The Gift of Prophecy

Part II—Historical Studies

Chapter 10 — The Gift of Prophecy in the Early Church and Middle Ages

John W. Reeve and Rodrigo Galiza

The narrative of the developing understanding of the spiritual gift of prophecy in the early centuries of Christianity involves various perspectives, such as who was considered a true prophet, the role of prophecy in liturgy, the characteristics of false prophets, and many others. Although we mention these as part of our narrative, they are not our primary thrust. We briefly focus on the role of itinerant prophets (preachers) in the shaping of ecclesiastical structures within Christianity. GOP 202.1

As it will become clear in our narrative, early on in Christianity the gift of prophecy was understood generally as enabling one to discern and proclaim the truth. A prophet, then, was a proclaimer of truth. This is why the role of a prophet overlapped with that of a teacher and preacher. But it was not every teacher/preacher who was considered a true prophet. For the early Christians, a divine prophet was one who proclaimed true things related to Jesus as the Christ from God; thus, they spoke from/for God to humanity. ¹ GOP 202.2

For brevity, our use of Christian sources is selective. We emphasize the literature of the first three centuries because of our view that the trajectory of that time became generally normative of how catholic Christianity would react to the gift of prophecy. We believe the itinerant (uncontrolled) character of true prophets and the rise of false prophets caused the church as an organization to rely increasingly more on local ecclesiastical authority for divine direction. However, this did not hinder Christians outside the established hierarchy from claiming the gift of prophecy. We attempt to accurately elucidate this complex tension between controlling or being controlled by the Holy Spirit through the experiences of those involved in the following stories and to analyze those who claimed to have the prophetic gift of the Spirit. GOP 202.3