Editing Prophecy (section)

==Definitions==
[[File:The revolution of 1831. As prophecyed by that learned astrologer General Ikey Wether-Bridge LCCN2002715343.tif|thumb|''The revolution of 1831. As prophesied by that learned astrologer General Ikey Wether-Bridge'']]
* [[Maimonides]] suggested that "prophecy is, in truth and reality, an emanation sent forth by [[God in Judaism|Divine Being]] through the medium of the [[active intellect|Active Intellect]], in the first instance to man's [[Rationality|rational faculty]], and then to his [[Imagination|imaginative faculty]]".<ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url= http://www.meru.org/Advisors/Sunwall/RambamProphecy.html|title= Meru Foundation Research: Mark R. Sunwall, Rambam Prophecy|author= Stan Tenen - Meru Foundation}}</ref>
* The views of Maimonides closely relate to the definition by [[Al-Farabi|Al-Fârâbî]], who developed the theory of prophecy in Islam.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.csulb.edu/~dsteiger/maimonides.htm|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118125244/http://www.csulb.edu/~dsteiger/maimonides.htm|url-status=dead|title=Ahl al-kitâb (People of the Book)|archivedate=January 18, 2008|website=www.csulb.edu}}</ref>
* Much of the activity of [[Old Testament]] prophets involved conditional warnings rather than immutable futures.<ref>
For example:
{{cite book
 | last1 = Lemke
 | first1 = Werner E.
 | chapter = Life in the Present and Hope for the Future 
 | editor1-last = Mays
 | editor1-first = James Luther
 | editor1-link = James Luther Mays
 | editor2-last = Achtemeier
 | editor2-first = Paul J.
 | editor2-link = Paul J. Achtemeier
 | title = Interpreting the Prophets
 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=yhUa3vHNL90C
 | location = Philadelphia
 | publisher = Fortress Press
 | date = 1987
 | page = 202
 | isbn = 9781451410471
 | access-date = 2018-11-11
 | quote = The Prophet as Watchman [...] the watchman's responsibility was limited or circumscribed. He only had to issue the warning. It was the people's own responsibility to decide how to respond to it. In similar fashion the Lord has appointed Ezekiel to act as watchman over Israel, just as he had appointed other watchmen over his people in the past (cf. Jer. 6:17).
}}
</ref> A summary of a standard Old Testament prophetic formula might run: Repent of sin X and turn to righteousness, otherwise consequence Y will occur.
* Saint Paul emphasizes edification, exhortation and comfort in a definition of prophesying.<ref>
{{cite book
 | last1 = Buck
 | first1 = Charles
 | author-link1 = Charles Buck (minister)
 | year = 1802
 | title = A Theological Dictionary, Containing Definitions of All Religious Terms: A Comprehensive View of Every Article in the System of Divinity : an Impartial Count of All the Principal Denominations which Have Subsisted in the Religious World, from the Birth of Christ to the Present Day : Together with an Accurate Statement of the Most Remarkable Transactions and Events Recorded in Ecclesiastical History
 | url = https://archive.org/details/atheologicaldic02buckgoog
 | location = Philadelphia
 | publisher = Edwin T. Scott
 | publication-date = 1823
 | page = [https://archive.org/details/atheologicaldic02buckgoog/page/n497 491]
 | access-date = 2018-11-11
 | quote = PROPHECY [...] In the Old and New Testaments, the word is not always confined to the foretelling of future events. [...] whoever speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort, is by St. Paul called a ''prophet'', 1 Cor. xiv. 3.
}}
</ref>
* The ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'' defines a Christian conception of prophecy as "understood in its strict sense, it means the foreknowledge of future events, though it may sometimes apply to past events of which there is no memory, and to present hidden things which cannot be known by the natural light of reason".<ref>{{CathEncy|wstitle=Prophecy}}</ref>
* According to Western esotericist [[Rosemary Guiley]], [[clairvoyance]] has been used as an adjunct to "divination, prophecy, and magic".<ref>
Compare: {{cite encyclopedia
|last= Guiley
|first= Rosemary
|encyclopedia= The Encyclopedia of Magic and Alchemy
|title= clairvoyance
|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=fkc10_zCBv0C
|access-date= 2015-01-10
|year= 2006
|publisher= Infobase Publishing
|isbn= 9781438130002
|pages= 59
|quote= Clairvoyance has been a valued skill in divination, prophecy, and magic since ancient times.
}}
</ref>
*From a skeptical point of view, a Latin maxim exists: "prophecy written after the fact" (''[[vaticinium ex eventu]]'').<ref>
{{cite web
 |url= http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_3-4_53/ai_n14730101
 |archive-url= https://archive.today/20120708042041/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0411/is_3-4_53/ai_n14730101
 |url-status= dead |archive-date=2012-07-08
 |title= FindArticles.com - CBSi 
}}
</ref> The Jewish [[Torah]] already deals with the topic of the [[false prophet]] (Deuteronomy 13:2-6, 18:20-22).<ref name="JE-False_Prophet">{{cite web|url=http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12388-prophet-false|title=PROPHET, FALSE|last1=Schechter|first1=Solomon|last2=Mendelsohn|first2=S.|website=Jewish Encyclopedia|publisher=JewishEncyclopedia.com|access-date=26 April 2016}}</ref>