Legitimate and Illegitimate Divination in Medieval Writings

This article analyzes the characteristics of divination since early Christianity, canonical regulations on the practice, and the arguments for which it was condemned by the theologians. It will also analyze the semantic ambivalence of medieval vocabulary in relation to divinatory practices. Since only God’s prophetic power was allowed, all types of prognostication of the future without His approval were considered false and illegitimate. What this article will show is that from the early Middle Ages onwards, divination was distinguished by other prognostic methods through the nature of the divine messages and human reasoning. U radu autor analizira karakteristike proricanja tijekom ranog kršćanstva te kanonske propise o proricaju i argumente zbog kojih su ga teolozi osuđivali. Također se analizira semantička ambivalentnost srednjovjekovnog rječnika u odnosu na proricateljsku praksu. Budući da je bila dopuštena samo Božja proročka moć, sve vrste predviđanja budućnosti bez božanskog odobrenja smatrane su lažnim i nelegitimnim. Ono što ovaj članak pokazuje jest to da se od ranog srednjeg vijeka nadalje proricanje razlikovalo od drugih proricateljskih metoda kroz prirodu božanskih poruka i ljudskog razmišljanja.