A
Atreyu
Guest
This post is specifically intended for Mystophilus, but others are of course welcome to join in (which is why it is not a pm…).
Taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia (source):
Revelation may be defined as the communication of some truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature.
The truths revealed may be such as are otherwise inaccessible to the human mind – mysteries, which even when revealed, the intellect of man is incapable of fully penetrating. But Revelation is not restricted to these. God may see fit to employ supernatural means to affirm truths, the discovery of which is not per se beyond the powers of reason. The essence of Revelation lies in the fact that it is the direct speech of God to man. The mode of communication, however, may be mediate. Revelation does not cease to be such if God’s message is delivered to us by a prophet, who alone is the recipient of the immediate communication. Such in brief is the account of Revelation given in the Constitution “De Fide Catholica” of the Vatican Council. The Decree “Lamentabili” (3 July, 1907), by its condemnation of a contrary proposition, declares that the dogmas which the Church proposes as revealed are “truths which have come down to us from heaven” (veritates e coelo delapsoe) and not “an interpretation of religious facts which the human mind has acquired by its own strenuous efforts” (prop., 22). It will be seen that Revelation as thus explained differs clearly from:
Personally I would like to add a word to the initial sentence, so that it reads:
Revelation may be defined as the communication of some objective truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature.
The question that I would like to study in this thread is this:
If Jesus is the fullness of Revelation, and this Revelation reveals objective truths to some men; in the form of “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 1:3), then does it not stand to reason that God would have enabled future generations to come to know these objective truths, short of each and every person being granted private Revelation?
Of course, it is my contention that God does indeed provide this mechanism, in the Catholic Church. The only other alternative I see (apart from the Orthodox Churches of course) is the Bible alone. But this possibility can surely be dismissed, due to its clear ineffectiveness. I suppose discussion of this issue could be included in this thread.
Taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia (source):
Revelation may be defined as the communication of some truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature.
The truths revealed may be such as are otherwise inaccessible to the human mind – mysteries, which even when revealed, the intellect of man is incapable of fully penetrating. But Revelation is not restricted to these. God may see fit to employ supernatural means to affirm truths, the discovery of which is not per se beyond the powers of reason. The essence of Revelation lies in the fact that it is the direct speech of God to man. The mode of communication, however, may be mediate. Revelation does not cease to be such if God’s message is delivered to us by a prophet, who alone is the recipient of the immediate communication. Such in brief is the account of Revelation given in the Constitution “De Fide Catholica” of the Vatican Council. The Decree “Lamentabili” (3 July, 1907), by its condemnation of a contrary proposition, declares that the dogmas which the Church proposes as revealed are “truths which have come down to us from heaven” (veritates e coelo delapsoe) and not “an interpretation of religious facts which the human mind has acquired by its own strenuous efforts” (prop., 22). It will be seen that Revelation as thus explained differs clearly from:
Personally I would like to add a word to the initial sentence, so that it reads:
Revelation may be defined as the communication of some objective truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature.
The question that I would like to study in this thread is this:
If Jesus is the fullness of Revelation, and this Revelation reveals objective truths to some men; in the form of “the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 1:3), then does it not stand to reason that God would have enabled future generations to come to know these objective truths, short of each and every person being granted private Revelation?
Of course, it is my contention that God does indeed provide this mechanism, in the Catholic Church. The only other alternative I see (apart from the Orthodox Churches of course) is the Bible alone. But this possibility can surely be dismissed, due to its clear ineffectiveness. I suppose discussion of this issue could be included in this thread.