This study examines Old Testament prophetism with particular attention to the groups described as the “sons of the prophets” (bĕnê hannĕbîʾîm). It revisits the common description of these groups as “schools of the prophets” and argues that the biblical evidence supports a more cautious formulation: the texts depict organized prophetic communities, associations, or guild-like groups, but they do not provide enough information to reconstruct a formal educational institution in the modern sense. The study therefore distinguishes between prophetic inspiration, prophetic office, and membership in a prophetic community. It analyses the evidence in 1 Samuel and 1–2 Kings according to six related questions: the character of the prophetic bands, their geographical centres, their leaders, the activities and formation associated with them, their social functions, and their means of subsistence. Particular attention is given to Naioth/Ramah, Bethel, Gilgal, and Jericho, while the proposed connections with Carmel and Samaria are treated as hypotheses rather than established schools. The article further argues that the narratives surrounding Elijah and Elisha present prophetic formation as a process of discipleship, communal identity, service, obedience, and continuity of prophetic authority. At the same time, the biblical tradition resists the reduction of prophecy to institutional training, since figures such as Amos present their prophetic vocation as a direct divine summons rather than membership in a recognized prophetic guild. The resulting paradigm is consequently neither a modern seminary model nor an exclusively individualistic account of prophecy, but a dynamic interaction between divine vocation, prophetic leadership, communal formation, worship, service, and public witness.
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- Citation du texte
- Godswill Ufere (Auteur), 2024, Old Testament Prophetism and the Sons of the Prophets, Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/1786549