What is Prophecy?

At first glance, the nature of prophecy would appear to be a relatively marginal feature of Jewish thought. In fact, discerning prophecy’s essence was critically important to leading medieval Jewish philosophers, including Saadiah, Maimonides, Yehuda HaLevi, and Ibn Ezra. Their ideas on the topic, many of which are not widely known, are complex, and are often very distant from the popular notion of God speaking directly to the prophet. Prophecy may be viewed in the two ways:  is it a natural phenomenon, stemming from a human being’s innate ability to encounter the divine, or is it more of a supernatural phenomenon, representing God’s active involvement in communicating with humans? To put it differently, what is God’s precise role in the prophecy? Read the complete article at -- http://thetorah.com/what-is-prophecy/