In Christianity, the historical figures widely recognised as prophets are those mentioned as such in the Hebrew Bible and the canonical New Testament. It is believed that Prophets are called or chosen by God.
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The main list below consists of only those individuals that have been clearly defined as prophets, either by explicit statement or strong contextual implication, (e.g. the authors of the books listed as the major prophets and minor prophets) along with the Biblical reference to their office.
In Roman Catholicism, prophets are recognised as having received either Public or Private Revelation. Public Revelation is part of the "deposit of faith", which refers to the entire revelation of Jesus Christ passed to successive generations in the forms of sacred scripture (the Bible) and sacred tradition.
The secondary list consists of those individuals who are recorded as having had a visionary or prophetic experience, but without a history of any major or consistent prophetic calling. A final list contains the names of those described in the Bible as prophets, but who either misused this gift or were fraudulent.