[Avodah] Rambam on Prophecy

[dfinch847 at aol.com]

I wrote:

 "Rambam was a rationalist who, according to one commentator,
 viewed prophecy as a projection of the human intellect. Yehudah ha-Levi
 and others saw prophecy as a supernatural gift. By Rambam, the prophet
 is a prescient intellectual who would know when to invoke G-d's command
 and when to invoke the lesser province of reason and argument. By
 ha-Levi, the prophet may be a charismatic tzaddik who speaks for HaShem
 automatically."

Micha Berger replies:

"Not at all! . . . . The Rambam holds that a navi is someone who lifted 
his consciousness to the
point of being able to see what's going on in higher planes. Note that 
this is
even *more* mystical than the other position; rather than speaking about
Hashem creating dreamlike images, the Rambam (again, as understood by 
the
Abarbanel) invokes the idea of being aware of the processes shamayim and
(except for Moshe Rabbeinu) his mind forcing incomprehensible 
experience into
familiar sights and sounds. And in fact, the Rambam believes that when a
prophet tries for prophecy and doesn't get nevu'ah, it's because Hashem
chooses to withhold it."

I guess I hold to my position. Ramban's discussion of prophecy (other 
than Moishe Rabbeinu's) in MN II (ch. 32-84, esp. 41-44) emphasizes 
rationalistic joinder of Active (Human) and Divine intellect, sometimes 
impelled through dreams and visions. A raised "consciousness" was not a 
part of this system, although it was for Abravanel, who saw prophecy as 
inherently miraculous and believed that prophets acquired Divine powers 
through their consciousness of the higher plane. (There's a good 
discussion of this in Benzion Netanyahu's biography of Abravanel.) For 
Abravanel, this consciousness did not involve the exercise of 
rationalistic powers. For Ramban, it did.

In any event, it's often dangerous to interpret Ramban through the eyes 
of Abravanel, who distrusted his teachings and his intellectual method.

David S. Finch
dfinch847 at aol.com


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