This seminar investigates the problem of “prophecy,” a term used to describe a variety of practices that include the ecstatic utterances of the Greek sibyls, the writings attributed to the Hebrew nevi’im, the visions described in the Revelations of John of Patmos, and the présages of Nostradamus. Drawing on the work of historians and theorists, students learn to read prophetic utterances in their specific cultural contexts, while considering larger problems of authority, skepticism, and interpretation. Is prophetic language a recognizable literary genre? Is prophecy simply a matter of predicting the future? What are the moral and social uses of prophecy? Are prophecies ever false? And who is more prophetic – the one who utters the prophecy, or the one who understands it?