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Revelation

In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities.[1]

Illumination from Liber Scivias, showing Hildegard of Bingen receiving a vision, dictating to her scribe and sketching on a wax tablet.

Background

Inspiration – such as that bestowed by God on the author of a sacred book – involves a special illumination of the mind, in virtue of which the recipient conceives such thoughts as God desires him to commit to writing, and does not necessarily involve supernatural communication.[2]

With the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, beginning about the mid-17th century, the development of rationalism, materialism and atheism, the concept of supernatural revelation itself faced skepticism. In The Age of Reason (1794–1809), Thomas Paine developed the theology of deism, rejecting the possibility of miracles and arguing that a revelation can be considered valid only for the original recipient, with all else being hearsay.[3]

Types

Individual revelation

Thomas Aquinas believed in two types of individual revelation from God, general revelation and special revelation. In general revelation, God reveals himself through his creation, such that at least some truths about God can be learned by the empirical study of nature, physics, cosmology, etc., to an individual. Special revelation is the knowledge of God and spiritual matters which can be discovered through supernatural means, such as scripture or miracles, by individuals. Direct revelation refers to communication from God to someone in particular.

Though one may deduce the existence of God and some of God's attributes through general revelation, certain specifics may be known only through special revelation. Aquinas believed that special revelation is equivalent to the revelation of God in Jesus. The major theological components of Christianity, such as the Trinity and the Incarnation, are revealed in the teachings of the church and the scriptures and may not otherwise be deduced. Special revelation and general revelation are complementary rather than contradictory in nature.

According to Dumitru Stăniloae, Eastern Orthodox Church’s position on general/special revelation is in stark contrast to Protestant and Catholic theologies that see a clear difference between general and special revelation and tend to argue that the former is not sufficient to salvation. In Orthodox Christianity, he argues, there is no separation between the two and supernatural revelation merely embodies the former in historical persons and actions.[4]

"Continuous revelation" is a term for the theological position that God continues to reveal divine principles or commandments to humanity.

In the 20th century, religious existentialists proposed that revelation held no content in and of itself but rather that God inspired people with his presence by coming into contact with them. Revelation is a human response that records how we respond to God.

The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, wrote of his personal experience of inspiration and his own experience of “the idea of revelation” in his work Ecce Homo (book):

Has any one at the end of the nineteenth century any distinct notion of what poets of a stronger age understood by the word inspiration? If not, I will describe it. If one had the smallest vestige of superstition left in one, it would hardly be possible completely to set aside the idea that one is the mere incarnation, mouthpiece, or medium of an almighty power. The idea of revelation, in the sense that something which profoundly convulses and upsets one becomes suddenly visible and audible with indescribable certainty and accuracy—describes the simple fact. One hears—one does not seek; one takes—one does not ask who gives: a thought suddenly flashes up like lightning, it comes with necessity, without faltering—I have never had any choice in the matter.[5]

Public revelation

 
The mass-revelation at the Mount Horeb in an illustration from a Christian Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company, 1907

Some religious groups believe a deity has been revealed or spoken to a large group of people or have legends to a similar effect. In the Book of Exodus, Yahweh is said to have given Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai. In Christianity, the Book of Acts describes the Day of Pentecost wherein the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples of Jesus in the form of fire that they began praising in tongues and experienced mass revelation. The Lakota people believe Ptesáŋwiŋ spoke directly to the people in the establishment of Lakota religious traditions. Some versions of an Aztec legend tell of Huitzilopochtli speaking directly to the Aztec people upon their arrival at Anåhuac. Historically, some emperors, cult leaders, and other figures have also been deified and treated as though their words are themselves revelations.

Methods

Verbal

Some people hold that God can communicate with people in a way that gives direct, propositional content: This is termed verbal revelation. Orthodox Judaism and some forms of Christianity hold that the first five books of Moses were dictated by God in such a fashion.

