Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: A summary
1.0 INTRODUCTION
The Vatican II Council in general tried to achieve freedom in the act of faith. Thus, faith is the free gift of God and we respond freely to that gift. It is also geared towards rebuilding the Christian unity and for world peace thus the technical term ‘aggiornamento’ is used to refer to the character of the council.
The Vatican Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation reaffirms the various elements of doctrine of revelation as proposed by earlier councils and in earlier official papal documents. There are mainly three points in the discussion, which includes the nature of tradition-the relation of Scripture and tradition as against protestant’s sola scriptura, the nature of inerrancy and the historicity of the Gospels. There is a stress on Christ as the full revelation of the Father. 2.0 AN OVERVIEW SUMMMARY OF DEI VERBUM The whole Dogmatic Constitution is summed up in the following decrees of the council that ‘the divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit…. They have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church itself. To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their powers and faculties.” At the same time, the Council Fathers stressed that “she has always regarded and continues to regard the Scripture taken together with Sacred Tradition, as the supreme rule of her faith. For since they are inspired by God and committed to writing once and for all time, they present God’s own word in an unalterable form and they make the voice of the Holy Spirit sound again and again in the words of the prophets and apostles.” This Constitution on revelation because of its nature needs a detailed summary according to chapters drawn from the document. This will inevitably help in explicating the theological implication found therein so that it will be appreciated more especially in the modern use of the word ‘revelation’, and thus creating an atmosphere of understanding the concept of ‘prima scriptura’ as transcending beyond ‘sola scriptura’ generally held by protestants. It is worthy o note here that the council intends to follow in the footsteps of Trent and Vatican I in presenting the true doctrine about revelation and its transmission. 3.0 DIVINE REVELATION ITSELF This is the chapter one of the constitution and it is aimed at defining divine revelation. It views divine revelation as God’s self-communication, a loving and totally gratuitous invitation to enter a dialogue of friendship. This revelation takes place by words and by action, both of which are connected. While the actions or deeds reinforce the doctrine, the words proclaim or lighten on the mystery contained in deeds. In Christ, such mediation and connections are fully realised for he is the word made flesh. He is the fullness of revelation. The mystery of revelation is seen in the context of history of salvation. For his love of humanity, he manifested himself to Adam and Eve, our first parents. After their fall, he continues to lift humanity up into the hope of salvation made from Abraham through Moses and the prophets. Thus at the fullness of time, God sent his son born of woman to redeem man. God spoke to us by his son in these last days. God sent Jesus to teach men the way of the father. Thus he said ‘to see me is to see the father’. Christ revealed everything about the father, thus the salvation economy will never be superseded and no new public revelation is to be expected before the return of Christ. Our response to this revelation is total, an act of faith which requires God’s grace to assist and move him through the interior help of the Holy Spirit. Vatican I gave a related definition of faith. If unfolded it means, if God speaks a truth, faith requires intellectual belief. If He makes a promise faith requires confidence. If He gives a command, faith requires obedience . All is to be done in love. God can be known from created world by the natural light of human reason. 4.0 THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION Christ commanded the Apostles to preach the Gospel to all, which was done faithfully by the apostles in oral preaching and by examples and the institutions they established. For the sake of continuity of the Gospel, the Apostles left Bishop as their successors giving them their teaching office. A caveat is always noted here that they should hold on to the tradition which they received either by mouth or by letter and pass it on as they received it. By the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the church continues to advance with apostolic tradition both with the word, the contemplation of the word and study of those who believe pondering them in our heart. The sayings of the holy Fathers attest to the presence of this tradition. It is through tradition that the canon of the Scripture is made known to the Church. The Sacred Scripture and the Sacred Tradition are connected because they come from the same source and have the same goal. While sacred scripture is the word of God written in two testaments which has God as its author. Sacred Tradition is the word of God passed on to us in various forms: liturgy, prayers and the teachings of the Apostles and their successors. Although the Church authentically interprets the word of God, the teaching office is not above the word of God but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listens to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and the help of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Sacred Scripture, the Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium are related such that one cannot stand without the other especially in the salvation of soul. 5.0 SACRD SCRIPTURE: ITS DIVINE INSPIRATION AND ITS INTERPRETATION It is in this article that the core message of the document is found noting disparages by certain scholars about inspiration. The books of the Scripture have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture writers retain their human intelligence and knowledge, but in a special way their human characteristics their limitation not excluded, were used to deliver God’s message faithfully without error. The fact of no error in the Scripture does not apply to scientific or historical accuracy but in the sense of man’s salvation as it relates to faith and morals. In interpretation of the Scripture, one must take note that there is one chief Author, the Holy Spirit, so for all the Scripture one part cannot contradict another. Also, there is also a consideration of the tradition of the whole church and the analogy of faith, such that any interpretation is false if it is to clash with the implication of the Church. Furthermore, interpretation requires depth knowledge of the historical analysis, literary analysis, human science and understanding the purpose the text served to the initial or first audience. 