely human teachers seems to Augustine plainly shown by the agreement of the prophets with one another and by their continuity with Moses and the patriarchs; whereas Augustine can find nothing but disagreement and dissension among even the best teachers of the pagans. Among them, false teachers or prophets seem to be accorded the same recognition and to attract the same following as true.

“But that nation,” Augustine writes, “that people, that city, that republic, these Israelites, to whom the oracles of God were entrusted, by no means confounded with similar license false prophets with the true prophets; but, agreeing together, and differing in nothing, acknowledged and upheld the authentic authors of their sacred books. These were their philosophers, these were their sages, divines, prophets, and teachers of probity and piety. Whoever was wise and lived according to them was wise and lived, not according to men, but according to God who hath spoken to them.”

Hobbes also conceives the prophets of the Old Testament as more than foretellers of the future. “The name of prophet,” he writes, “signifies in Scripture sometimes prolocutor; that is, he that speaketh from God to man, or from man to God; and sometimes predictor, or a foreteller of things to come.” In addition to their being divinely appointed teachers, the prophets, according to Hobbes, seem to perform a political function. They check the power of the kings, or seek to awaken their consciences to the dictates of justice and mercy. “Through the whole history of the kings, as well of Judah as of Israel, there were prophets that always controlled the kings for transgressing the religion; and sometimes also for errors of state.”

A secular view of the Hebrew prophets seems to give prominence to their political role in the theocratic community of the Jews. Comparing the Jewish state with other sacerdotal societies, Mill observes that “neither their kings nor their priests ever obtained, as in those other countries, the exclusive moulding of their character. Their religion … gave existence to an inestimably precious unorganized institution—the Order (if it may be so termed) of the Prophets. Under the protection, generally though not always effectual, of their sacred character, the Prophets were a power in the nation, often more than a match for kings and priests, and kept up, in that little corner of the earth, the antagonism of influences which is the only real security for continued progress.”

AS THERE IS A BODY of prophetic doctrine in the Old Testament, so the religion of the Gospels contains a number of prophetic beliefs peculiar to Christian doctrine. Such, for example, is the prophecy of the second coming of Christ, the prophecy of the Last Judgment on that occasion, and the prophecy of a final conflagration to cleanse the world, which will precede the resurrection of the body as that in turn precedes the general judgment of souls.

Aquinas discusses the various signs which will foretell the imminence of these events. He also raises the question whether the time of the end of the world and of the resurrection can be known exactly. On this he agrees with Augustine that “that time is hidden from men.” It cannot be calculated by natural reason, nor is it revealed. “Of that day and hour,” it is written in Matthew, “no one knoweth, no, not the angels of heaven.” When the apostles asked Christ about His second coming, He answered, according to Saint Paul, “It is not for you to know the times or moments which the Father hath put in His own power.”

What Christ refused to tell the apostles, Aquinas adds, “He will not reveal to others. Wherefore all those who have been misled to reckon the aforesaid time have so far proved to be untruthful; for some, as Augustine says, stated from our Lord’s ascension to His last coming 400 years would elapse, others 500, others 1,000. The falseness of these calculators is evident, as will likewise be the falseness of those who even now cease not to calculate.”

The single greatest prophecy in the Judaeo-Christian tradition is, perhaps, the messianic prophecy—the foretelling of a Messiah or of a messianic age. The prediction of a Messiah or Saviour, who shall be born of the house of David and shall be king of the Jews, runs throughout the prophetic books of the Old Testament, though with different degrees of explicitness and varying imagery in Daniel and Jeremiah, in Isaiah and Ezekiel.

“The Lord himself shall give you a sign,” says Isaiah. “Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. … For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given,” Isaiah goes on, “and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace, there shall be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom, to order it and to establish it with justice from henceforth even for ever.”

And Jeremiah tells his people, “Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch and a King shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth. In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely.”

Two of the great issues between the Jewish and Christian faiths concern these messianic prophecies in the Old Testament. One arises from opposite interpretations of the event predicted—a messianic age in which the kingdom of the Jews will be established on earth in perpetual righteousness and glory, or the coming to earth of God’s only begotten son, incarnate in human form, for the salvation of all mankind. The other arises from opposite answers to the question whether the prediction—on either interpretation—has been fulfilled.

It is, of course, the Christian view that the prophets foretold the coming of Christ and that their prophecy has been fulfilled. But more than that, Christian apologists and theologians seem to make the fulfillment of Hebrew prophecies, interpreted as foreshadowing the truths of the Christian religion, a source of verification for these truths.

The difference between Jesus Christ and Mahomet, according to Pascal, is that “Mahomet was not foretold; Jesus Christ was foretold. I see many contradictory religions, and consequently all false save one,” he writes. “Each wants to be believed on its own authority, and threatens unbelievers. I do not therefore believe them. Everyone can say this; everyone can call himself a prophet. But I see the Christian religion wherein prophecies are fulfilled; and that is what everyone cannot do.”

And in another place Pascal declares that “the prophecies are the strongest proof of Jesus Christ. … If one man alone had made a book of predictions about Jesus Christ, as to the time and manner, and Jesus Christ had come in conformity to these prophecies, this fact would have infinite weight. But there is much more here. Here is a succession of men during four thousand years, who, consequently and without variation, come, one after another, to foretell this same event.”

Centuries earlier Augustine writes in a similar vein. The Hebrew people as a whole are chosen to perform this prophetic function—to foretell, “sometimes through men who understood what they spake, and sometimes through men who understood not, all that has transpired since the advent of Christ until now, and all that will transpire.” Not only the explicit “prophecies which are contained in words,” but all the rituals and ceremonies, the offices and institutions, of the Jewish religion prefigure Christianity, signifying and fore-announcing “those things which we who believe in Jesus Christ unto eternal life believe to have been fulfilled, or behold in process of fulfillment, or confidently believe shall yet be fulfilled.”

OUTLINE OF TOPICS

  1. The nature and power of prophecy 1a. Prophecy as the reading of fate, the foretelling of fortune, the beholding of the future 1b. Prophecy as supernaturally inspired foresight into the course of providence 1c. Prophecy as the instrument of providence: prophets as moral teachers and political reformers 1d. The religious significance of the fulfillment of prophecy
  2. The vocation of prophecy: the possession of foreknowledge 2a. The foreknowledge possessed by the spirits in the afterworld 2b. The political office of prophecy: priests, soothsayers, oracles 2c. The Hebraic conception of the prophetic vocation: the law and the prophets; Christ as prophet
  3. The varieties of prophecy and the instruments of divination 3a. The institution of oracles: the interpretation of oracular or prophetic utterances 3b. Omens and portents: celestial and terrestrial signs; signs as confirmations of prophecy 3c. Dreams, visions, visitations 3d. Prophecy by the direct word of God
  4. Particular prophecies of hope and doom 4a. The Covenant and the Promised Land 4b. The destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of Israel: the restoration of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple 4c. The coming of a Messiah: Hebraic and Christian readings of messianic prophecy 4d. The second coming of the Lord: the Day of Judgment, the end of the world, and the millennium
  5. The criticism and rejection of prophecy: the distinction between true and false prophecy; the condemnation of astrology and divination as impiety or superstition

REFERENCES

Bible References: The references are to book, chapter, and verse. When the King James and Douay versions differ in title of books or in the numbering of chapters or verses, the King James version is cited first and the Douay, indicated by a (D), follows; e.g., OLD TESTAMENT: Nehemiah, 7:45—(D) II Esdras, 7:46.

Symbols: The abbreviation esp calls the reader’s attention to one or more especially relevant parts of a whole reference; passim signifies that the topic is discussed intermittently rather than continuously in the work or passage cited.