Isaiah writes that he received his message through visions, where he would see YHWH, the God of Israel, speaking to angelic beings that surrounded him. Isaiah would then write down the dialogue exchanged between YHWH and the angels.[citation needed] This form of revelation constitutes the major part of the text of the Book of Isaiah. The same formula of divine revelation is used by other prophets throughout the Tanakh, such as Micaiah in 1 Kings 22:19–22.[6][better source needed]

Non-verbal propositional

One school of thought holds that revelation is non-verbal and non-literal, yet it may have propositional content. People were divinely inspired by God with a message, but not in a verbal-like sense.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel has written, "To convey what the prophets experienced, the Bible could either use terms of descriptions or terms of indication. Any description of the act of revelation in empirical categories would have produced a caricature. That is why all the Bible does is to state that revelation happened; how it happened is something they could only convey in words that are evocative and suggestive."[7]

Epistemology

Members of Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, believe that God exists and can in some way reveal his will to people. Members of those religions distinguish between true prophets and false prophets, and there are documents offering criteria by which to distinguish true from false prophets. The question of epistemology then arises: how to know?

Some believe that revelation can originate directly from a deity or through an agent such as an angel. One who has experienced such contact with, or communication from, the divine is often called a prophet. An article (p. 555) under the heading "mysticism," and contributed by Ninian Smart, J. F. Rowny Professor of Comparative Religion, University of California, and President of the American Academy of Religion, writing in the 1999 edition of "The Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought," (W. W. Norton & Co. Inc.), suggests that the more proper and wider term for such an encounter would be mystical, making such a person a mystic. All prophets would be mystics, but not all mystics would be prophets.

Revelation from a supernatural source is of lesser importance in some other religious traditions, such as Taoism and Confucianism.

In various religions

Bahá'í Faith

 
'Revelation writing': The first draft of a tablet of Bahá'u'lláh, recorded in shorthand script by an amanuensis

The Báb, Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá, the central figures of the Bahá'í Faith, received thousands of written enquiries, and wrote thousands of responses, hundreds of which amount to whole and proper books, while many are shorter texts, such as letters. In addition, the Bahá'í Faith has large works which were divinely revealed in a very short time, as in a night, or a few days.[8] Additionally, because many of the works were first recorded by an amanuensis,[9] most were submitted for approval and correction and the final text was personally approved by the revelator.

Bahá'u'lláh would occasionally write the words of revelation down himself, but normally the revelation was dictated to his amanuensis, who sometimes recorded it in what has been called revelation writing, a shorthand script written with extreme speed owing to the rapidity of the utterance of the words. Afterwards, Bahá'u'lláh revised and approved these drafts. These revelation drafts and many other transcriptions of Bahá'u'lláh's writings, around 15,000 items, some of which are in his own handwriting, are kept in the International Bahá'í Archives in Haifa, Israel.[10][11][12]

Christianity

Many Christians believe in the possibility and even reality of private revelations, messages from God for individuals, which can come in a variety of ways. Montanism is an example in early Christianity and there are alleged cases today also.[13] However, Christians see as of a much higher level the revelation recorded in the collection of books known as the Bible. They consider these books to be written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. They regard Jesus as the supreme revelation of God, with the Bible being a revelation in the sense of a witness to him.[14] The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "the Christian faith is not a 'religion of the book.' Christianity is the religion of the 'Word of God', a word which is 'not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living".[15]

Gregory and Nix speak of Biblical inerrancy as meaning that, in its original form, the Bible is totally without error, and free from all contradiction, including the historical and scientific parts.[16] Coleman speaks of Biblical infallibility as meaning that the Bible is inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not history or science.[17] The Catholic Church speaks not about infallibility of Scripture but about its freedom from error, holding "the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture".[18] The Second Vatican Council, citing earlier declarations, stated: "Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation".[19][20] It added: "Since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words."[21] The Reformed Churches believe in the Bible is inerrant in the sense spoken of by Gregory and Nix and "deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science".[22] The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks of "the infallible truth and divine authority" of the Scriptures.[23]

In the New Testament, Jesus treats the Old Testament as authoritative and says it "cannot be broken" .[24] 2 Timothy 3:16 says: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness".[25] The Second Epistle of Peter claims that "no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit".[26] It also speaks of Paul's letters as containing some things "hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures".[27]

This letter does not specify "the other Scriptures", nor does the term "all Scripture" in 2 Timothy indicate which writings were or would be breathed out by God and useful for teaching, since it does not preclude later works, such as the Book of Revelation and the Epistles of John may have been. The Catholic Church recognizes 73 books as inspired and forming the Bible (46 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament). The most common versions of the Bible that Protestants have today consist of 66 of these books. None of the 66 or 73 books gives a list of revealed books.

Theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher Paul Johannes Tillich (1886–1965), who sought to correlate culture and faith so that "faith need not be unacceptable to contemporary culture and contemporary culture need not be unacceptable to faith", argued that revelation never runs counter to reason (affirming Thomas Aquinas who said that faith is eminently rational), and that both poles of the subjective human experience are complementary.[28]

Karl Barth argued that God is the object of God's own self-knowledge, and revelation in the Bible means the self-unveiling to humanity of the God who cannot be discovered by humanity simply through its own efforts. For him, the Bible is not The Revelation; rather, it points to revelation. Human concepts can never be considered as identical to God's revelation, and Scripture is written in human language, expressing human concepts. It cannot be considered identical with God's revelation. However, God does reveal himself through human language and concepts, and thus Christ is truly presented in scripture and the preaching of the church.

Latter Day Saint movement

 
An 1893 engraving of Joseph Smith receiving the golden plates and other artifacts from the angel Moroni.

The Latter Day Saint movement teaches that the movement began with a revelation from God, which began a process of restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. Latter Day Saints also teach that revelation is the foundation of the church established by Jesus Christ and that it remains an essential element of his true church today. Continuous revelation provides individual Latter Day Saints with a testimony, described by Richard Bushman as "one of the most potent words in the Mormon lexicon".[29]

Latter Day Saints believe in an open scriptural canon, and in addition to the Bible and the Book of Mormon, have books of scripture containing the revelations of modern-day prophets such as the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price. In addition, many Latter Day Saints believe that ancient prophets in other regions of the world received revelations that resulted in additional scriptures that have been lost and may, one day, be forthcoming.[citation needed] Latter Day Saints also believe that the United States Constitution is a divinely inspired document.[30][31]

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sustain the President of the Church as prophet, seer, and revelator, the only person on earth who receives revelation to guide the entire church. They also sustain the two counselors in the First Presidency, as well as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as prophets, seers, and revelators.[32] They believe that God has followed a pattern of continued revelation to prophets throughout the history of mankind to establish doctrine and maintain its integrity, as well as to guide the church under changing world conditions.[33] When this pattern of revelation was broken, it was because the receivers of revelation had been rejected and often killed. In the meridian[clarification needed] of time, Paul described prophets and apostles in terms of a foundation, with Christ as the cornerstone, which was built to prevent doctrinal shift—"that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine".[34] To maintain this foundation, new apostles were chosen and ordained to replace those lost to death or transgression, as when Matthias was called by revelation to replace Judas (Acts 1:15–26). However, as intensifying persecution led to the imprisonment and martyrdom of the apostles, it eventually became impossible to continue the apostolic succession.[35]

Once the foundation of apostles and prophets was lost, the integrity of Christian doctrine as established by Christ and the apostles began to be compromised by those who continued to develop doctrine despite not being called or authorized to receive revelation for the body of the church. In the absence of revelation, these post-apostolic theologians couldn't help but introduce elements of human reasoning, speculation, and personal interpretation of scripture (2 Pet 1:19–20)—which over time led to the loss or corruption of various doctrinal truths, as well as the addition of new man-made doctrines. This naturally led to much disagreement and schism, which over the centuries culminated in the large number of Christian churches on the earth today. Mormons believe that God resumed his pattern of revelation when the world was again ready, by calling the Prophet Joseph Smith to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth.[36] Since that time there has been a consistent succession of prophets and apostles, which God has promised will not be broken before the Second Coming of Christ (Dan 2:44).[37]

Each member of the LDS Church is also confirmed a member of the church following baptism and given the "gift of the Holy Ghost" by which each member is encouraged to develop a personal relationship with that divine being and receive personal revelation for their own direction and that of their family. The Latter Day Saint concept of revelation includes the belief that revelation from God is available to all those who earnestly seek it with the intent of doing good. It also teaches that everyone is entitled to personal revelation with respect to his or her stewardship (leadership responsibility). Thus, parents may receive inspiration from God in raising their families, individuals can receive divine inspiration to help them meet personal challenges, church officers may receive revelation for those whom they serve, and so forth.