6.0 THE OLD TESTAMENT This chapter of the document tried to review the character of the Old Testament in economy of salvation. The plan of salvation of man began in the Old Testament. It is in fact the preparatory ground for the coming of Christ, the redeemer of all. The Testament provides an understanding of God and man and make clear to all men how a just and merciful God deals with mankind. God is both the author of the Old and New Testament. He arranged everything so that the New Testament would lie hidden in the Old and the Old would open up the New. The New Testaments show in full the completion of the Old Testament in the activity of Christ. 7.0 THE NEW TESTAMENT The New Testament is considered as the fullness of time because Christ who is the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Christ established on Earth the Kingdom of God, revealed his Father and himself by words and actions, by his death, resurrection and ascension and sending forth the Holy Spirit. The four Gospels are the foremost teachings in Scripture. They contain the foundation of our faith. It provides the framework for the Church. They show in depth the Christian moral standard. It contains the story of salvation and the revealed truths about God and Jesus. 8.0 SACRED SCRIPTURE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH The document once more emphasised the importance of the Sacred Scripture in the life of the church. It is in fact seen in relation to the Eucharist. It holds that the Scriptures along with sacred tradition is the supreme rule of faith. All preaching, just as the Church itself, should be nourished and guided by the Scripture. The Christian faithful must have a true and profound knowledge of the Scripture. Thus Septuagint has been the Church’s own biblical translation, also the Latin vulgate is held in high regard in the Church. This call for the knowledge of the Scripture by the council fathers made it possible for translations to be made in various languages translated from vulgate. This document gives affirmation to ecumenical bible that is bible which the whole denomination translated together and used by all. Adequate care should be taken so that it contains the essential character of the original text. The Church promotes the study of the Holy Fathers of the East and West so that there would be more profound understanding of the scriptures. The exegetics should help to make the Scripture fruitful by providing correct interpretation from the scripture and the magisterium. The Scripture is the soul of theology, so the Clerics should emerge themselves in studying the Scripture in order to have adequate ground on catechesis, pastoral preaching and Christian instruction. They should be constant in reading the Scripture because ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ. It is the function of the Bishop to see that the study of the Sacred Book should more and more fill the hearts of men just as by frequent Holy communion grows the life of souls. 9.0 THE RECEPTION OF THE DOCUMENT TO DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGICAL LEARNING In the contemporary theology, four basic approaches are identifiable: objective and cognitive aspect of revelation, subjective and personalist aspect, synthesis views and feminist views. The objective and cognitive view of revelation tries to underline the objective character of revelation and assent aspect of faith. For them, God reveals himself through those mighty acts by which divine sovereignty over history is expressed (Protestant’s theologians). Also in this view, the catholic theologians are with the view that God is revealed in history but the word of God in both Old and New Testaments is necessary to illuminate the revelatory character of those historical events. Liberation theology is with the view that God is revealed in historical praxis of liberation of the poor and the oppressed. On the contrary, the subjective view of revelation has it that revelation happens when we are opened to authentic human existence and when we begin to respond closely to the word of God. Certain view championed by Avery Dulles tried to mediate the two afore-mentioned opposing views that revelation is a disciplined response that unfolds under the aegis of faith within a community and a tradition. The feminist view of revelation tried to consider the androcentric and patriarchal character of the biblical texts, of the cultures that produced them and the kind of interpretation that have been given them in subsequent centuries. While some emphasised the ignorance of women’s contribution on the bible, others had the view that women occupied a symbolic place in the Scripture. 10. EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION Our experience of God is always mediated. This means that all revelation is mysterious, sacramental or symbolic in character. God, the invisible One, is known always and only through what is visible. Insofar as any visible reality contains and communicates the presence of God, it can be called a mystery. Christ, therefore, is the great mystery. The Church, too, is a mystery. God remains hidden and disclosed. A balance theology of revelation has to avoid extremes of Modernism and extrinsicism. Revelation has its origin and foundation outside the human subject, but if it happens at all, it happens within the consciousness of human subject. Revelation is available in principle to everyone because all are called to salvation but salvation is impossible without faith. Faith, in turn, is impossible without revelation. Finally, revelation is closed only in the sense that the Christ-event has already happened. Revelation continues in that God is a living God and remains available to us. But God will not fundamentally alter nor revoke the self-communication that has already occurred in Christ. Claims of private revelation are not binding on anyone other than the person or persons to whom the revelation is given, even if the revelation or apparition has been approved by the Church.