1. The nature and power of prophecy

1a. Prophecy as the reading of fate, the foretelling of fortune, the beholding of the future

  • AESCHYLUS: Persians [739-842] / Seven Against Thebes [1-38] / Prometheus Bound [88-114]; [907-940] / Agamemnon [104-159]; [248-254]; [1072-1342]
  • ARISTOTLE: Rhetoric, BK I, CH 15 [1375b35-1376a2]
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK XIX, CH 22
  • EPICTETUS: Discourses, BK I, CH 17
  • EURIPIDES: Trojan Women [308-461] / Electra [1233-1359] / Phoenician Maidens [834-1018] / Iphigenia Among the Tauri [1234-1283]
  • FREUD: New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • GOETHE: Faust, PART I [8094-8133]
  • HEGEL: The Philosophy of History, PART I
  • HERODOTUS: History, BK I; BK III; BK VI; BK VII; BK VIII; BK IX
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART II
  • HOMER: Iliad, BK XVI [843-861]; BK XVIII [94-137]; BK XXII [355-366] / Odyssey, BK X [487-540]; BK XI [90-137]; BK XIV [321-336]; BK XIX [291-307]
  • MELVILLE: Moby Dick
  • PLATO: Phaedrus / Symposium / Apology / Gorgias / Timaeus
  • PLUTARCH: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Romulus / Numa Pompilius / Poplicola / Pericles / Fabius / Marcellus / Sulla / Lucullus / Caesar / Tiberius Gracchus / Demosthenes
  • SHAKESPEARE: Macbeth, ACT I, SC III; ACT IV, SC I; ACT V, SC VIII [9-22] / Cymbeline, ACT V, SC V [426-475]
  • SOPHOCLES: Oedipus the King [300-512] / Oedipus at Colonus [1348-1555] / Antigone [988-1114] / Ajax [745-783] / Trachiniae [155-177]; [821-830] / Philoctetes [604-619]; [1326-1347]; [1408-1444]
  • VIRGIL: Eclogues, IV / Aeneid, BK I [223-304]; BK VIII [608-731]

1b. Prophecy as supernaturally inspired foresight into the course of providence

  • APOCRYPHA: Ecclesiasticus, 42:19; 48:22-25—(D) OT, Ecclesiasticus, 42:18-19; 48:25-28
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART I, Q 12, A 11, ANS; A 13, ANS; Q 57, A 3, REP 1 / PART III, Q 7, A 8, ANS and REP 2; Q 26, A 1, REP 1
  • ARISTOTLE: On Prophesying by Dreams, CH 1 [462b20-26]; CH 2 [463b11-23]; [464a19-23]
  • AUGUSTINE: Confessions, BK XI, PAR 25 / City of God, BK VII, CH 30; BK X, CH 25; BK XI, CH 4; BK XIX, CH 22
  • DANTE: The Divine Comedy, HELL, XV [1-99]; PURGATORY, XXII [55-93]; XXIV [76-93]; XXXII [22-90]; PARADISE, IX esp [61-63]; XVII; XXVII [10-66]; [121-148]
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART I; PART II; PART III
  • HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, SECT X, DIV 101
  • MILTON: On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity [1-7] / Paradise Lost, BK II [183-193]; BK XI-XII esp BK XI [656-775], [802-834], BK XII [235-248], [315-330]
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 2:3-6; 3:1-3; 10:18-20 / Mark, 1:7-8; 6:1-4 / Luke, 1:67-79; 2:25-26; 4:22-24; 16:14-16 / John, 1:6-8, 15-27; 8:51-53 / Acts, 2:17-18; 3:20-24; 19:1-7 / Ephesians, 2:19-22; 3:3-6 / II Peter, 1:19-21
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus, 4:10-17 / Numbers, 11:16-17, 24-30; 12:1-9; 22:35-23:26 passim / Deuteronomy, 18:18 / I Samuel, 10:1-13; 28:15-20—(D) I Kings, 10:1-13; 28:15-20 / II Samuel, 7:4-16—(D) II Kings, 7:4-16 / I Kings, 13:1-2, 32; 14:1-16; 16:1-4; 17:13-16; 19:15-18; 20:13-14, 22, 28, 35-42; 21:17-24, 28-29—(D) III Kings, 13:1-2, 32; 14:1-16; 16:1-4; 17:13-16; 19:15-18; 20:13-14, 22, 28, 35-42; 21:17-24, 28-29 / II Kings, 1-2; 7:1-2, 17-20; 8:1, 7-15; 9:30-10:17; 19:1-7, 20-21, 28-33, 37; 20:1-6, 14-19; 22:14-20—(D) IV Kings, 1-2; 7:1-2, 17-20; 8:1, 7-15; 9:30-10:17; 19:1-7, 20-21, 28-33, 37; 20:1-6, 14-19; 22:14-20 / I Chronicles, 17:7-15—(D) I Paralipomenon, 17:7-15 / II Chronicles, 15:1-8; 18:4-16, 31-34; 20:14-16, 37; 21:12-20; 34:22-28; 36:15-23—(D) II Paralipomenon, 15:1-8; 18:4-16, 31-34; 20:14-16, 37; 21:12-20; 34:22-28; 36:15-23 / Isaiah passim, esp 46:9-10—(D) Isaias passim, esp 46:9-10 / Jeremiah passim, esp 1, 7:25-26—(D) Jeremias passim, esp 1, 7:25-26 / Ezekiel, 1-39 passim—(D) Ezechiel, 1-39 passim / Daniel, 2 esp 2:36-45; 4:4-8, 24-37; 5:25-31; 7-8; 9:20-27; 11-12—(D) Daniel, 2 esp 2:36-45; 4:1-4, 21-34; 5:25-31; 7-8; 9:20-27; 11-12 / Hosea passim—(D) Osee passim / Joel, 2-3 esp 2:28-29 / Amos passim, esp 3:7-8 / Jonah, 3—(D) Jonas, 3 / Micah passim—(D) Micheas passim / Nahum passim / Habakkuk passim—(D) Habacuc passim / Zephaniah passim—(D) Sophonias passim / Haggai, 2—(D) Aggeus, 2 / Zechariah passim, esp 8:9—(D) Zacharias passim, esp 8:9 / Malachi passim—(D) Malachias passim
  • PLATO: Timaeus

1c. Prophecy as the instrument of providence: prophets as moral teachers and political reformers