The important consequence of this is that each person may receive confirmation that particular doctrines taught by a prophet are true, as well as gain divine insight in using those truths for their own benefit and eternal progress. In the church, personal revelation is expected and encouraged, and many converts believe that personal revelation from God was instrumental in their conversion.[38] Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of the LDS Church, summarized this church's belief concerning revelation by saying, "We believe… in the principle of direct revelation from God to man."[39] (Smith, 362)

Hinduism

Śruti, Sanskrit for "that which is heard", refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism.[40] It includes the four Vedas including its four types of embedded texts—the Samhitas, the early Upanishads.[41] Śrutis have been variously described as a revelation through anubhava (direct experience),[42] or of primordial origins realized by ancient Rishis.[40] In Hindu tradition, they have been referred to as apauruṣeya (not created by humans).[43] The Śruti texts themselves assert that they were skillfully created by Rishis (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.[44]

Islam

 
Muhammad's Call to Prophecy and the First Revelation; leaf from a copy of the Majmac al-tawarikh (Compendium of Histories), ca. 1425; Timurid. From Herat, Afghanistan.

Muslims believe that God (Arabic: ألله Allah) revealed his final message to all of existence through Muhammad via the angel Gabriel.[45] Muhammad is considered to have been the Seal of the Prophets and the last revelation, the Qur'an, is believed by Muslims to be the flawless final revelation of God to humanity, valid until the Last Day. The Qur'an claims to have been revealed word by word and letter by letter.[citation needed]

Muslims hold that the message of Islam is the same as the message preached by all the messengers sent by God to humanity since Adam. Muslims believe that Islam is the oldest of the monotheistic religions because it represents both the original and the final revelation of God to Abraham, Moses, David, Jesus, and Muhammad.[46][47] Likewise, Muslims believe that every prophet received revelation in their lives, as each prophet was sent by God to guide mankind. Jesus is significant in this aspect as he received revelation in a twofold aspect, as Muslims believe he preached the Gospel while also having been taught the Torah.

According to Islamic traditions, Muhammad began receiving revelations from the age of 40, delivered through the angel Gabriel over the last 23 years of his life. The content of these revelations, known as the Qur'an,[48] was memorized and recorded by his followers and compiled from dozens of hafiz as well as other various parchments or hides into a single volume shortly after his death. In Muslim theology, Muhammad is considered equal in importance to all other prophets of God and to make distinction among the prophets is a sin, as the Qur'an itself promulgates equality between God's prophets.(Qur'an 3:84)

Many scholars have made the distinction between revelation and inspiration, which according to Muslim theology, all righteous people can receive. Inspiration refers to God inspiring a person to commit some action, as opposed to revelation, which only the prophets received. Moses's mother, Jochebed, being inspired to send the infant Moses in a cradle down the Nile river is a frequently cited example of inspiration, as is Hagar searching for water for the infant Ishmael.

Judaism

The term revelation is used in two senses in Jewish theology; it either denotes (1) what in rabbinical language is called Gilluy Shekinah, a manifestation of God by some wondrous act of his which overawes man and impresses him with what he sees, hears, or otherwise perceives of his glorious presence; or it denotes (2) a manifestation of his will through oracular words, signs, statutes, or laws.[49]

In Judaism, issues of epistemology have been addressed by Jewish philosophers such as Saadiah Gaon (882–942) in his Book of Beliefs and Opinions; Maimonides (1135–1204) in his Guide for the Perplexed; Samuel Hugo Berman, professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University; Joseph Dov Soloveitchik (1903–1993), talmudic scholar and philosopher; Neil Gillman, professor of philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, and Elliot N. Dorff, professor of philosophy at the American Jewish University.