The Vatican Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation reaffirms the various elements of doctrine of revelation as proposed by earlier councils and in earlier official papal documents. There are mainly three points in the discussion, which includes the nature of tradition-the relation of Scripture and tradition as against protestant’s sola scriptura, the nature of inerrancy and the historicity of the Gospels. There is a stress on Christ as the full revelation of the Father. 2.0 AN OVERVIEW SUMMMARY OF DEI VERBUM The whole Dogmatic Constitution is summed up in the following decrees of the council that ‘the divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit…. They have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church itself. To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their powers and faculties.” At the same time, the Council Fathers stressed that “she has always regarded and continues to regard the Scripture taken together with Sacred Tradition, as the supreme rule of her faith. For since they are inspired by God and committed to writing once and for all time, they present God’s own word in an unalterable form and they make the voice of the Holy Spirit sound again and again in the words of the prophets and apostles.” This Constitution on revelation because of its nature needs a detailed summary according to chapters drawn from the document. This will inevitably help in explicating the theological implication found therein so that it will be appreciated more especially in the modern use of the word ‘revelation’, and thus creating an atmosphere of understanding the concept of ‘prima scriptura’ as transcending beyond ‘sola scriptura’ generally held by protestants. It is worthy o note here that the council intends to follow in the footsteps of Trent and Vatican I in presenting the true doctrine about revelation and its transmission. 3.0 DIVINE REVELATION ITSELF This is the chapter one of the constitution and it is aimed at defining divine revelation. It views divine revelation as God’s self-communication, a loving and totally gratuitous invitation to enter a dialogue of friendship. This revelation takes place by words and by action, both of which are connected. While the actions or deeds reinforce the doctrine, the words proclaim or lighten on the mystery contained in deeds. In Christ, such mediation and connections are fully realised for he is the word made flesh. He is the fullness of revelation. The mystery of revelation is seen in the context of history of salvation. For his love of humanity, he manifested himself to Adam and Eve, our first parents. After their fall, he continues to lift humanity up into the hope of salvation made from Abraham through Moses and the prophets. Thus at the fullness of time, God sent his son born of woman to redeem man. God spoke to us by his son in these last days. God sent Jesus to teach men the way of the father. Thus he said ‘to see me is to see the father’. Christ revealed everything about the father, thus the salvation economy will never be superseded and no new public revelation is to be expected before the return of Christ. Our response to this revelation is total, an act of faith which requires God’s grace to assist and move him through the interior help of the Holy Spirit. Vatican I gave a related definition of faith. If unfolded it means, if God speaks a truth, faith requires intellectual belief. If He makes a promise faith requires confidence. If He gives a command, faith requires obedience . All is to be done in love. God can be known from created world by the natural light of human reason. 4.0 THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION Christ commanded the Apostles to preach the Gospel to all, which was done faithfully by the apostles in oral preaching and by examples and the institutions they established. For the sake of continuity of the Gospel, the Apostles left Bishop as their successors giving them their teaching office. A caveat is always noted here that they should hold on to the tradition which they received either by mouth or by letter and pass it on as they received it. By the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the church continues to advance with apostolic tradition both with the word, the contemplation of the word and study of those who believe pondering them in our heart. The sayings of the holy Fathers attest to the presence of this tradition. It is through tradition that the canon of the Scripture is made known to the Church. The Sacred Scripture and the Sacred Tradition are connected because they come from the same source and have the same goal. While sacred scripture is the word of God written in two testaments which has God as its author. Sacred Tradition is the word of God passed on to us in various forms: liturgy, prayers and the teachings of the Apostles and their successors. Although the Church authentically interprets the word of God, the teaching office is not above the word of God but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listens to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and the help of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Sacred Scripture, the Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium are related such that one cannot stand without the other especially in the salvation of soul. 5.0 SACRD SCRIPTURE: ITS DIVINE INSPIRATION AND ITS INTERPRETATION It is in this article that the core message of the document is found noting disparages by certain scholars about inspiration. The books of the Scripture have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture writers retain their human intelligence and knowledge, but in a special way their human characteristics their limitation not excluded, were used to deliver God’s message faithfully without error. The fact of no error in the Scripture does not apply to scientific or historical accuracy but in the sense of man’s salvation as it relates to faith and morals. In interpretation of the Scripture, one must take note that there is one chief Author, the Holy Spirit, so for all the Scripture one part cannot contradict another. Also, there is also a consideration of the tradition of the whole church and the analogy of faith, such that any interpretation is false if it is to clash with the implication of the Church. Furthermore, interpretation requires depth knowledge of the historical analysis, literary analysis, human science and understanding the purpose the text served to the initial or first audience. 