CONCEPTS OF REVELATION.

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CONCEPTS OF REVELATION.
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THE QUESTION - IF GOD REVEALS, THEN HOW AND
WHERE? INTRODUCTION Philosophers who say that
God shows his nature and intentions to humans (as
opposed to humans finding God through reason),
then discuss how God reveals. If God reveals,
then God takes the initiative. There are 2
concepts of Revelation.
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PROPOSITIONAL.
A proposition is a statement, a set of words.
These are often put down in dogmas, creeds or
statements of belief. This then gives us Gods
revelation in words (holy books, words of leaders
etc.) For Religions of the book, God has
spoken/revealed in the actual words the words
of God. This has big implications for holy books
and leaders. This generates an I-It
relationship. Faith is accepting the words as
being from God and therefore true divinely
authenticated truths.
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This view accepts that there can be some truths
that we can know by reason (for example that God
exists) but others that can only be known through
Gods revelation (for example, the Trinity.)
Propositional is more associated with Fides
(belief that.)
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QUESTIONS.

• Find 4 examples of a statement of belief. You
  must include one Religion other than Christianity
• Write out the following Biblical references and
  explain what they are saying about the words of
  God-
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• 2 Timothy 3 verses 1516.
• Ephesians 3 verses 3-5.
• Hebrews 4 verse 12.
• Matthew 13 verse 5.
• Isaiah 40 verse 8.

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FOR AN ESSAY.
In a part a, for Level 7 you will need to include
where appropriate, diversity of views and/or
scholarly opinion. In a part b you need for a
Level 7 different views, including where
appropriate, those of scholars. In question 1
you could include people such as Luther, Calvin
and Barth under Propositional. Below is an
account of the work of Karl Barth that you could
use to exemplify the Propositional view.
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KARL BARTH.
Barth said that Natural Theology (mans attempt
to discover God) is a misunderstanding of the
focus of Revelation. God is the focus, as the
revealer, not man as the receiver. Gods
revelation is in Gods Word, Jesus Christ found
in the Bible and in the Churchs preaching.
Humans should just accept the revelation by
having faith.
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WHY DOES BARTH HAVE THIS VIEW?
Human nature cannot find God as human nature has
been corrupted by The Fall. God chose to be
revealed through Jesus so this is the only way of
knowing God. Divine revelation is what is true.
It is not open to trial by reason. If reason
seems to go against divine revelation, then
reason is wrong.
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HOMEWORK.

• Find out more about Barths views on Jesus as the
  Word of God. Write out 10 points to present to
  your class.
• If human nature is corrupted by The Fall what
  does this mean for humans today? List 5 issues
  that may arise from this.
• Do you think that human nature is
  corrupt/tainted? With examples, explain why you
  agree or disagree.
• What do you think Barths view of Religions other
  than Christianity would be? Explain why.
• Think of a time when your reasoning may have
  been right and when it may have been wrong.
  Be prepared to tell the class about it.

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NON-PROPOSITIONAL.
As the name suggests, revelation is not found in
the actual words of holy books or leaders.
Revelation is in the event that the words are
describing. The words therefore are of secondary
importance. They are human efforts to understand
the events, to grasp the meaning behind them.
They are not the revelation.
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SCHOLARLY VIEWS FOR AN ESSAY.
Karl Rahnerthe apostles had a global
experience... lying behind propositions. Schleier
macher when we feel dependant on God, this
experience contains the revelation. G. Moran
revelation is a personal communion of knowledge,
an interrelationship of God and the individual
within a believing community. J. Macquarrie
revelation is not primarily given in the form of
statements.
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QUESTION.
From the views of these scholars, explain in your
own words how you know that they have a
non-propositional view of revelation.
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SCHOLARS WITH THEIR THEORY FOR USE IN AN ESSAY.

• Martin Buber I and Thou. He said revelation
  should be an I-Thou meeting, a meeting with
  another person. Contrast this with I-It, where
  the meeting is with an object and not a person.

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SCHOLARS WITH THEIR THEORY FOR USE IN AN ESSAY.

• Ludwig Wittgenstein Seeing as/ experiencing
  as. This can be shown by picture puzzles where
  some see them as X and others see them as Y. One
  event is experienced in many ways.

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SCHOLARS WITH THEIR THEORY FOR USE IN AN ESSAY.

• Blaise Pascal Hidden God. This God shows
  enough of Himself for those who wish to see, but
  will hide from those who do not wish to see.
• R.M. Hare bliks.

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QUESTIONS.

• Find out what the term blik means.
• Summarise his story of the lunatic and the
  University dons.
• What does Hare mean when he says Religion is a
  blik?
• How does this link with seeing as/experiencing
  as?
• How does this help us to understand the
  Non-propositional view?

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A SPECIFIC EXAMPLE FOR AN ESSAY.

• THE PERSON OF JESUS.
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• There are many events involving him.
• Different people experienced him in their
  everyday lives.
• Humans wrote about him.
• What is written depends on their experience of
  him.
• So, the words are not the direct words of God.
• The words could be various and very different,
• depending on the persons experience of him.

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EXPERIENCES OF JESUS.

• Suggest a title that the following may give to
  Jesus based on their experience of him. The first
  has been done for you-
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• The Romans a troublemaker.
• The disciples
• A person he is believed to have healed
• A person who never saw him do anything special
• A person who heard him preach
• Mary
• Joseph
• Me

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HOMEWORK PRESENTATIONS.
Prepare for a class presentation where you
explain the main points of the 2 types of
Revelation. Start with a diagram of areas to
cover-
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