Busts of the Prophets from the former High Altar Retable

Paulus is born into a Jewish family and raised in the Jewish faith. Judaism at the time of Paulus consists of various groups. Among them, the Pharisees, Essenes, and Sadducees form the largest. Paulus says of himself that he is "according to the law a Pharisee" (Phil 3:5).

As such, he is well acquainted with the scriptures of Judaism. The most important scripture is the Tanach (Hebrew Bible). The prophets play an important role in it. The prophets are also important in Christianity to this day. Their tradition forms part of the Old Testament.

In ecclesiastical art, the Apostles are often paired with them as representatives of the New Testament. This is the case with the former high altar of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Münster, where the twelve statuettes of the Apostles (New Testament) correspond to twelve busts of prophets (Old Testament). Presumably, because the twelve Apostles were supplemented by figures of St. Paul and John the Baptist, the number of prophets was also increased to fourteen busts. In the process, however, duplicates crept in: the prophet Jeremiah and the Jewish scholar Philo appear twice. Philo is not among the prophets of the Tanakh, and his writings are not included in the Bible. There is no clear explanation as to why exactly he was included in the group (let alone twice).

Read more about the prophets and their interpretation over the centuries: *The Bible in St. Paul’s Cathedral: 14 Prophets* by Maria Albracht. [externer Link ]

On the inscriptions of the prophet busts.

Information on the Jewish movements of the first century.