Manufacturing Foresight: How a Prophecy Gets Built
Article 4 of 6 A prophecy that comes true is impressive. A prophecy written after the event and then backdated cannot fail. The ancient world knew this, and it had techniques for it. Understanding those techniques is the difference between being awed by Isaiah's "prediction" of Cyrus and seeing how the trick is assembled. There are two ways to manufacture foresight, and the Bible contains both. Only one of them requires a forger.
What this resource contributes
Article 4 of 6 A prophecy that comes true is impressive. A prophecy written after the event and then backdated cannot fail. The ancient world knew this, and it had techniques for it. Understanding those techniques is the difference between being awed by Isaiah's "prediction" of Cyrus and seeing how the trick is assembled. There are two ways to manufacture foresight, and the Bible contains both. Only one of them requires a forger. The other — the one operating in Isaiah — needs no liar at all, which is precisely what makes it harder to answer.
Topics and source signals
Primary sources detected
Hebrew Bible
Scholars detected
Bart Ehrman · John J. Collins