Product Description

Abraham Heschel is a seminal name in religious studies and the author of Man Is Not Alone and God in Search of Man. When The Prophets was first published in 1962, it was immediately recognized as a masterpiece of biblical scholarship.

The Prophets provides a unique opportunity for readers of the Old Testament, both Christian and Jewish, to gain fresh and deep knowledge of Israel's prophetic movement. The author's profound understanding of the prophets also opens the door to new insight into the philosophy of religion.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #73227 in Books
• Published on: 2009-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 522 pages

From Amazon.com
According to the popular definition, a prophet is one who accurately predicts the future. But in the Jewish tradition, as Abraham Joshua Heschel explains in The Prophets, these figures earn their title by witnessing the world around them with outstanding passion. Prophets are those whose "life and soul are at stake" in what they say about "the mystery of [God's] relation to man." They are "some of the most disturbing people who have ever lived," and yet they are also "the men whose image is our refuge in distress, and whose voice and vision sustain our faith." Heschel's book, one of the classic texts on the subject, contains sophisticated, straightforward discussions of each of the Hebrew prophets, the primary themes of their preaching, and comparisons of Israel's prophets to those of other religions'. Throughout, Heschel avoids the two great temptations in any discussion of prophesy: overstating the supernatural quality of a prophet's epiphany ("A prophet is a person, not a microphone"), and reducing prophesy to a merely human phenomenon. Instead, Heschel describes the prophet's peculiar status as God's spokesman in a way that does justice to its complexity: "He speaks from the perspective of God as perceived from the perspective of his own situation." --Michael Joseph Gross

-- James Muilenburg
"It is fresh and vivid, alive and perceptive, aflame with prophetic passion, yet scholarly and informed."

-- John Bright, The Westminster Bookman
" . . . The author has here given us the fruits of his mature reflection and study."

Customer Reviews

Illuminating and comforting
Heschel illuminates the consciousness of the Israelite prophets, explains their uniqueness in history and explains the essentials of prophetic religion. He identifies their major trait as a profound sensitivity to evil. This involved complete intolerance to injustice and indifference, an attitude often expressed in harsh words. The soul of the prophet was attuned to the cry of the afflicted. Driven by compassion, he protested vehemently.

In addition, the prophets fiercely repudiated mankind's subservience to might, holding up the moral law in the place of force. Their view of violence as obscene and their sympathy for the weak were rare for that time. The theme that might is not right is inherent in their message. Unlike the lofty metaphysicians they focused on the mundane, the way people treat one another. The prophets also emphasized linear as opposed to cyclical time, bringing a promise of ultimate salvation.

Heschel deals with individual prophets like Amos, who in his concern for Israel's neighbors made it clear that God cares for all nations. Hosea proclaimed that Israel is God's consort, the first Isaiah warned against foreign alliances while denouncing obstinacy and pride, while Micah distilled the essence of true worship: do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with the Divine.

Gentle by nature, Jeremiah's anguish becomes clear as he had to convey messages of wrath and suffering. The first Isaiah and Habbakuk spoke of ultimate redemption through an outpouring of the Spirit whilst the second Isaiah proclaimed God's eternal love for Israel, His concern for all mankind and the idea of Israel as a light to the nations.

The author shows that the prophets were torn in anguish between compassion for mankind and sympathy for God, acting as advocate for the one to the other. They constantly intervened, imploring mercy for the people whilst warning the powerful in explosive language against their abusive practices, and admonishing the whole nation for its lack of empathy. To quote Heschel: `The opposite of freedom is not determinism, but hardness of heart.'

It emerges that judgment is never final, that the gate of repentance remains open and that there is sorrow in the anger of the Lord. History is where justice suffers defeat but the prophets predicted future peace and salvation. Over and over they emphasized that kindness took precedence over wisdom, wealth or might. More than strict justice only, righteousness encompasses loving concern. The prophets proclaimed the divine pathos, revealing that the great judge is our Father too.

This absorbing and completely unique work succeeds in making many things clear, on both a mental and emotional level. Written in graceful prose, the concepts are easy to understand while Heschel's words speak to the heart. The Prophets is one of the most moving and comforting books I have ever read.

