Why does Christianity not have prophets?

[jamhaw]

Now I know that in Islam Mohamed is supposed to be the last prophet, and I believe Judaism believes that there have been no prophets since the fall of the Temple but the Christian position on this is something I am less clear on. An English professor of mine maintained that there was a council which ruled against modern prophets around 371 or something but my searches on this have so far proven in vain. Can anyone help?

 

[hagagaga]

Christianity as a whole believes in the Jewish prophets. Different denominations of Christianity have a wide variety of beliefs beyond that. Mormons, for example, definitely believe that there are modern-day prophets.

 

[jamhaw]

Christianity as a whole believes in the Jewish prophets. Different denominations of Christianity have a wide variety of beliefs beyond that. Mormons, for example, definitely believe that there are modern-day prophets.

Well yes, but I was referring more to mainstream Christianity which by and large does not seem to accept the concept of modern prophets in the Old Testament sense. What I am particularly interested in is identifying that council I was told of.

 

[hagagaga]

I can't help you there. Sorry.

 

[joak]

Well yes, but I was referring more to mainstream Christianity which by and large does not seem to accept the concept of modern prophets in the Old Testament sense. What I am particularly interested in is identifying that council I was told of.

But no one accepts prophets in the Old Testament sense. Certainly not any of the Abrahamic religions.

 

[Capt. Kiwi]

Why would you need prophets when you're in an epilogue to history? Admittedly one that's turned out about the same size as the main thing, but when you base your entire religion on one person having brought about completion, you're not going to consider prophets that reveal a new message.

 

[greendevil]

Because Christianity believed in the return of Jesus Christ. He's THE prophet and he will come back at some point, so who needs others?

Instead they have saints.

 

[pithorr]

Jesus is not a prophet. He is the God himself (or his son or both or something )
But, yes - Christianity has zillions of saints instead.

 

[Andre Bolkonsky]

Now I know that in Islam Mohamed is supposed to be the last prophet, and I believe Judaism believes that there have been no prophets since the fall of the Temple but the Christian position on this is something I am less clear on. An English professor of mine maintained that there was a council which ruled against modern prophets around 371 or something but my searches on this have so far proven in vain. Can anyone help?

It depends on exactly what question you are asking.

If I read it correctly, the theory you're discussing is that after the Council of Nicea, the Bible was brought to full completion. The Word had been given, the Acts of the Spirit that had led the early-church saints and leadership gave way to the Gospel. The Gospel, the Word of the Living God, would guide individuals along the path of God rather than one individual blessed by the Spirit to lead the tribes.

That is the theory. The problem is how do you define a Prophet? Or a Saint? The Catholic Church has canonized more than a few people who are holy beyond belief; they have also made saints of several individuals who might not even be allowed in Heaven, but who served the Roman Church very well. And then you have faux saints like Santa Muerte and Jesus Malverde of weird sub-religions of Catholicism that aren't acknowledged by Rome, but are fervently worshipped in the towns and villages of the narco-cartels.

The modern definition of a prophet, however, has become someone who can discern events that have not yet happened in time. Nostrodamus, Edgar Cayce, Joseph Smith, Jean Dixon, etc. would fit into varying subcategories of this discussion. And discussing this will open an entirely different can of worms and is capable of bringing about some rather violent responses.

That is the definition of the terms. I hope it helps.

 

[JodelDiplom]

Christianity hasn't needed prophets because the faith never really came under the sort of threat that the Jewish faith of old times had faced. Conquest by pagan superpowers, deportation into faraway lands, massive threat of assimilation into various pagan cultures...

Jews needed prophets (or at least the belief in prophetic revelations) to keep their faith intact in the face of those massive challenges. Christianity never faced such challenges (and it was never as tied with ethnic identity as Judaism was) so prophetic revelations weren't needed to give the oppressed faithful a new hope.

 

[ap08]

Christianity is not just a religion (scriptures, system of belief) but also a church (an organisation), with an established ideology, structure and considerable power. Now imagine that a prophet appears: what does he say? If he simply repeats the gospels, etc. he is not a prophet, just a preacher who preachers without official sanction from the church. To be a prophet he must be saying something new; that is, something that is contrary to tradition and established ideology of the church; that is, heresy. So, the would-be "prophets" are simply called "heretics" and eradicated.

 

[Boblof]

Prophets are people who says that God has spoken to them and said that the established ways of the religion are wrong. As such new prophets are basically inompatible with religions such as Christianity and Islam which claim to be the truth as revealed by God once and for all. In the case of Christisnity atleast (but I imagine there are similar warnings in the Quran) there is even warnings in the bible against the hordes of false prophets that are suppoesed to try to mislead the folowers of God prior to the end of days.

Put together there isn't very fertile ground for would be prophets within christianity, aleast not prophets that could become mainstream, new prophets are just to divisive as an idea in this context. Ther are ofc tons of modern prophets within christianity but they all result in new sects and that never manage to take over the mainstream.

 

[Amallric]

There are plenty of people in Christianity who have claimed that God had spoken to them for one reason or another and a lot of them are pretty mainstream. It's just that in the context of Christianity the word "prophet" has a very precise and defined meaning: they are people who have announced the coming of Jesus Christ. Therefore, since Jesus has come and will be back soon, it wouldn't make any sense to have Christian "prophets".

 

[Labrynian Rebel]

Well it's kind of impossible to address "Christianity" as a whole because of it's fractured theological pieces and fragments all with different opinions, but I'll give it a shot.

In Christianity the prophets ended with John the Baptist, and Jesus was God not a prophet (He's a prophet in Islam and a heretic in Judaism). The whole "Jesus thing" was the culmination of the faith, as in the faith is "complete" and the prophets were only leading up to it. According to the Catholic Church at least "revelation" has ended with the death of the Apostles and there's nothing more to "add" and the only thing we have to do between then and the "Second Coming & All the good times" is to "better understand" what we already have. Of course the story is different between each denomination. There's also the messy business of "all future 'prophets' are fake so just ignore them ESPECIALLY if the do miracles" puts a damper on someone's prophet-aspirations.

 

[Yakman]

There's plenty of Saints. They do the work that the Prophets of the Old Testament did. Besides, all the Prophecy that's needed comes from the Bible. If you are prophecying, chances are you are in league with the devil.

 

[poursa]

I'm pretty sure east orthodox Christianity does have prophets. For example Elder Paisios and Porphirios. They don't call them prophets but: Wikipedia quote: A number of controversial political statements and prophecies have been credited to Elder Paisos. These include the prediction that a war with Turkey will lead to a restoration of a Greater Greece that includes Albania, Macedonia, and Byzantium (Istanbul), and the mass conversion of Turks from Islam to Orthodox Christianity. Many have compared Paisios to Nostradamus. [6]
He is also proposed to become a saint by the church.

 

[JodelDiplom]

I'm pretty sure east orthodox Christianity does have prophets. For example Elder Paisios and Porphirios. They don't call them prophets but: Wikipedia quote: A number of controversial political statements and prophecies have been credited to Elder Paisos. These include the prediction that a war with Turkey will lead to a restoration of a Greater Greece that includes Albania, Macedonia, and Byzantium (Istanbul), and the mass conversion of Turks from Islam to Orthodox Christianity. Many have compared Paisios to Nostradamus. [6]
He is also proposed to become a saint by the church.

That sounds more like your average crackpot mystic than a real prophet.

And the line between "prophet" and "crackpot mystic" is thin - it's mostly about whether the establishment listens or not.