Mystical prophecy: The biblical prophets as mystics

In his seminal work on Jewish mysticism, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism, Gershom Scholem emphatically denies that the biblical prophets can be considered mystics. Similarly, scholars of biblical prophecy such as J. Lindblom and Abraham J. Heschel, argue that the religious experiences of the biblical prophets are essentially different from those of the world's mystics. They base their conclusions on a typological understanding of biblical prophecy and mysticism that defines these terms using a set of mutually exclusive categories that focus on difference rather than continuity of experience.; This thesis challenges the typological approach by deconstructing the typologies that are traditionally used to define prophecy and mysticism. Rather than using a typological approach that highlights difference, it employs a morphological approach that illustrates the phenomenological similarities between the religious experiences of the biblical prophets and many Western mystics. Moreover, it shows that mysticism plays an important role in prophetic revelation.