  • APOCRYPHA: Ecclesiasticus, 36:15-16—(D) OT, Ecclesiasticus, 36:17-18 / Baruch, 2:20-21—(D) OT, Baruch, 2:20-21
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART III, Q 26, A 1, REP 1
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK XVII, esp CH 1, CH 3, CH 24
  • DANTE: The Divine Comedy, PURGATORY, XXXII [22-90]; PARADISE, IX esp [61-63]; XVII; XXI [103] - XXII [18]; XXVII [10-66]; [121-148]
  • FREUD: Civilization and Its Discontents
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HEGEL: The Philosophy of History, PART IV
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART II; PART III
  • MELVILLE: Moby Dick
  • MILL: On Representative Government
  • MILTON: Paradise Lost, BK III [167-193]; BK XI [656-749]; [802-834]; BK XII [235-248]; [315-330]
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 22:36-40 / Luke, 11:48-50; 16:14-16 / Acts, 9:3-16; 26:13-18 / I Corinthians, 14
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus, 3:6-15; 4:10-17; 6:13, 28-30; 7-12 passim; 24; 31:18; 34:1-4 / Numbers, 11:11-17 / Deuteronomy, 4:14-29; 7-11 passim; 18:15-19; 28-30 / Joshua, 3:7-8; 4:14; 23-24—(D) Josue, 3:7-8; 4:14; 23-24 / Judges, 6:7-10 / I Samuel, 2:27-36; 8:10-18, 22; 10:1-8; 12:6-25; 13:11-14; 15:1—(D) I Kings, 2:27-36; 8:10-18, 22; 10:1-8; 12:6-25; 13:11-14; 15:1 / II Samuel, 7:4-17; 12:1-14; 24:10-14—(D) II Kings, 7:4-17; 12:1-14; 24:10-14 / I Kings, 14:5-16; 17-19; 20:13-14, 22, 35-42; 21:17-24; 22:1-23—(D) III Kings, 14:5-16; 17-19; 20:13-14, 22, 35-42; 21:17-24; 22:1-23 / II Kings, 1-2; 3:14-20; 5:1-19; 9:1-10; 17:9-14, 23; 19:1-7, 20-37; 20; 21:10-15; 22:14-20; 24:1-4—(D) IV Kings, 1-2; 3:14-20; 5:1-19; 9:1-10; 17:9-14, 23; 19:1-7, 20-37; 20; 21:10-15; 22:14-20; 24:1-4 / I Chronicles, 17:3-15; 21:9-13, 18-19—(D) I Paralipomenon, 17:3-15; 21:9-13, 18-19 / II Chronicles, 11:2-4; 15:1-8; 16:7-10; 18:4-22; 19:2-3; 20:14-16; 21:12-15; 25:5-10, 14-16; 28:8-15; 34:22-33; 36:14-16—(D) II Paralipomenon, 11:2-4; 15:1-8; 16:7-10; 18:4-22; 19:2-3; 20:14-16; 21:12-15; 25:5-10, 14-16; 28:8-15; 34:22-33; 36:14-16 / Ezra, 9:10-11—(D) I Esdras, 9:10-11 / Nehemiah, 9:30—(D) II Esdras, 9:30 / Isaiah passim, esp 1:10-23, 2:10-22, 5:8-13, 5:20-25, 6:1-13, 10:1-2, 28:1-29, 30:1, 30:8-14, 32:1-33:24, 37:1-7, 37:21-38, 38:4-8, 49:1-12, 56:1-59:21, 61:1-3, 65:1-25—(D) Isaias passim, esp 1:10-23, 2:10-22, 5:8-13, 5:20-25, 6:1-13, 10:1-2, 28:1-29, 30:1, 30:8-14, 32:1-33:24, 37:1-7, 37:21-38, 38:4-8, 49:1-12, 56:1-59:21, 61:1-3, 65:1-25 / Jeremiah esp 1, 5:14, 7:25-26, 11:1-10, 16:1-13, 17:19-20, 19:1-15, 25:4-6, 25:15-30, 26:1-24, 28:1-17, 29:15-19, 35:15, 44:4—(D) Jeremias esp 1, 5:14, 7:25-26, 11:1-10, 16:1-13, 17:19-20, 19:1-15, 25:4-6, 25:15-30, 26:1-24, 28:1-17, 29:15-19, 35:15, 44:4 / Ezekiel, 1-39 passim, esp 2:1-3:27, 11:1-5, 12:8-20, 21:1-17, 33:33-34:6, 35:1-36:7—(D) Ezechiel, 1-39 passim, esp 2:1-3:27, 11:1-5, 12:8-20, 21:1-17, 33:33-34:6, 35:1-36:7 / Hosea passim, esp 6:4-6, 12:9-10—(D) Osee passim, esp 6:4-6, 12:9-10 / Joel, 1:1; 2:12-14 / Amos passim, esp 3:7-8, 5:1-27, 7:14-17 / Jonah, 3—(D) Jonas, 3 / Micah passim, esp 3:8—(D) Micheas passim, esp 3:8 / Nahum passim / Habakkuk passim—(D) Habacuc passim / Zephaniah passim—(D) Sophonias passim / Haggai—(D) Aggeus / Zechariah, 1:1-6; 7:8-14; 8:16-17—(D) Zacharias, 1:1-6; 7:8-14; 8:16-17 / Malachi passim, esp 4:5-6—(D) Malachias passim, esp 4:5-6
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 732-733

1d. The religious significance of the fulfillment of prophecy

  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART II-II, Q 5, A 2, ANS
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK VII, CH 32; BK X, CH 32; BK XV, CH 26; BK XVI, CH 2; CH 37-42; BK XVII, esp CH 3; BK XVIII, CH 11; CH 23; CH 26-36; CH 44-54; BK XIX, CH 22; BK XX, CH 4; CH 21; CH 28-30; BK XXII, CH 3
  • DOSTOYEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov, BK V
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART I; PART II; PART III; PART IV
  • HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, SECT X, DIV 101
  • MILTON: On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity [1-7] / Paradise Lost, BK III [167-193]; BK XI [656-749]; [802-834]; BK XII [235-248]; [315-330]
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew passim, esp 1:18-23, 2:3-6, 3:1-3, 4:12-17, 5:17-18, 8:14-17, 11:1-15, 12:14-17, 21:1-6, 27:3-10, 27:35 / Mark, 1:1-8 / Luke, 4:16-21 / John, 1:19-27, 45; 5:39; 7:25-52; 12:37-41 / Acts, 2:1-36; 3:12-26; 8:26-40; 13:16-52; 15:13-21; 24:14-15; 28:16-29 / Romans, 9-11 / Hebrews passim, esp 1:1-14, 2:6-13, 3:7-11, 4:3-7, 5:5-6, 8:8-12 / II Peter, 1:19-21
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 570-578; 598-600; 613; 616-618; 637-644; 659; 662; 670; 678; 684-686; 692-741; 744-745; 751-758; 761; 768; 770; 829-830; 838

2. The vocation of prophecy: the possession of foreknowledge

2a. The foreknowledge possessed by the spirits in the afterworld

  • AESCHYLUS: Persians [739-842]
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART I, Q 89, A 3, REP 3
  • DANTE: The Divine Comedy, HELL, VI [37-93]; X [1-114]; XV [1-99]; XXIV [121-151]; PURGATORY, XI [109-142]; XIV [27-72]; XX [34-96]; XXIV [37-93]; XXX [22-90]; PARADISE, IX esp [61-63]; XVII [1-99]; XIX [97-148]; XXI [103]-XXII [18]; XXVII [10-66]; [121-148]; XXX [127-148]
  • HERODOTUS: History, BK V
  • HOMER: Iliad, BK XXIII [54-81] / Odyssey, BK X [487-540]; BK XI [90-137]
  • OLD TESTAMENT: I Samuel, 28:6-20—(D) I Kings, 28:6-20
  • SOPHOCLES: Philoctetes [1408-1444]
  • VIRGIL: Aeneid, BK VI [756-892]

2b. The political office of prophecy: priests, soothsayers, oracles

  • AESCHYLUS: Seven Against Thebes [1-38] / Agamemnon [104-159]
  • ARISTOPHANES: Knights [108-233]; [941-1099] / Peace [1039-1126] / Birds [959-991] / Lysistrata [762-780]
  • ARISTOTLE: Rhetoric, BK I, CH 15 [1375b35-1376a2]
  • CHAUCER: Troilus and Cressida, BK IV, STANZA 196-202; BK V, STANZA 208-218
  • EURIPIDES: Helen [744-760] / Phoenician Maidens [834-1018]
  • FREUD: A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HEGEL: The Philosophy of History, PART I; PART II; PART III
  • HERODOTUS: History, BK I; BK II; BK IV; BK V; BK VI; BK VII; BK VIII; BK IX
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART I; PART II
  • HOMER: Iliad, BK I [59-100] / Odyssey, BK II [146-207]
  • MILL: On Representative Government
  • PLATO: Meno / Republic, BK IV / Statesman
  • PLUTARCH: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Numa Pompilius / Poplicola / Camillus / Pericles / Timoleon / Aemilius Paulus / Marcellus / Aristides / Caius Marius / Cimon / Nicias / Alexander / Caesar / Dion
  • ROUSSEAU: The Social Contract, BK II
  • SHAKESPEARE: Julius Caesar, ACT I, SC II [12-24]; ACT II, SC IV [21-38] / Antony and Cleopatra, ACT I, SC II [1-82]
  • SOPHOCLES: Oedipus the King [300-512] / Oedipus at Colonus [1348-1555] / Antigone [988-1114] / Ajax [745-783] / Philoctetes [604-619]; [1326-1347]
  • TACITUS: The Annals, BK II; BK VI; BK XI; BK XII / The Histories, BK I; BK II; BK IV
  • THUCYDIDES: The Peloponnesian War, BK I
  • VIRGIL: Aeneid, BK III [356-462]