One of the major trends in modern Jewish philosophy was the attempt to develop a theory of Judaism through existentialism. One of the primary players in this field was Franz Rosenzweig. His major work, Star of Redemption, expounds a philosophy in which he portrays the relationships between God, humanity and world as they are connected by creation, revelation and redemption. Conservative Jewish philosophers Elliot N. Dorff and Neil Gillman take the existentialist philosophy of Rosenzweig as one of their starting points for understanding Jewish philosophy. (They come to different conclusions, however.)

Rabbinic Judaism, and contemporary Orthodox Judaism, hold that the Torah (Pentateuch) extant today is essentially the same one that the whole of the Jewish people received on Mount Sinai, from God, upon their Exodus from Egypt.[50] Beliefs that God gave a "Torah of truth" to Moses (and the rest of the people), that Moses was the greatest of the prophets, and that the Law given to Moses will never be changed, are three of the Thirteen Principles of Faith of Orthodox Judaism according to Maimonides.

Orthodox Judaism believes that in addition to the written Torah, God also revealed to Moses a set of oral teachings, called the Oral Torah. In addition to this revealed law, Jewish law contains decrees and enactments made by prophets, rabbis, and sages over the course of Jewish history. Haredi Judaism tends to regard even rabbinic decrees as being of divine origin or divinely inspired, while Modern Orthodox Judaism tends to regard them as being more potentially subject to human error, although due to the Biblical verse "Do not stray from their words" ("Deuteronomy 17:11) it is still accepted as binding law.

Conservative Judaism tends to regard both the Torah and the Oral law as not verbally revealed. The Conservative approach tends to regard the Torah as compiled by redactors in a manner similar to the Documentary Hypothesis. However, Conservative Jews also regard the authors of the Torah as divinely inspired, and many regard at least portions of it as originating with Moses. Positions can vary from the position of Joel Roth, following David Weiss HaLivni, that while the Torah originally given to Moses on Mount Sinai became corrupted or lost and had to be recompiled later by redactors, the recompiled Torah is nonetheless regarded as fully Divine and legally authoritative, to the position of Gordon Tucker that the Torah, while Divinely inspired, is a largely human document containing significant elements of human error, and should be regarded as the beginning of an ongoing process which is continuing today.[citation needed] Conservative Judaism regards the Oral Law as divinely inspired, but nonetheless subject to human error.

Reform and Reconstructionist Jews also accept the Documentary Hypothesis for the origin of the Torah, and tend to view all of the Oral law as an entirely human creation. Reform believe that the Torah is not a direct revelation from God, but is a document written by human ancestors, carrying human understanding and experience, and seeking to answer the question: 'What does God require of us?'. They believe that, though it contains many 'core-truths' about God and humanity, it is also time bound. They believe that God's will is revealed through the interaction of humanity and God throughout history, and so, in that sense, Torah is a product of an ongoing revelation. Reconstructionist Judaism denies the notion of revelation entirely.

Prophets

Although the Nevi'im (the books of the Prophets) are considered divine and true, this does not imply that the books of the prophets are always read literally. Jewish tradition has always held that prophets used metaphors and analogies. There exists a wide range of commentaries explaining and elucidating those verses consisting of metaphor. Rabbinic Judaism regards Moses as the greatest of the prophets, and this view is one of the Thirteen Principles of Faith of traditional Judaism. Consistent with the view that revelation to Moses was generally clearer than revelation to other prophets, Orthodox views of revelation to prophets other than Moses have included a range of perspectives as to directness. For example, Maimonides in The Guide for the Perplexed said that accounts of revelation in the Nevi'im were not always as literal as in the Torah and that some prophetic accounts reflect allegories rather than literal commands or predictions.

