ABSTRACT
According to Spinoza, prophecy is produced by the imagination without any help from the intellect: 'Prophets perceived God's revelations with the aid of the imaginative faculty alone, that is, through the medium of words and images, either real or imaginary'. In sum, prophecy can be acknowledged as the 'Word of God' only in a context in which moral values are already appreciated and generally respected. The confusion about the 'authority' of prophecy and Scripture is caused by the ambiguity of the notion of 'authority', an ambiguity which, although it is certainly increased by Spinoza, is perfectly traditional. Moreover, the 'authority' of a prophet is based on a covenant whereas apostolic teaching is based on a personal experience, and that means that it has no 'authority' by itself. Christ was not a prophet interpreting the will of God but the perfect medium through which others could 'perceive' the will of God.
