Prophecy, Ecstasy, and Sympathy

Abstract

This chapter sketches the psychological setting of Hebrew prophecy, and outlines the tension between the conflicting trends and feelings which make for the dynamic character of prophetic consciousness. It first deals with a short historical survey of the problem. The chapter emphasizes that the author's discussion on ecstasy and sympathy, far from exhausting the prophetic phenomenon, pertains only to its psychological infrastructure. It examines four basic forms of ecstasy. The first is the ecstasy of mass hysteria known from Dionysian and Corybantic cults as described in classical literature. The second kind is the individual oracular ecstasy, aiming at trance, which was auto-suggestively induced by ritual acts like bathing, drinking from a sacred spring, inhaling of vapours. The author calls the third form as integrative ecstasy, or the ecstasy of the integrated personality. In fourth kind, the introverted ecstasy is the second psychological variation in prophetic and apocalyptic literature. Keywords: apocalyptic literature; Corybantic cults; Hebrew prophecy; integrative ecstasy; oracular ecstasy; prophetic literature