Conservative Rabbi and philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972), author of a number of works on prophecy, said that, "Prophetic inspiration must be understood as an event, not as a process."[51] In his work God in Search of Man, he discussed the experience of being a prophet. In his book Prophetic Inspiration After the Prophets: Maimonides and Others, Heschel references to continued prophetic inspiration in Jewish rabbinic literature following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and into medieval and even Modern times. He wrote that

"To convey what the prophets experienced, the Bible could either use terms of descriptions or terms of indication. Any description of the act of revelation in empirical categories would have produced a caricature. That is why all the Bible does is to state that revelation happened. How it happened is something they could only convey in words that are evocative and suggestive."[52]

Sikhism

The Guru Granth Sahib is considered to be a divine revelation by God to the Sikh gurus. In various verses of Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh gurus themselves state that they merely speak what the divine teacher (God) commands them to speak. Guru Nanak frequently used to tell his ardent follower Mardana "Oh Mardana, play the rabaab the Lord's word is descending onto me."

In certain passages of Guru Granth sahib, it is clearly said the authorship is of divine origin and the gurus were merely the channel through which such revelations came.

Recent revelations

 
Crowd looking at the Sun during the "Miracle of the Sun", Fatima, Portugal, 1917.

The Miracle of the Sun occurred in Fatima, Portugal in 1917. While some consider it to be a genuine miracle, others regard it as a natural phenomenon with a natural explanation.[53]

Revealed religion

Revealed religions have religious texts which they view as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired. For instance, Orthodox Jews, Christians and Muslims believe that the Torah was received from God on biblical Mount Sinai.[54][55] Most Christians believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament were inspired by God. Muslims believe the Quran was revealed by God to Muhammad word by word through the angel Gabriel (Jibril).[56][57] In Hinduism, some Vedas are considered apauruṣeya, "not human compositions", and are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti, "what is heard". The 15,000 handwritten pages produced by the mystic Maria Valtorta were represented as direct dictations from Jesus, while she attributed The Book of Azariah to her guardian angel.[58]

A revelation communicated by a supernatural entity reported as being present during the event is called a vision. Direct conversations between the recipient and the supernatural entity,[59] or physical marks such as stigmata, have been reported. In rare cases, such as that of Saint Juan Diego, physical artifacts accompany the revelation.[60] The Roman Catholic concept of interior locution includes just an inner voice heard by the recipient.

In the Abrahamic religions, the term is used to refer to the process by which God reveals knowledge of himself, his will, and his divine providence to the world of human beings.[61] In secondary usage, revelation refers to the resulting human knowledge about God, prophecy, and other divine things. Revelation from a supernatural source plays a less important role in some other religious traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism.

Quakers, known formally as the Religious Society of Friends, are generally united by a belief in each human's ability to experience the light within or see "that of God in every one".[62] Most Quakers believe in continuing revelation: that God continuously reveals truth directly to individuals. George Fox said, "Christ has come to teach His people Himself."[63] Friends often focus on feeling the presence of God. As Isaac Penington wrote in 1670, "It is not enough to hear of Christ, or read of Christ, but this is the thing – to feel him to be my root, my life, and my foundation..."[64] Quakers reject the idea of priests, believing in the priesthood of all believers. Some express their concept of God using phrases such as "the inner light", "inward light of Christ", or "Holy Spirit". Quakers first gathered around George Fox in the mid–17th century and belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations.