6.0 THE OLD TESTAMENT This chapter of the document tried to review the character of the Old Testament in economy of salvation. The plan of salvation of man began in the Old Testament. It is in fact the preparatory ground for the coming of Christ, the redeemer of all. The Testament provides an understanding of God and man and make clear to all men how a just and merciful God deals with mankind. God is both the author of the Old and New Testament. He arranged everything so that the New Testament would lie hidden in the Old and the Old would open up the New. The New Testaments show in full the completion of the Old Testament in the activity of Christ. 7.0 THE NEW TESTAMENT The New Testament is considered as the fullness of time because Christ who is the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Christ established on Earth the Kingdom of God, revealed his Father and himself by words and actions, by his death, resurrection and ascension and sending forth the Holy Spirit. The four Gospels are the foremost teachings in Scripture. They contain the foundation of our faith. It provides the framework for the Church. They show in depth the Christian moral standard. It contains the story of salvation and the revealed truths about God and Jesus. 8.0 SACRED SCRIPTURE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH The document once more emphasised the importance of the Sacred Scripture in the life of the church. It is in fact seen in relation to the Eucharist. It holds that the Scriptures along with sacred tradition is the supreme rule of faith. All preaching, just as the Church itself, should be nourished and guided by the Scripture. The Christian faithful must have a true and profound knowledge of the Scripture. Thus Septuagint has been the Church’s own biblical translation, also the Latin vulgate is held in high regard in the Church. This call for the knowledge of the Scripture by the council fathers made it possible for translations to be made in various languages translated from vulgate. This document gives affirmation to ecumenical bible that is bible which the whole denomination translated together and used by all. Adequate care should be taken so that it contains the essential character of the original text. The Church promotes the study of the Holy Fathers of the East and West so that there would be more profound understanding of the scriptures. The exegetics should help to make the Scripture fruitful by providing correct interpretation from the scripture and the magisterium. The Scripture is the soul of theology, so the Clerics should emerge themselves in studying the Scripture in order to have adequate ground on catechesis, pastoral preaching and Christian instruction. They should be constant in reading the Scripture because ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ. It is the function of the Bishop to see that the study of the Sacred Book should more and more fill the hearts of men just as by frequent Holy communion grows the life of souls. 9.0 THE RECEPTION OF THE DOCUMENT TO DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGICAL LEARNING In the contemporary theology, four basic approaches are identifiable: objective and cognitive aspect of revelation, subjective and personalist aspect, synthesis views and feminist views. The objective and cognitive view of revelation tries to underline the objective character of revelation and assent aspect of faith. For them, God reveals himself through those mighty acts by which divine sovereignty over history is expressed (Protestant’s theologians). Also in this view, the catholic theologians are with the view that God is revealed in history but the word of God in both Old and New Testaments is necessary to illuminate the revelatory character of those historical events. Liberation theology is with the view that God is revealed in historical praxis of liberation of the poor and the oppressed. On the contrary, the subjective view of revelation has it that revelation happens when we are opened to authentic human existence and when we begin to respond closely to the word of God. Certain view championed by Avery Dulles tried to mediate the two afore-mentioned opposing views that revelation is a disciplined response that unfolds under the aegis of faith within a community and a tradition. The feminist view of revelation tried to consider the androcentric and patriarchal character of the biblical texts, of the cultures that produced them and the kind of interpretation that have been given them in subsequent centuries. While some emphasised the ignorance of women’s contribution on the bible, others had the view that women occupied a symbolic place in the Scripture. 10. EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION Our experience of God is always mediated. This means that all revelation is mysterious, sacramental or symbolic in character. God, the invisible One, is known always and only through what is visible. Insofar as any visible reality contains and communicates the presence of God, it can be called a mystery. Christ, therefore, is the great mystery. The Church, too, is a mystery. God remains hidden and disclosed. A balance theology of revelation has to avoid extremes of Modernism and extrinsicism. Revelation has its origin and foundation outside the human subject, but if it happens at all, it happens within the consciousness of human subject. Revelation is available in principle to everyone because all are called to salvation but salvation is impossible without faith. Faith, in turn, is impossible without revelation. Finally, revelation is closed only in the sense that the Christ-event has already happened. Revelation continues in that God is a living God and remains available to us. But God will not fundamentally alter nor revoke the self-communication that has already occurred in Christ. Claims of private revelation are not binding on anyone other than the person or persons to whom the revelation is given, even if the revelation or apparition has been approved by the Church.
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