The Power of Preghecy ~ Eoily Refar uation Germans (SIF - 1630 Stephen douy lasert pene, be fo be hr, Coy ween prac 1 shall ist alk about prophets and prophecy in general by highlighting dhe ‘characteristics ofthe phenomenon. Then, drawing on events in Wienburg btween 1521 and 1522, 1 shall conextuaise the role of prophets in the dissemination Reformation ideas andthe reaction tothe them by ouining what ther ‘powers’ there were in Wienberg between 1521 and 1522. While this isa relatively small period of time in the context ofthe fir decade of the Reformation should, however, give ws & 00d ide of what was to occur elsewhere during the Fst decade of reform for two reasons Where similar sociopolitical station obtained, the reaction of the authores may have been similar and since Witenberg was te first city to go through the sequence of reformalory events which Ozment characteris asa thee stage proces, ‘reparation, ineption and consolidation, Witenberg provides an excellent example of hhow the reformation of religion in Germany took place because it was likely 10 influence othe ites in thee efoeatory aspications ‘There are three characteristics of prophecy which are relevant to this essay. ‘Aqustines statement that ll prophecies can but be “the conjecture of human mind” is ‘important to remember if one wishes to balance its power relative to other modes of power. The second factors that prophecy (in the words of Dolinget) is “the mode of expression" given to ideas which could not be acualised and of ideals which could not be brought about without their author resorting to an authority other than himselI”. ‘Therefore, while prophecy may indeed reflect an deal which may be deemed good and desired, it can also serve other ends. So, one cannot tar with the same brush those prophets like Luther, who draw on the ible as inspiration and only serve to interpret its meaning from a direct relationship with the Word, a8 those prophets, such as ‘Thomas Muntser, who believed and expressed this belie to the redulous masses, that they were divinely elected and thus embodied the holy spirit as much as the bible did, ‘My third point abou prophets is that it was, ad is, an ancient tradition. Most religions spring from the doings or accounts of doings and sayings of individuals who may be described as prophets. The Old Testament, however, may be distinguished from the ‘New Testament on the basis thatthe prophets who wrote the former present themselves asthe proof that God is still active in the world through themselves. In the New Testament, though, Jesus Cristi definitely the prof that God has not abandoned the ‘orld, while the aubors of his life story derived their strength openly fom God via his ‘The role of Prophets in Wittenberg. during the time of the Reformation’s inception may be limpsed in an incident that blew-up and away almost as quickly asi ‘occured in late December 1521. On the twenty-seventh of that month thee individuals‘from Zwickau came to the town and spoke of revelations they had had. Their Provenance is worth recounting ait places their claims ina useful context ‘They had come from Zwvickau, another town in Saxony, ale they had been expelled for propagating strange and disturbing ideas at atime when there was tension inthe town, One ofthe Zvickau Prophets’ who came to Wittenberg, Nicholas Storch ‘was of a wealthy merchant family, one of many who had seen their wealth, based on the weaving industry, disappear relative to the nowveau riches ofthe local silver mining industry. The inflation caused by the discovery of silver in the town in the arly fifteen century had wiped out the fortunes ofthe ol rich. Storch had aroused the interest of ‘Thomas Munir, an early Lutheran, who had come to the town to preach reformatory ‘ideas in 1520, When their combined spiritual awakening had won converts and the message that they were ina special communion with God in ther sleep and through their dreams led to thei suggestions of what reforms the town should undertake, the authorities grew fearful and expelled them. However, it was not jus ther claims which ‘won their expulsion, rather it was the actions of those who on hearing Muntser presch agains the Church lynched a local priest and almos killed him. Arriving in Witenberg with two companions, Thomas Drechsel and Marcus Thomae, Storch went to “Melanchihon's house and looked for shelter anda friendly ea. “Melanchthon was de facto leader ofthe reformation movement while Lather was holed up inthe Wartburg and though terribly leaned in scripture and a professor a the tniversity he was, at twenty-four, rather young, While youth alone cannot account for his reaction to their rival and what they had to say, it was certainly his lack of experience in this quarter, being an academic, that contributed to his confused plea in a Jeter to his Elector, Federick-the-Wise, that ‘Luther was the only one who would know what todo" ‘The charge of being ‘Yoo aademic tobe experienced must, however, be further substantiated. While peasants hearing sermons in ther villages may be dsconcerted and credulous towards someone who claimed o be stvated by te living spirit, it seems ‘odd that Melancthon, so learned in scripture should even be confused by their expressed notions However, that he may not ever before have come into contact with actual sef-anointed prophets whose authority rested only on what they said and not ‘what they had done (Luther was, of course, a famed scholar whose meanderings ‘through theology were always closely grounded in the Word) may explain his confused reaction. Words in Me Beth spring to mind that had they been said toa young man of ‘enty-four who was aware of his different up-bringing and lack of worldly experience ‘may have affected him: "there are more things in the world than are thought of in your