2c. The Hebraic conception of the prophetic vocation: the law and the prophets; Christ as prophet

  • APOCRYPHA: Ecclesiasticus, 39:1-11; 45-46; 48-49—(D) OT, Ecclesiasticus, 39:1-15; 45-46; 48-49 / Bel and the Dragon, 33-39—(D) OT, Daniel, 14:32-38 / II Maccabees, 2:1-7—(D) OT, II Machabees, 2:1-7
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART III, Q 7, A 8
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK VII, CH 32; BK XVII, CH 1-3; BK XVIII, CH 27
  • FREUD: Civilization and Its Discontents
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART I; PART II; PART III; PART IV
  • MILL: On Representative Government
  • MILTON: Paradise Lost, BK XII [101-269] esp [173-269]
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 3:1-3; 5:17-18; 10; 11:20-24; 12:36-45; 13:53-57; 19:27-30; 23-25 esp 23:29-39 / Mark, 1:4-9; 6:1-4 / Luke, 4:22-24; 16:14-16 / John, 1:15-27; 4:43-44; 8:52-53 / Acts, 3:22-26
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus, 3:1-4:17; 6:13, 28-30; 7:1-2; 19:9, 19-24; 20:18-21; 24:1-2, 9-18; 33:9-11, 17-23; 34:1-4 / Numbers, 11:11-17, 24-29; 12:1-9 / Deuteronomy, 13:1-11; 34:10-12 / Joshua, 3:7-8; 4:14—(D) Josue, 3:7-8; 4:14 / Judges, 4 / I Samuel, 8:10-18, 22; 10:1-13, 24—(D) I Kings, 8:10-18, 22; 10:1-13, 24 / II Samuel, 12:1-14—(D) II Kings, 12:1-14 / I Kings, 14:5-16; 17-18; 19:16-21; 20:13-14, 22, 37-42; 21:17-24; 22:14-22—(D) III Kings, 14:5-16; 17-18; 19:16-21; 20:13-14, 22, 37-42; 21:17-24; 22:14-22 / II Kings, 1-2 esp 2:9-15; 3:9-20; 4-6; 8:1-15; 9:1-10; 13:14-21; 19:1-7, 20-34; 20; 22:8-20—(D) IV Kings, 1-2 esp 2:9-15; 3:9-20; 4-6; 8:1-15; 9:1-10; 13:14-21; 19:1-7, 20-34; 20; 22:8-20 / II Chronicles, 18:4-26; 34:14-28; 36:15-16—(D) II Paralipomenon, 18:4-26; 34:14-28; 36:15-16 / Isaiah, 6:8-12; 8:11-18; 20; 37:6-7, 21-35; 38:4-8; 49:1-12; 61:1-3—(D) Isaias, 6:8-12; 8:11-18; 20; 37:6-7, 21-35; 38:4-8; 49:1-12; 61:1-3 / Jeremiah, 1; 5:14; 6:27; 7:25-26; 9:12; 18:18-23; 20; 25:4-7, 15-30; 26; 28; 35:15; 36-38; 42:1-43:3; 44:4—(D) Jeremias, 1; 5:14; 6:27; 7:25-26; 9:12; 18:18-23; 20; 25:4-7, 15-30; 26; 28; 35:15; 36-38; 42:1-43:3; 44:4 / Ezekiel, 2:1-5:4; 12; 33:30-33—(D) Ezechiel, 2:1-5:4; 12; 33:30-33 / Daniel, 2; 4-6—(D) Daniel, 2; 3:98-6:28 / Amos, 7:14-17 / Jonah—(D) Jonas
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 732-733
  • ROUSSEAU: The Social Contract, BK II

3. The varieties of prophecy and the instruments of divination

3a. The institution of oracles: the interpretation of oracular or prophetic utterances

  • AESCHYLUS: Seven Against Thebes [742-777] / Prometheus Bound [484-499]; [640-682] / The Libation Bearers [269-305]; [1021-1076] / The Eumenides [1-33]
  • ARISTOPHANES: Knights [108-233]; [941-1099] / Peace [1039-1126] / Birds [959-991] / Lysistrata [762-780] / Plutus [1-78]
  • ARISTOTLE: Rhetoric, BK I, CH 15 [1375b35-1376a2]
  • AUGUSTINE: Confessions, BK VI, PAR 6 / City of God, BK III, CH 17; BK VIII, CH 16; BK XVII, CH 3; BK XVIII, CH 23; BK XX, CH 21; CH 28 / On Christian Doctrine, BK II, CH 33
  • EPICTETUS: Discourses, BK I, CH 17; BK III, CH 1
  • EURIPIDES: Iphigenia Among the Tauri [1234-1283] / Iphigenia at Aulis [872-883]
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HEGEL: The Philosophy of History, PART I; PART II; PART III
  • HERODOTUS: History, BK I; BK II; BK III; BK IV; BK V; BK VI; BK VII; BK VIII; BK IX
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART I; PART II
  • HOMER: Odyssey, BK XIV [321-336]; BK XIX [291-307]
  • MONTAIGNE: Essays
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 607; 659; 672; 678; 683-692
  • PLATO: Apology / Timaeus
  • PLUTARCH: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Camillus / Aristides / Lysander / Alexander / Demosthenes
  • RABELAIS: Gargantua and Pantagruel, BK I; BK III
  • ROUSSEAU: The Social Contract, BK II
  • SHAKESPEARE: Cymbeline, ACT V, SC V [426-475] / The Winter’s Tale, ACT II, SC III esp [172-198]
  • SOPHOCLES: Oedipus the King [1-1185] / Oedipus at Colonus [386-419] / Trachiniae [155-177]; [821-830]
  • TACITUS: The Annals, BK II / The Histories, BK I; BK II
  • THUCYDIDES: The Peloponnesian War, BK I; BK II; BK III; BK V
  • VIRGIL: Aeneid, BK II [108-136]; BK III [84-120]; [132-191]; [356-462]; BK VI [42-101]; BK VII [81-106]

3b. Omens and portents: celestial and terrestrial signs; signs as confirmations of prophecy

