Original Research - Special Collection: James Alfred Loader Dedication

Why Old Testament prophecy is philosophically

Jacobus W. Gericke
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 69, No 1 | a1197 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v69i1.1197 | © 2013 Jacobus W. Gericke | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 21 November 2011 | Published: 04 March 2013

About the author(s)

Jacobus W. Gericke, Faculty of Humanities, North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, South Africa

Abstract

Comparative philosophical perspectives on Old Testament predictive prophecy are rare. Yet whilst the Old Testament is not explicit in its views on the relation between God and time, its narratives do contain implicit metaphysical assumptions regarding the nature of divine foreknowledge. In this article the author listed a standard variety of possible perspectives on how one might construe the way in which YHWH as depicted in Genesis 15:12–16 was thought of with regard to his knowledge of the future, if any. Not opting for any particular view on the matter, especially given that most are anachronistic, the implications and problems of each are noted to show why Old Testament prophecy can also be philosophically interesting.

Keywords

Prophecy; Old Testament; comparative philosophy of religion; divine foreknowledge; time

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