Hearing voices...
Rabbi Abraham Heschel is an intellectual and prophetic hero of mine. Any one who would stand up to the pope and say 'I'd rather die than convert' (when trying to get the Roman Catholic Church to drop 'conversion of the Jews' as an official aim of the church) has the sort of integrity of belief and identity that I aspire to and most likely will never attain.

Heschel's book 'The Prophets' became an almost instant classic. Simply reading through the chapter titles and subtitles (a partial list of titles appears at the bottom of this review) will give a sense of the breadth and depth of this work.

Heschel sees an urgent need for prophets and prophecy in today's world. He said the things that horrified the prophets are even now daily occurrences all over the world. In examining the prophecies of Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Nathan, &c, he discerns the common strands of the word of God in all that they said and did, and teaches the reader how to discern similar prophetic aspects in today's world. 'The prophet is human, yet he employs note one octave too high for our ears.'

The Bible says, let him who has ears to hear, listen. Alas, ordinarily we do not have the hearing range to be able to give adequate attention and comprehension to today's prophetic voices. Most often the voice of the prophet is one we do not want to hear (look at how the Israelites reacted to their prophets!). Prophets were often seen as doom-sayers and problematic people.

Indeed, every prediction of disaster is in itself an exhortation to repentance. The prophet is sent not only to upbraid, but to 'strengthen the weak hands and make firm the feeble knees.'

Every prophetic utterance, according to Heschel, has to have within its core a message of hope. Without hope, without a promise to greater community and participation in the love of God, there is no true prophecy. The road may be hard and long, involving pain and even death, but in the end, the prophet's goal is greater life for all.

According to Heschel, 'To be a prophet is both a distinction and an affliction.' Being a prophet has never been a chosen profession. Indeed, like Jonah, we'll often go to extraordinary lengths to avoid even the smallest call to prophecy. Prophetic voices are inconvenient, not least of which to the person charged to be the speaker of that voice. Yet the prophet is much more than a mouthpiece.

Heschel also says the prophet claims to be far more than a messenger. He is a person who stands in the presence of God. The prophet becomes one with God in many ways, yet remains a human being. This creates a tension in the prophet, as Heschel writes about Isaiah: Indeed, two sympathies dwell in a prophet's soul: sympathy for God and sympathy for the people. Speaking to the people, he is emotionally at one with God; in the presence of God, beholding a vision, he is emotionally at one with the people.

Yet prophecy has its limits. Heschel states that a prophet can give man a new word, but not a new heart.... Prophecy is not God's only instrument. What prophecy fails to bring about, the new covenant will accomplish: the complete transformation of every individual.

It was the prophet who, long before ideas of political unity and divers peoples living together in community, first conceived of the idea of a unity that binds all human beings together.

Read and prepare to be enlightened, inspired, irritated, and educated.

Chapters include:
- What manner of man is the prophet?
- History
- Chastisement
- Justice
- The Theology of Pathos
- The Philosophy of Pathos
- Anthropopathy
- The Meaning and Mystery of Wrath
- Religion of Sympathy
- Prophecy and Ecstasy
- Prophecy and Poetic Inspiration
- Prophecy and Psychosis (there is a fine line between prophecy and madness, after all!)

Heschel sums up in a sense in this way: This, then, is the ultimate category of prophetic theology: involvement, attentiveness, concern. Prophetic religion may be defined, not as what man does with his ultimate concern, but rather what man does with God's concern.

A Sociological Approach
If you're looking to find some reading that will stretch you limitations, this book will do nicely. First of all, this is not a commentary about the books of the prophets so don't buy it if that's what you're looking for. This book is largely a look at the sociological and psychological aspects of being a prophet.

This book challenges you to look at the world from a probable perspective of the man and not necessarily the mission, although these subjects are covered at an aggregate level.

The author transports the vivid reader into the mind of a prophet and helps one understand the frustrations, depression, and sense of injustice that the propet may have felt. The prophet is not dehumanized to demigod status like most other readings on the subject. The prophet is viewed as sympathetic to God and in tune with the message. These men feel the emotion.

What I find most appealing is that the author allows God to have emotions which I find refreshing in light of the influence that Maimonides (whom I enjoy abundantly) has had on Judaic thought.

The only negative, if any, is that this is not the most easy read, but what philosphy student likes light reading!