  • AESCHYLUS: Persians [176-230] / Prometheus Bound [484-499] / Agamemnon [104-159]
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART I, Q 70, A 2, REP 1
  • ARISTOPHANES: Birds [708-726]
  • ARISTOTLE: History of Animals, BK III, CH 11 [518b32-36]; CH 20 [522b13-20]; BK VI, CH 2 [559a16-20]; CH 22 [576b1-4]
  • AUGUSTINE: Confessions, BK IV, PAR 4-6; BK VII, PAR 8-10 / City of God, BK V, CH 1-7; CH 9; BK VII, CH 35 / On Christian Doctrine, BK II, CH 21-24
  • BACON: The Advancement of Learning
  • CERVANTES: Don Quixote, PART II
  • EPICTETUS: Discourses, BK I, CH 17
  • EURIPIDES: Phoenician Maidens [834-840]
  • FREUD: A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • GOETHE: Faust, PART II [4947-4976]
  • HEGEL: The Philosophy of History, PART II; PART III
  • HERODOTUS: History, BK I; BK II; BK III; BK IV; BK V; BK VI; BK VII; BK VIII; BK IX
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART I; PART II
  • HOMER: Iliad, BK II [301-332]; BK VIII [130-183]; [245-252]; BK XII [195-250] / Odyssey, BK II [146-207]; BK XV [160-181]; [525-538]; BK XVII [541-550]; BK XX [91-121]; [240-246]; [345-357]
  • LOCKE: An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, BK IV, CH XIX, SECT 15
  • LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things, BK VI [43-55]; [379-422]
  • MELVILLE: Moby Dick
  • MILTON: Paradise Lost, BK I [594-599]; BK VIII [511-514]
  • MONTAIGNE: Essays
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 12:38-40; 16:1-4; 24 / Mark, 8:11-12; 13:4-30 / Luke, 1:39-44; 2:11-12; 11:16, 29; 21:7-13 / John, 2:18-22; 6:30-31 / Acts, 2:16-22 / I Corinthians, 1:22-24
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis, 9:8-17; 25:22-23 / Exodus, 4:1-9, 29-31; 7:8-13; 17:2-7; 33:9-10; 34:29-30; 40:32-38 / Numbers, 9:15-23; 11:24-25; 12 / Judges, 6:17-22, 36-40 / I Samuel, 10:2-16—(D) I Kings, 10:2-16 / II Samuel, 5:23-25—(D) II Kings, 5:23-25 / I Kings, 13:1-6; 17:12-24; 18:16-39 esp 18:30-39—(D) III Kings, 13:1-6; 17:12-24; 18:16-39 esp 18:30-39 / II Kings, 1:8-17; 2:9-15, 19-22; 5:1-19; 19:29; 20:4-11—(D) IV Kings, 1:8-17; 2:9-15, 19-22; 5:1-19; 19:29; 20:4-11 / I Chronicles, 14:14-15—(D) I Paralipomenon, 14:14-15 / Isaiah, 38:1-8—(D) Isaias, 38:1-8 / Jeremiah, 1:11-16; 10:2; 13:1-11; 18:1-10; 24—(D) Jeremias, 1:11-16; 10:2; 13:1-11; 18:1-10; 24 / Ezekiel, 37:1-19—(D) Ezechiel, 37:1-19 / Daniel, 5 / Amos, 7:1-9; 8:1-2
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 173
  • PLOTINUS: The Second Ennead, TRACTATE III, CH 7 / The Third Ennead, TRACTATE I, CH 5-6
  • PLUTARCH: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Romulus / Numa Pompilius / Poplicola / Themistocles / Camillus / Pericles / Fabius / Timoleon / Aemilius Paulus / Marcellus / Aristides / Caius Marius / Sulla / Lucullus / Nicias / Crassus / Agesilaus / Alexander / Phocion / Caius Gracchus / Dion / Marcus Brutus / Galba / Otho
  • RABELAIS: Gargantua and Pantagruel, BK III; BK IV
  • SHAKESPEARE: 3 Henry VI, ACT V, SC VI [34-93] / Richard III, ACT II, SC IV [7-17] / Julius Caesar, ACT I, SC III; ACT V, SC I [71-88] / King Lear, ACT I, SC II [112-166] / Macbeth, ACT III, SC IV [1-18]
  • SOPHOCLES: Oedipus at Colonus [1447-1555] / Antigone [988-1114] / Trachiniae [663-718]
  • STERNE: Tristram Shandy
  • TACITUS: The Annals, BK I; BK II; BK IV; BK VI; BK XI; BK XII; BK XIII; BK XIV; BK XV / The Histories, BK I; BK II; BK III; BK V
  • THUCYDIDES: The Peloponnesian War, BK II; BK VII
  • TOLSTOY: War and Peace, BK VI; BK VII; BK VIII; BK IX; BK X
  • VIRGIL: Aeneid, BK I [387-401]; BK II [162-233]; [679-704]; BK III [388-393]; [523-547]; BK VI [185-211]; BK VII [59-80]; BK VIII [520-540]; BK XII [245-265]

3c. Dreams, visions, visitations

  • AESCHYLUS: Persians [176-230] / Seven Against Thebes [24-29] / Prometheus Bound [484-499]; [640-682] / Agamemnon [1072-1342] / The Libation Bearers [514-552]
  • APOCRYPHA: Rest of Esther, 10:4-11:12—(D) OT, Esther, 10:4-11:12 / Wisdom of Solomon, 17; 18:14-19—(D) OT, Book of Wisdom, 17; 18:14-19 / Ecclesiasticus, 34:1-7—(D) OT, Ecclesiasticus, 34:1-7 / Bel and the Dragon, 33-39—(D) OT, Daniel, 14:32-38 / II Maccabees, 15:11-16—(D) OT, II Machabees, 15:11-16
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART I, Q 12, A 11, ANS; Q 86, A 4, REP 2 / PART III, Q 7, A 8, REP 1
  • ARISTOPHANES: Knights [1090-1095]
  • ARISTOTLE: On Prophesying by Dreams
  • AUGUSTINE: Confessions, BK III, PAR 19-20 / City of God, BK VIII, CH 16; BK XI, CH 2
  • BACON: The Advancement of Learning
  • CHAUCER: Troilus and Cressida, BK V, STANZA 46-56; STANZA 177-186; STANZA 207-219; STANZA 245 / The Nun’s Priest’s Tale [14,976-15,162]
  • DANTE: The Divine Comedy, HELL, XXXIII [13-75]; PURGATORY, IX [13-69]; XIX [1-63]; XXVII [91-117]
  • DOSTOYEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov, BK V
  • EURIPIDES: Trojan Women [308-461] / Hecuba [59-97] / Iphigenia Among the Tauri [42-66]; [1234-1283]
  • FIELDING: Tom Jones
  • FREUD: The Origin and Development of Psycho-Analysis / The Interpretation of Dreams / A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • GOETHE: Faust, PART II [11,384-401]
  • HEGEL: The Philosophy of History, PART I; PART II
  • HERODOTUS: History, BK I; BK II; BK III; BK IV; BK V; BK VI; BK VII; BK VIII
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART I; PART III; CONCLUSION
  • HOMER: Iliad, BK I [59-67]; BK II [1-83] / Odyssey, BK IV [787-841]; BK XIX [509-581]
  • LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things, BK I [102-126]
  • MILTON: Paradise Lost, BK V [28-128]; [469-505]; BK VIII [283-336]; BK XI [193]-BK XII [649] / Areopagitica
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 1:20-25; 2:12-13, 19-23; 17:1-8; 28:1-7 / Mark, 9:2-10 / Luke, 1:11-38; 2:8-15; 9:28-43; 24:1-10 / Acts, 2:17-18; 9:3-8; 10; 18:9-10 / II Corinthians, 12:1-4 / Revelation—(D) Apocalypse
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis, 16:7-13; 18:1-15; 19:12-22; 20:3-7; 21:17-19; 22:11-19; 26:1-6; 28:10-22; 31:11-13, 24; 32:24-32; 35:9-13; 37:1-11; 40-41 / Numbers, 12:5-8; 22:15-35 / Deuteronomy, 13:1-5 / Judges, 2:1-4; 6:11-23; 7:13-15; 13 / I Samuel, 28:6-20—(D) I Kings, 28:6-20 / II Samuel, 7:4-17—(D) II Kings, 7:4-17 / I Kings, 3:5-15; 9:1-9; 19:2-8; 22:17-23—(D) III Kings, 3:5-15; 9:1-9; 19:2-8; 22:17-23 / II Kings, 1:3-4, 15—(D) IV Kings, 1:3-4, 15 / I Chronicles, 21:15-20, 28-30—(D) I Paralipomenon, 21:15-20, 28-30 / II Chronicles, 18:11-22—(D) II Paralipomenon, 18:11-22 / Esther, 10—(D) Esther, 10:1-3 / Job, 4:13-21; 33:14-16 / Isaiah, 6—(D) Isaias, 6 / Jeremiah, 1; 14:14; 23:16, 25-32; 24; 29:8-9—(D) Jeremias, 1; 14:14; 23:16, 25-32; 24; 29:8-9 / Ezekiel, 1-3; 8-11; 37:1-11; 40-48—(D) Ezechiel, 1-3; 8-11; 37:1-11; 40-48 / Daniel, 2; 4; 7-12 passim / Joel, 2:28-29 / Zechariah, 1:7-6:15—(D) Zacharias, 1:7-6:15
  • PLATO: Euthydemus / Apology / Crito / Timaeus
  • PLUTARCH: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Themistocles / Alcibiades / Coriolanus / Pelopidas / Aristides / Pyrrhus / Cimon / Lucullus / Eumenes / Agesilaus / Pompey / Alexander / Caesar / Demosthenes / Cicero / Demetrius / Dion / Marcus Brutus
  • RABELAIS: Gargantua and Pantagruel, BK III; BK IV
  • SHAKESPEARE: 2 Henry VI, ACT I, SC II [17-55]; SC IV / Romeo and Juliet, ACT I, SC IV [44-114] / A Midsummer Night’s Dream, ACT II, SC II [145-156] / Julius Caesar, ACT II, SC II [75-90]; ACT IV, SC III [275-289]; ACT V, SC V [16-19] / Hamlet, ACT I, SC I / Macbeth, ACT I, SC III; ACT II, SC V; ACT IV, SC I; ACT V, SC VII [16-22] / Cymbeline, ACT V, SC IV [30-122]; SC V [426-465]
  • SOPHOCLES: Electra [405-515]; [634-659]
  • TACITUS: The Annals, BK I; BK XI; BK XII; BK XVI / The Histories, BK IV
  • TOLSTOY: War and Peace, BK VII; BK XII
  • VIRGIL: Aeneid, BK III [132-191]; BK IV [450-473]; [554-570]; BK VI [76-97]; BK VII [323-474]; BK VIII [18-89]