See also

References

  1. ^ Bernhardt, Reinhold (2007). "Revelation". In von Stuckrad, Kocku (ed.). The Brill Dictionary of Religion. Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1872-5287_bdr_SIM_00056. ISBN 9789004124332.
  2. ^ "Joyce, George. "Revelation." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 13. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. 3 May 2014". Newadvent.org. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  3. ^ Paine, Thomas (1987) [1794]. Foot, Michael; Kramnick, Isaac (eds.). The Thomas Paine Reader. New York: Penguin Books. p. 403. ISBN 0-14-044496-3.
  4. ^ Staniloae, Staniloae (2000). Orthodox Dogmatic Theology: The Experience of God v. 1 (Orthodox Dogmatic Theology, Volume 1 : Revelation and Knowledge of the Triune God. T.& T.Clark Ltd. ISBN 978-0917651700.
  5. ^ Nietzsche, Friedrich (1911). Levy, Oscar (ed.). The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche. Vol. 17 Ecce Homo. Translated by Ludovici, Anthony M. New York: The MacMillan Company. pp. 101–102. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
  6. ^ "1 Kings 22 / Hebrew – English Bible / Mechon-Mamre". Mechon-mamre.org. Retrieved 2012-01-27.
  7. ^ God in Search of Man
  8. ^ "Book of Certitude: Dating the Iqan". Kalimat Press. 1995. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  9. ^ The Writings of Baha'u'llah, Published in The Bahá'í World. Vol. 14. Bahá'í World Centre. pp. 620–32. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  10. ^ "A new volume of Bahá'í sacred writings, recently translated and comprising Bahá'u'lláh's call to world leaders, is published". Bahá'í World Centre. May 2002. Retrieved 2007-02-26.
  11. ^ Taherzadeh, A. (1976). The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Volume 1: Baghdad 1853–63. Oxford, UK: George Ronald. ISBN 0-85398-270-8.
  12. ^ For extended comments on the divine revelation of the Báb, Bahá'u'lláh, and `Abdu'l-Bahá see Number of tablets revealed by Bahá'u'lláh by Robert Stockman and Juan Cole, Numbers and Classifications of Sacred Writings texts by the Universal House of Justice, and Horace Holley's preface of The Bahá'í Revelation, including Selections from the Bahá'í Holy Writings and Talks by `Abdu'l-Bahá.
  13. ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church, 67". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  14. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 426, 516.
  15. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2nd ed., para. 108
  16. ^ Geisler & Nix (1986). A General Introduction to the Bible. Moody Press, Chicago. ISBN 0-8024-2916-5.
  17. ^ Coleman, R. J. (1975). "Biblical Inerrancy: Are We Going Anywhere?". Theology Today. 31 (4): 295. doi:10.1177/004057367503100404. S2CID 170389190.
  18. ^ . Archived from the original on 2012-05-08. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  19. ^ "Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation), 11". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  20. ^ "Catechism of the Catholic Church, 105–108". Vatican.va. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  21. ^ Dei Verbum, 12
  22. ^ Second Helvetic Confession, Of the Holy Scripture Being the True Word of God; Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, Online text
  23. ^ Wikisource:Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1690
  24. ^ John 10:34–36
  25. ^ 2 Timothy 3:16
  26. ^ 2 Peter 1:20–21
  27. ^ 2 Peter 3:15–16
  28. ^ Systematic Theology I, by Paul Tillich, University of Chicago Press, 205. 0-226803-37-6. Paul Tillich. Systematic Theology. p. 307. ISBN 0-226-80336-8.
  29. ^ Bushman, Richard L. (2008). Mormonism: a very short introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 27. doi:10.1093/actrade/9780195310306.003.0002. ISBN 978-0-19-531030-6.
  30. ^ Dallin H. Oaks (Feb 1992). "The Divinely Inspired Constitution". Ensign.
  31. ^ See D&C 101:77–80
  32. ^ "Prophets". churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  33. ^ "Revelation". churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  34. ^ Eph 2:20 and 4:11–14, see also Matt 16:17–18
  35. ^ "Gospel Principles Chapter 16: The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times". churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  36. ^ "Gospel Principles Chapter 17: The Church of Jesus Christ Today". churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  37. ^ "The Church of Jesus Christ". churchofjesuschrist.org. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  38. ^ "Continuing Revelation". Mormon.org. Retrieved August 5, 2005.
  39. ^ Smith, Joseph F. (November 2007). "41: Continuing Revelation for the Benefit of the Church". Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith. Salt Lake City, UT: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. p. 362. ISBN 978-1-59955-103-6.
  40. ^ a b James Lochtefeld (2002), "Shruti", The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism, Vol. 2: N–Z, Rosen Publishing. ISBN 9780823931798, page 645
  41. ^ Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty (1988), Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism, Manchester University Press, ISBN 0-7190-1867-6, pages 2–3
  42. ^ Michael Myers (2013). Brahman: A Comparative Theology. Routledge. pp. 104–112. ISBN 978-1-136-83572-8.
  43. ^ P Bilimoria (1998), 'The Idea of Authorless Revelation', in Indian Philosophy of Religion (Editor: Roy Perrett), ISBN 978-94-010-7609-8, Springer Netherlands, pages 3, 143–166
  44. ^ Hartmut Scharfe (2002), Handbook of Oriental Studies, BRILL Academic, ISBN 978-9004125568, pages 13–14
  45. ^ Watton (1993), "Introduction"
  46. ^ Esposito (2002b), pp.4–5
  47. ^ [Quran 42:13]
  48. ^ The term Qur'an was first used in the Qur'an itself. There are two different theories about this term and its formation that are discussed in Quran#Etymology and meaning
  49. ^ ""Revelation", Jewish Encyclopedia". Jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  50. ^ Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith and Rabbi Moshe Zeldman: "Did God Speak at Sinai", Aish HaTorah
  51. ^ Heschel, Abraham Joshua (1955). God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. Noonday. p. 209. ISBN 0-374-51331-7.
  52. ^ Heschel, Abraham Joshua (1987). God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. ason Aronson Inc. ISBN 0-87668-955-1.
  53. ^ "The Lady of Fátima & the Miracle of the Sun". LiveScience.com. 2 May 2013. Retrieved 2015-10-13.
  54. ^ Beale G.K., The Book of Revelation, NIGTC, Grand Rapids – Cambridge 1999. = ISBN 0-8028-2174-X
  55. ^ Esposito, John L. What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp. 7–8.
  56. ^ Lambert, Gray (2013). The Leaders Are Coming!. WestBow Press. p. 287. ISBN 9781449760137.
  57. ^ Roy H. Williams; Michael R. Drew (2012). Pendulum: How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future. Vanguard Press. p. 143. ISBN 9781593157067.
  58. ^ Maria Valtorta, The Poem of the Man God, ISBN 99926-45-57-1
  59. ^ Michael Freze, 1993, Voices, Visions, and Apparitions, OSV Publishing ISBN 0-87973-454-X p. 252
  60. ^ Michael Freze, 1989 They Bore the Wounds of Christ ISBN 0-87973-422-1
  61. ^ "Revelation | Define Revelation at Dictionary.com". Dictionary.reference.com. Retrieved 2013-07-14.
  62. ^ Fox, George (1903). George Fox's Journal. Isbister and Company Limited. pp. 215–216. This is the word of the Lord God to you all, and a charge to you all in the presence of the living God; be patterns, be examples in all your countries, places, islands, nations, wherever you come; that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people and to them: then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world, answering that of God in every one; whereby in them ye may be a blessing, and make the witness of God in them to bless you: then to the Lord God you will be a sweet savour, and a blessing.
  63. ^ George Fox (1694). George Fox: An Autobiography (George Fox's Journal). Archived from the original.
  64. ^ "Isaac Penington to Thomas Walmsley (1670)". Quaker Heritage Press.

