He started by saying that prophecy is a phenomenon of religion, not just of Judaism and of Christianity. Gods are always talkative. No peoples honor gods who don't communicate.

Seeing prophecy in vision is very Judahite. The southern prophets see in visions because of the Temple and their physical experience of worship and ritual. In the North, God is not so close. Hosea doesn't use visual language.

The contention that gods are always talkative got me wondering about the state of Christian (and to a lesser degree Jewish) prophecy. 'Though I know little about Jewish thought on the topic of prophecy. But, by and large, most Christians would agree that the significant aspects of the faith are revealed. That the biblical canon is closed, if not officially, certainly practically. So what need have we of prophets?

Then there's the matter of apparitions ... which I don't have an answer for ... but simply share the exaggerated perception of those in Wayne Weible's Lutheran Sunday School class: "Well, you know, this sort of thing usually happens in the Catholic Church."* Are we just more flighty? And here my ignorance of Tracy's work on the imagination will show. But, in broad strokes, we might have more in common with the southern prophets because of our sensory liturgy.

* Weible, Wayne. Medjugorje: The Message. Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 1989. Can you believe that I forgot that he autographed a copy for me last year?!