3d. Prophecy by the direct word of God

  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART I, Q 12, A 11, ANS and REP 1
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK XI, CH 3; BK XVI, CH 16-29; CH 36; CH 38
  • DOSTOYEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov, BK V
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART III; CONCLUSION
  • MILTON: Paradise Lost, BK XI [106-151]; [173-269]
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 17:1-9 / Acts, 26:13-18
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis, 2:16-17; 3:8-19; 4:6-15; 6:3, 7, 13-21; 7:1-4; 8:21-22; 9:1-17; 11:6-7; 12:1-8; 13:14-18; 15; 17; 18:17-21; 21:12-13; 26:1-5, 24; 35:9-13 / Exodus, 3:4-22; 6:1-8, 28-30; 7-12 passim; 16:4-5, 11-12; 17:5-6, 14; 19:3-20:22; 32:9-14, 30-34; 33:1-34:27 / Numbers, 12:5-8, 14; 14:11-12, 20-35 / Deuteronomy, 4:10-15, 36; 5; 31:14-21 / Joshua, 1:1-9; 3:7-8; 4:1-3; 6:1-5; 8:1-2; 10:8—(D) Josue, 1:1-9; 3:7-8; 4:1-3; 6:1-5; 8:1-2; 10:8 / I Samuel, 3; 16:1-13—(D) I Kings, 3; 16:1-13 / I Kings, 19:9-18—(D) III Kings, 19:9-18 / Isaiah, 6; 48:2-5—(D) Isaias, 6; 48:2-5 / Jeremiah, 1—(D) Jeremias, 1 / Ezekiel, 1-39 passim, esp 1-2—(D) Ezechiel, 1-39 passim, esp 1-2 / Hosea, 1-3—(D) Osee, 1-3 / Amos, 7-9

4. Particular prophecies of hope and doom

4a. The Covenant and the Promised Land

  • APOCRYPHA: Ecclesiasticus, 44:19-23—(D) OT, Ecclesiasticus, 44:20-26
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK XVI, CH 16-29; CH 32; CH 36; CH 38; BK XVII, CH 7; BK XXII, CH 3
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART III
  • MILTON: Paradise Lost, BK XI [880-897]; BK XII [101-126]; [151-172]; [259-269]
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Luke, 1:71-75 / Acts, 3:25; 7:1-8 / Romans, 9:1-9; 11:25-27 / Galatians, 3:13-18; 4:22-31 / Ephesians, 2:11-13 / Hebrews, 8:6-9:28; 10:14-17
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis, 9:8-17; 12:1-7; 13:14-18; 15; 17-18; 22:1-19; 26:1-6, 24-25; 28:11-22; 35:9-13 / Exodus, 2:23-3:22; 6:2-8; 19:4-6; 20:1-17; 32:11-14; 33:1-3; 34:10-11 / Leviticus, 26:40-45 / Numbers, 14:6-9; 32; 34:1-12 / Deuteronomy, 1:7-8, 19-31; 3:16-23; 4:12-13, 23-40; 5; 6:1-3, 10-11, 18-19; 7:12-13; 8:7-10, 18-20; 9:1-6, 23-29; 10:11; 11; 26:1-11; 27-32 esp 27:1-3, 28:1-14, 29:1-29, 31:16-20; 34:1-4 / Joshua esp 1, 23:1-24:13—(D) Josue esp 1, 23:1-24:13 / Judges, 2:1-6 / I Kings, 8:56—(D) III Kings, 8:56 / I Chronicles, 16:13-22—(D) I Paralipomenon, 16:13-22 / Nehemiah, 9—(D) II Esdras, 9 / Psalms, 74:19-20; 78:1-7, 52-55; 105:6-44; 111; 132—(D) Psalms, 73:19-20; 77:1-7, 52-55; 104:6-44; 110; 131 / Isaiah, 54:1-10; 56:4-6; 59:20-21; 61:7-9—(D) Isaias, 54:1-10; 56:4-6; 59:20-21; 61:7-9 / Jeremiah, 11:1-10; 31:31-34; 34:12-18—(D) Jeremias, 11:1-10; 31:31-34; 34:12-18 / Ezekiel, 16:60-63; 37:26-28—(D) Ezechiel, 16:60-63; 37:26-28 / Hosea, 2:16-18; 6:4-7—(D) Osee, 2:16-18; 6:4-7
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 637-640; 675; 713; 717-719

4b. The destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of Israel: the restoration of Israel and the rebuilding of the Temple

  • APOCRYPHA: Tobit, 14:4-5—(D) OT, Tobias, 14:6-7 / Ecclesiasticus, 49:4-50:2—(D) OT, Ecclesiasticus, 49:5-50:2 / Baruch, 5—(D) OT, Baruch, 5
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK XVII, CH 7; BK XVIII, CH 46; CH 48
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART III
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 24:1-2 / Mark, 13:1-2 / Luke, 19:41-44; 21:5-6
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Leviticus, 26:27-39 / Deuteronomy, 4:25-31; 28:15-30:10; 31:16-18 / Joshua, 23:12-16—(D) Josue, 23:12-16 / II Kings, 17; 20:12-21; 21:10-15; 22:12-20; 23:26-27; 24:1-4, 10-20; 25—(D) IV Kings, 17; 20:12-21; 21:10-15; 22:12-20; 23:26-27; 24:1-4, 10-20; 25 / II Chronicles, 7:19-22; 34:21-33; 36:15-23—(D) II Paralipomenon, 7:19-22; 34:21-33; 36:15-23 / Psalms, 14:7; 53:6; 78:58-72; 79; 85:1-3; 126; 137—(D) Psalms, 13:7; 52:7; 77:58-72; 78; 84:2-4; 125; 136 / Isaiah, 1-10; 14:1-3; 22; 28; 32; 36-37; 39; 42-43; 49; 51-52; 60-63; 65:8-10, 17-25; 66—(D) Isaias, 1-10; 14:1-3; 22; 28; 32; 36-37; 39; 42-43; 49; 51-52; 60-63; 65:8-10, 17-25; 66 / Jeremiah, 1-45 passim; 49-52 passim—(D) Jeremias, 1-45 passim; 49-52 passim / Lamentations / Ezekiel, 4-7; 9; 11-24; 28:20-26; 33-48 passim, esp 33:23-29, 36:1-37:28, 39:22-40:2, 43:1-10, 47:1-23—(D) Ezechiel, 4-7; 9; 11-24; 28:20-26; 33-48 passim, esp 33:23-29, 36:1-37:28, 39:22-40:2, 43:1-10, 47:1-23 / Hosea, 2; 3:4-5; 5-11—(D) Osee, 2; 3:4-5; 5-11 / Joel, 2-3 / Amos passim / Obadiah passim—(D) Abdias passim / Micah—(D) Micheas / Nahum passim / Habakkuk—(D) Habacuc / Zephaniah—(D) Sophonias / Zechariah passim—(D) Zacharias passim
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 638-641; 713-719; 722; 726

