Both the historiographical analysis and the ancient documents about the Christian movement known as Montanism place paramount importance on prophecy, visions, and ecstasy. The theological refutation of Montanist teaching and doctrine in the heresiological sources was almost entirely shaped by the attribution of deceitfulness and error to the experience of ecstatic prophecy. Even though some oracles uttered by the Montanist prophets are preserved, the most detailed description of their ecstasy is conveyed by the reports of the heresiologists. The present paper attempts to reconstruct the Montanist prophetic experience, comparing descriptions of Montanist ecstasy in the heresiological texts with other reports about ecstatic prophecy. More specifically, an analysis of the linguistic components that heresiologists used to describe ecstasy is contrasted with the vocabulary of other texts which illustrate the same basic model of religious experience. Finally, the conclusions draw attention to the discourses and interpretations of ecstatic prophecy related by different observers.
They are not the words of a rational man: ecstatic prophecy in Montanism / M. Dell'Isola - In: Lived Religion in the Ancient Mediterranean World : Approaching Religious Transformations from Archaeology, History and Classics / [a cura di] V. Gasparini, M. Patzelt, R. Raja, A.-K. Rieger, J. Rüpke, E. Urciuoli. - [s.l] : De Gruyter, 2020. - ISBN 9783110557572. - pp. 71-86 [10.1515/9783110557596-005]
They are not the words of a rational man: ecstatic prophecy in Montanism
M. Dell'Isola
2020
Abstract
Both the historiographical analysis and the ancient documents about the Christian movement known as Montanism place paramount importance on prophecy, visions, and ecstasy. The theological refutation of Montanist teaching and doctrine in the heresiological sources was almost entirely shaped by the attribution of deceitfulness and error to the experience of ecstatic prophecy. Even though some oracles uttered by the Montanist prophets are preserved, the most detailed description of their ecstasy is conveyed by the reports of the heresiologists. The present paper attempts to reconstruct the Montanist prophetic experience, comparing descriptions of Montanist ecstasy in the heresiological texts with other reports about ecstatic prophecy. More specifically, an analysis of the linguistic components that heresiologists used to describe ecstasy is contrasted with the vocabulary of other texts which illustrate the same basic model of religious experience. Finally, the conclusions draw attention to the discourses and interpretations of ecstatic prophecy related by different observers.File | Dimensione | Formato | |
---|---|---|---|
10.1515_9783110557596-005.pdf
accesso aperto
Tipologia:
Publisher's version/PDF
Dimensione
125.4 kB
Formato
Adobe PDF
|
125.4 kB | Adobe PDF | Visualizza/Apri |
Pubblicazioni consigliate
I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.