Click to Download - The Faith and Revelation.PDF
The Catholic Church has articulated
its doctrine of Christian God experience as Trinitarian (DV 2; Eph 2:18) It
originates in the historical event of Jesus the Christ (Heb 1:1-2; Jn 1:1-18;
Jn 14:9) who is the fullness of revelations (DV 2) The “obedience of faith is a
personal and free entrusting of one’s whole self to God (DV 5; Rom 16:26) The
Church keeps alive, transmits and celebrated the Revelation through scripture
and Tradition and magisterial teaching (DV 8, 10)
The
thesis places upfront the fact that one Christian experience of God is – God as
a Trinitarian God. The origin of this experience is in Jesus Christ who is the
fullness of revelation. We humans are called to respond in faith to this
revealing God. And the thesis also explains how the church keeps this
revelation alive, and passes it on to future generations I would like to begin
with a title’
Historical
background
At the time of Vatican I the church
found itself facing 2 contradictory theories concerning the theology of
revelation. 1. Rationalism 2. Fideism
1. Rationalism: gave the pride of
place to reason and logic and enquiry over and above the experience of God. For
rationalists, revealed religion was a (Philosophical impossibility)
2. Fideism: maintained that Faith is
independent of reason. Fideists said that reason along (without supernatural
revelation) cannot help us really know God.
So Vatican I addressed the issues of
1. Natural revelation (Rom 1:20) and 2. Supernatural revelation (Heb 1:1-2)
Vatican
II at the time of Vat II the context was a
little different. Many bishops were unhappy about the way the idea of Christian
revelation was framed in Dei Filius. They felt it had the coloring of that
time. They felt that revelation should no longer be explained mainly in terms
of its relation to reason. As including transcendent mysteries more
personalistic.. more the idea of mystery.. which at the same time are open to
rational arguments for the sake of credibility. Therefore the Catholic Church
has articulated her teaching on revelation in 2 councilor documents 1. Dogmatic
constitution on Catholic Faith, Dei Filius (1870, Vat I)
2. Dogmatic constitution on Divine
Revelation, Dei Verbum (1965, Vat II)
God Experience:
The encounter with the divine is
what we call religious experience. It consists of divine initiative
(revelation) and human response (faith). People have understood and articulated
their religious experience in different ways and forms conditioned by the
place, culture and circumstances. Thus
we have several religious traditions with specific identity of their own, built
on the religious experience as their common identity.
1. the Catholic Church has
articulated its doctrine of Christian God experience as Trinitarian (DV2, Eph
2:18) we
Christians understand God as Trinity, The
Father and The Son and The Holy Spirit, 3 persons in 1 God. DV 2 tells us
that God in his goodness and wisdom chose to reveal himself and made known the
mystery of his will (paraphrased).
(Eph 1:9) he has made known to us the mystery of his will. Therefore the choice
and the initiative was purely Gods.
Further DV2 says that his will was that all people should have
access to the Father through Christ in the Holy Spirit and thus become sharers in his divine nature. (2pet 1:4
share in God’s nature) here DV is making a reference to Eph 2:18 which says,
“For through him both of us have access in one Spirit to the Father” therefore
DV2 us emphasizing the self-communication of a Trinitarian God.
2.
It originates in the historical event of Jesus the Christ (Heb 1:1-2; Jn
1:1-18; Jn 14:9) who is the fullness of revelations (DV 2)
the origin of this experience of a Trinitarian God takes place at a significant
and specific moment in history - the incarnation the Christ event.. when the Word became flesh.
Revelation: means a “removing of the
veil” or “disclosure” happened through a gradual process in history. It
happened in a way human beings could experience God in tangible ways, in ways
understandable to them.
Therefore
revelation is a historical revelation – God revealed himself in history in
creation (after the fall God promised redemption) God revealed himself to
Abraham to Moses to the prophets, in the event of the Exodus, as liberator of
Israel.. Pope Francis said recently
article consecrated life, ours is not a lab faith but a historical faith; a
journey faith.. Because God revealed himself as history not as an abstract
truth.
And as DV4 and Heb 1:1-2 will say
after God had spoken many times and in various ways through the prophets, in
these last days he has spoken to us by a Son.
Therefore as DV2 puts it – the most
intimate truth which this revelation gives us about God shines forth in Jesus
Christ. Therefore Jesus is both the mediator and the Sum total of Revelation.
DV2 He is the fullness of revelation.
Jn 1:1-18 says no one has ever seen
God. It is God the only Son who has made him known. Therefore this text clearly
shows the Trinity understanding of God as revealed by Jesus.
Jn 14:9 Jesus tells Philippians
“Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”
Therefore we
see that Jesus brings revelation to its perfect and fullness,
- Through
his words,
- Signs,
and deeds and
- Most
importantly by his death and resurrection and
- By
sending us the Holy Spirit.
All that had to be revealed has been
revealed in Jesus. This revelation of God now calls for a response
3. The “obedience of faith”
is a personal and free entrusting of one’s whole self to God (DV 5; Rom 16; 26)
In this section we talk about what is
our human response to this God who reveals? The God’s revelation and Human response always go in
hand and hand. Rom 16:26 talks about the obedience
of faith………….. the answer is we respond through the obedience of faith. And
such a response is made possible because of grace and because of the presence
of the Holy
Spirit. Faith is nothing but a free, personal and total surrender of intellect and will
into the hands of one who reveals. (DV5)
And DV5 will say the obedience of
faith is nothing but a willful assent to the revelation given by God. Our faith
is activated and inspired by the Holy Spirit so that we may better enter into
this mysterious revelation of God.
Therefore revelation and faith go hand in hand. The next question is how
does the Church keep alive this revelation?
4.
The Church keeps alive, transmits and celebrated the Revelation through
scripture and Tradition and magisterial teaching (DV 8, 10)
We’ve received in Jesus the fullness
of revelation, alright but the Church’s concern is to hand down or pass on the
future generations, the original inspiration and the central tenets of the
gospel message. It does this through the 3 tools 1. Scripture 2. Tradition 3.
Magisterial teachings therefore the Christian revelation which originated in
the Christ event is passed on through these 3.
A.
Tradition:
DV8 will tell us that what the apostles experienced and expressed (in a
special way in the inspired books, i.e. Scripture) was to be preserved in a
continuous line of succession till the end of time. In other words, the
original deposit
of faith which began in then original experience of Jesus Christ,
was to be faithfully maintained and passed on, so that successive generations
would share in the same heritage and be linked to the original experience of
the Apostles.
This Church Tradition is passed on in
various ways: Scripture itself, the
liturgies, creeds, writings of the early fathers, religious practices teachings
of the bishops (who are in succession) the Bible/Scripture though it holds
a (unique place) among these (remains a part) of Christ traditions.
B.
Scripture: DV9 will say “Sacred Scripture is the
speech of God as it is put down in writing, under the breath of the Holy
Spirit.” It is the sacred writings of the community’s core experience of God.
It is the theological articulations of the revelation of the original community
of faith. DV10 says scripture and tradition go hand in hand. They together make
up a single sacred deposit of the Word
of God. Together, they transmit the ‘will of God’ and ‘message of
salvation’ in its entity.
Luther on position Sola
Scripture…………… Trent says Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and
honored with equal feelings of devotion and reverence.
C. Magisterial Teaching DV 10 states
clearly that the task of giving an authentic interpretation of the Word of God,
whether in its written form or in the form of tradition has been entrusted to
the living (teaching office) of the church alone. Therefore the Magisterium has
its authority from Christ. It has the authority to authentically interpret.
It’s not above the world of God but is its servant.
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