4c. The coming of a Messiah: Hebraic and Christian readings of messianic prophecy

  • APOCRYPHA: Wisdom of Solomon, 2:12-22—(D) OT, Book of Wisdom, 2:12-22 / Baruch, 3:36-38—(D) OT, Baruch, 3:36-38
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART II-II, Q 100, A 12, ANS; Q 103, A 2, ANS and REP 1-2; Q 107, A 2 / PART III, Q 26, A 1, REP 1
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK VII, CH 32; BK X, CH 32; BK XV, CH 26; BK XVI, CH 2; CH 37; BK XVII passim; BK XVIII, CH 11; CH 23; CH 28; CH 30; CH 33-34; CH 44; CH 46; BK XIX, CH 22
  • DANTE: The Divine Comedy, PURGATORY, XXII [55-93]
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART III
  • MILTON: Upon the Circumcision / Paradise Lost, BK XI [22-44]; BK XII [227-244]; [284-330] esp [307-314]
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 3:1-12 / Mark, 1:4-8 / Luke, 2:25-34; 3:1-6 / John, 1:19-25, 40-45; 7:26-31 / Acts, 2:29-36; 3:18-26 / Romans, 11:25-27
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Genesis, 3:15; 12:3; 18:18; 21:12; 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; 49:10-12, 22-26 / Numbers, 24:15-25 / Deuteronomy, 18:15-19 / I Chronicles, 17:11-14—(D) I Paralipomenon, 17:11-14 / Job, 19:25-27 / Psalms, 2:7; 8:5-6; 14:7; 16:10; 19:4-5; 21-22; 40:1-8; 45:7; 50:1-3; 68; 72; 80:16-18; 85; 89:19-29, 36-37; 110; 118:22, 26—(D) Psalms, 2:7; 8:5-6; 13:7; 15:10; 18:6; 20-21; 39:1-8; 44:7; 49:1-3; 67; 71; 79:16-18; 84; 88:19-29, 36-37; 109; 117:22, 26 / Isaiah, 7:10-16; 8:3-4; 9:6-7; 11:1-5; 16:1; 22:20-25; 28:16-29; 32; 35:4; 40:1-11; 41:2-3, 8-14, 25; 42:1-7; 45; 46:11-12; 49:1-13, 22-23; 52-55; 59-66 passim, esp 59:16-21, 61:1-3, 62:11-63:14, 64:1-5—(D) Isaias, 7:10-16; 8:3-4; 9:6-7; 11:1-5; 16:1; 22:20-25; 28:16-29; 32; 35:4; 40:1-11; 41:2-3, 8-14, 25; 42:1-7; 45; 46:11-12; 49:1-13, 22-23; 52-55; 59-66 passim, esp 59:16-21, 61:1-3, 62:11-63:14, 64:1-5 / Jeremiah, 23:5-6; 30:7-9; 31:31-33; 33:10-18—(D) Jeremias, 23:5-6; 30:7-9; 31:31-33; 33:10-18 / Ezekiel, 17:22-24; 34; 37:21-26—(D) Ezechiel, 17:22-24; 34; 37:21-26 / Daniel, 2:44; 7:13-14; 9:24-27 / Hosea, 1:11; 3:5; 13:14; 14:5-7—(D) Osee, 1:11; 3:5; 13:14; 14:6-8 / Micah, 5:2-5; 7—(D) Micheas, 5:2-5; 7 / Zechariah, 2:10; 3:8-9; 6:12-14; 9:9-11; 11:16; 13—(D) Zacharias, 2:10; 3:8-9; 6:12-14; 9:9-11; 11:16; 13 / Malachi, 3:1-3; 4:5-6—(D) Malachias, 3:1-3; 4:5-6
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 607-609; 613; 616-619; 662-664; 673; 675; 692-741; 747-749; 751-761

4d. The second coming of the Lord: the Day of Judgment, the end of the world, and the millennium

  • APOCRYPHA: Tobit, 13:9-14:15—(D) OT, Tobias, 13:11-14:17 / Judith, 16:17—(D) OT, Judith, 16:20-21
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART III SUPPL, Q 73; Q 74, A 1; Q 77, A 2; Q 88, A 1; A 3; Q 91, A 1
  • AUGUSTINE: City of God, BK XVIII, CH 53; BK XX / On Christian Doctrine, BK I, CH 15
  • CHAUCER: The Parson’s Tale, PAR 10
  • DANTE: The Divine Comedy, HELL, VI [94-115]; PARADISE, XIX [100-148]
  • DOSTOYEVSKY: The Brothers Karamazov, BK I; BK V
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART III; PART IV
  • KEPLER: Epitome of Copernican Astronomy, BK IV
  • LOCKE: A Letter Concerning Toleration
  • MILTON: On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity [125-172] / At a Solemn Music / Paradise Lost, BK III [274-343]; BK VII [139-173]; BK XI [45-83]; BK XII [451-465]; [537-557] / Areopagitica
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 10:14-15; 11:20-24; 12:34-36; 13:24-50; 24-25 / Mark, 13:4-37 / Luke, 17:20-37; 19:11-28; 21 / John, 12:48; 14:3-4 / Acts, 1:9-11; 2:17-21; 17:31 / Romans, 2:5-11 / I Corinthians, 15:23-28 / Philippians, 3:20-21 / I Thessalonians, 1:9-10; 2:19; 4:12-5:11 / II Thessalonians, 1-2 / II Timothy, 3; 4:1, 8 / Hebrews, 9:26-28 / James, 5:7-9 / I Peter, 4:5-7 / II Peter, 2:9; 3 / I John, 2:18-29; 4:17 / Jude, 14-25 / Revelation esp 1:4-20, 14:15-16:21, 20:1-22:21—(D) Apocalypse esp 1:4-20, 14:15-16:21, 20:1-22:21
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Job, 19:25-29; 21 esp 21:30-32 / Psalms, 50; 72; 96:10-13; 97-98—(D) Psalms, 49; 71; 95:10-13; 96-97 / Ecclesiastes, 3:16-17; 11:9-10; 12:14 / Isaiah, 2-4; 11; 24; 26:1-28:15; 30; 34-35; 65:17-25; 66—(D) Isaias, 2-4; 11; 24; 26:1-28:15; 30; 34-35; 65:17-25; 66 / Daniel, 7:21-27; 11-12 / Joel, 1:14-2:11; 2:27-32; 3 / Micah, 4—(D) Micheas, 4 / Zephaniah—(D) Sophonias / Zechariah, 14—(D) Zacharias, 14 / Malachi, 3-4—(D) Malachias, 3-4
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 757

