Davide Righi: Ministry and prophecy in early Christianity according to Henry Corbin (1903-1978) in his «Histoire de la philosophie islamique».

Comparing the development of Islamic and Christian traditions in one of his last and major works devoted to spiritual tendencies within Islamic world, Henry Corbin states the following: «In Christianity, starting from the second century, with the repression of the Montanist movement, the dogmatic magisterium of the Church replaced prophetic inspiration, and more generally the freedom of a spiritual hermeneutics»(Histoire de la philosophie islamique, italian translation p. 20).This presentation will discuss Corbin’s views concerning the alleged disappearance of prophecy in Christian tradition linked with the development of biblical interpretation and the raising role of the teaching ministry.I will try to verify his statement about the development of historical consciousness in Christian tradition and, therefore, the prevalence of the literal meaning of the scriptures on the spiritual one.He states: "Allegory is harmless, spiritual sense can be revolutionary" (p.21). How the development of historical consciousness and the clash between allegory and historical/litteral meaning is linked with the development of the ministry and the role of profecy in second/third century Church?How the development of the canon of the scriptures and their interpretation is also linked with the same clash between ministry and prophecy?