Researcher ORCID Identifier

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-1992-3619

Graduation Year

2024

Date of Submission

4-2024

Document Type

Campus Only Senior Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Religious Studies

Reader 1

Tanner Moore

Reader 2

Daniel Michon

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Terms of Use for work posted in Scholarship@Claremont.

Rights Information

@2024 Emmett T KingIII

Abstract

This thesis analyzes the idea of prophecy and explores it in the context of the Catholic Church's assumed role in understanding revelation. I wanted to study prophecy within the Church because the entire Catholic faith's historical roots are within prophecy. Also, I wanted to study the nature of prophecy within the context of revelation because something so “unworldly” as prophecy is attention-grabbing and can still move mountains as it once did. I looked at the Catholic Church and how it began. Then I looked into the core of the Church, exploring the relationship between revelation, faith, and prophecy. I followed the evolution of this relationship between revelation, faith, and prophecy historically from the foundational teachings in the Bible through significant theological developments up to the realm of contemporary ideas. By taking a religious studies approach, I removed the theological or normative lens often used and applied both a historical and anthropological lens. By examining texts and historical moments— from the prophetic books of the Old Testament to teachings of Vatican II, to the Secrets of Fatima—this paper dissects how the Church integrates these divine communications into its doctrine and Scripture itself. Through this analysis, I discovered that the doctrine of the Catholic Church is an ever-evolving, institutionally manipulated collection of individual faith responses that sits on foundational revelation. The erection of the Catholic Church as a hierarchal institution was a human mistake and is not what the Bible has laid out. The job of defining, organizing, and explaining anything has already been done by God through the Bible and creation, and any further assistance an individual may need will be provided by the Holy Spirit.

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