5. The criticism and rejection of prophecy: the distinction between true and false prophecy; the condemnation of astrology and divination as impiety or superstition

  • AESCHYLUS: Agamemnon [248-254]; [1178-1213]
  • AQUINAS: Summa Theologica, PART I, Q 115, A 3, REP 4; AA 4-6 / PART II-II, Q 9, A 5
  • ARISTOPHANES: Knights [108-233]; [941-1099] / Peace [1039-1126] / Birds [959-991]
  • ARISTOTLE: On Prophesying by Dreams
  • APOCRYPHA: Wisdom of Solomon, 14:27-29—(D) OT, Book of Wisdom, 14:27-29 / Ecclesiasticus, 34:1-7—(D) OT, Ecclesiasticus, 34:1-7
  • AURELIUS: Meditations, BK I, SECT 6
  • AUGUSTINE: Confessions, BK IV, PAR 4-6; BK VII, PAR 8-10 / City of God, BK V, CH 1-7; CH 9; BK VII, CH 35; BK XVIII, CH 41; BK XIX, CH 23 / On Christian Doctrine, BK II, CH 21-24
  • BACON: The Advancement of Learning
  • CERVANTES: Don Quixote, PART II
  • CHAUCER: Troilus and Cressida, BK V, STANZA 52-55; STANZA 183-185; STANZA 218 / The Parson’s Tale, PAR 38
  • DANTE: The Divine Comedy, HELL, XX
  • DESCARTES: Rules for the Direction of the Mind, V
  • EPICTETUS: Discourses, BK II, CH 7
  • EURIPIDES: Helen [744-760] / Iphigenia Among the Tauri [570-575] / Iphigenia at Aulis [948-960]
  • FREUD: The Interpretation of Dreams / A General Introduction to Psycho-Analysis / New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis
  • GIBBON: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
  • HEGEL: The Philosophy of History, PART I; PART II; PART III
  • HERODOTUS: History, BK I; BK II; BK IV; BK VIII
  • HOBBES: Leviathan, PART I; PART III
  • HOMER: Iliad, BK XII [195-250] / Odyssey, BK II [146-207]
  • HUME: An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, SECT X, DIV 94
  • LUCRETIUS: On the Nature of Things, BK I [80-135]
  • MELVILLE: Moby Dick
  • MONTAIGNE: Essays
  • NEW TESTAMENT: Matthew, 7:15-23; 12:38-40; 13:54-57; 16:1-4; 23:29-39; 24:11, 23-28 / Mark, 6:1-5; 8:11-12; 13:21-22 / Luke, 6:26; 11:16, 29 / John, 4:44 / II Peter, 2:1-3 / I John, 4:1-6
  • OLD TESTAMENT: Exodus, 7:10-13, 22 / Deuteronomy, 13:1-5; 18:15-22 / I Samuel, 28:1-10—(D) I Kings, 28:1-10 / I Kings, 13:11-34; 18:17-40; 22:5-25—(D) III Kings, 13:11-34; 18:17-40; 22:5-25 / II Kings, 17:17—(D) IV Kings, 17:17 / I Chronicles, 10:13-14—(D) I Paralipomenon, 10:13-14 / II Chronicles, 18—(D) II Paralipomenon, 18 / Isaiah, 8:18-22; 30:9-11; 41:21-29; 47:12-13—(D) Isaias, 8:18-22; 30:9-11; 41:21-29; 47:12-13 / Jeremiah, 2:8; 5:12-14, 31; 14:13-16; 23:9-40; 27:9-18; 28; 29:8-9, 29-32; 36-38 esp 37:18-20—(D) Jeremias, 2:8; 5:12-14, 31; 14:13-16; 23:9-40; 27:9-18; 28; 29:8-9, 29-32; 36-38 esp 37:17-19 / Ezekiel, 13; 14:9; 21:21-23; 22:23-31—(D) Ezechiel, 13; 14:9; 21:21-23; 22:23-31 / Daniel, 1:19-20; 2:1-23; 4:1-27; 5:5-17 / Micah, 3:5-12—(D) Micheas, 3:5-12 / Zechariah, 10:2; 13:2-6—(D) Zacharias, 10:2; 13:2-6
  • PASCAL: Pensées, 173; 597-598; 817-818; 835
  • PLATO: Timaeus
  • PLUTARCH: Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans, Pericles / Alexander / Marcus Brutus
  • RABELAIS: Gargantua and Pantagruel, BK I; BK II; BK III
  • ROUSSEAU: The Social Contract, BK II
  • SHAKESPEARE: Romeo and Juliet, ACT I, SC IV [35-114] / King Lear, ACT I, SC II [112-166] / Macbeth, ACT V, SC VIII [9-22]
  • SOPHOCLES: Oedipus the King [300-512]; [702-725] / Antigone [1155-1171]
  • STERNE: Tristram Shandy
  • TACITUS: The Annals, BK IV; BK VI; BK XII / The Histories, BK I; BK IV; BK V
  • THUCYDIDES: The Peloponnesian War, BK II; BK V

CROSS-REFERENCES

For other discussions of man’s knowledge of the future by natural or supernatural means, see FATE 5-6; KNOWLEDGE 5a(5); NECESSITY AND CONTINGENCY 4c; TIME 6f; TRUTH 3b(2).

For another consideration of the religious significance of prophecy and its fulfillment, see RELIGION 1b(3).

For other discussions of the interpretation of oracles, omens, portents, and visions, see LANGUAGE 10; MEMORY AND IMAGINATION 8a; SIGN AND SYMBOL 5b; and for other treatments of dreams and their meaning, see LANGUAGE 10; MEMORY AND IMAGINATION 8d-8d(2); SIGN AND SYMBOL 6a.

For the religious dogmas related to particular prophecies in Judaism and Christianity, see GOD 7h, 8b, 8e, 9f; WORLD 8.

ADDITIONAL READINGS

Listed below are works not included in Great Books of the Western World, but relevant to the idea and topics with which this chapter deals. These works are divided into two groups:

I. Works by authors represented in this collection.

  • PLUTARCH. “Wherefore the Pythian Priestess Now Ceases to Deliver Her Oracles in Verse,” “Why the Oracles Cease to Give Answers,” in Moralia
  • AUGUSTINE. De Genesi ad Litteram, BK XII, CH 9
  • —. On the Spirit and the Letter
  • AQUINAS. Quaestiones Disputatae, De Veritate, Q 12
  • —. Summa Theologica, PART II-II, QQ 171-175
  • F. BACON. “Of Prophecies,” in Essays
  • SPINOZA. Tractatus Theologico-Politicus (Theological-Political Treatise), CH 1-3, 11
  • NEWTON. Observations upon the Prophecies of Daniel, and the Apocalypse of St. John

II. Works by authors not represented in this collection.

  • CICERO. De Divinatione (On Divination)
  • TERTULLIAN. The Prescription Against Heretics
  • SAADIA GAON. The Book of Beliefs and Opinions, TREATISE III, VIII
  • MAIMONIDES. Eight Chapters on Ethics, CH 7
  • —. The Guide for the Perplexed, PART II, CH 32-47
  • CALDERÓN. Life Is a Dream
  • J. TAYLOR. A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying
  • FONTENELLE. Histoire des oracles
  • LEIBNIZ. New Essays Concerning Human Understanding, BK IV, CH 19
  • VOLTAIRE. “Prophecies,” “Prophets,” in A Philosophical Dictionary
  • PAINE. The Age of Reason, Part I
  • J. H. NEWMAN. Lectures on the Prophetical Office of the Church
  • KIERKEGAARD. Of the Difference Between a Genius and an Apostle
  • COMTE. System of Positive Polity, VOL IV, Theory of the Future of Man
  • W. R. SMITH. The Prophets of Israel and Their Place in History
  • FRAZER. Psyche’s Task
  • LODS. The Prophets and the Rise of Judaism