Further reading

  • Wilhelm, Joseph (1906). "Book 1: Part 1: Chapters I-IV (Divine Revelation)" . A Manual Of Catholic Theology. Benzinger Brothers.

External links

  •   The dictionary definition of revelation at Wiktionary

revelation, this, article, about, supernatural, revelation, final, book, testament, book, other, uses, disambiguation, this, article, unclear, citation, style, references, used, made, clearer, with, different, consistent, style, citation, footnoting, april, 20. This article is about supernatural revelation For the final book of the New Testament see Book of Revelation For other uses see Revelation disambiguation This article has an unclear citation style The references used may be made clearer with a different or consistent style of citation and footnoting April 2011 Learn how and when to remove this template message In religion and theology revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities 1 Illumination from Liber Scivias showing Hildegard of Bingen receiving a vision dictating to her scribe and sketching on a wax tablet Contents 1 Background 2 Types 2 1 Individual revelation 2 2 Public revelation 3 Methods 3 1 Verbal 3 2 Non verbal propositional 4 Epistemology 5 In various religions 5 1 Baha i Faith 5 2 Christianity 5 2 1 Latter Day Saint movement 5 2 1 1 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints 5 3 Hinduism 5 4 Islam 5 5 Judaism 5 5 1 Prophets 5 6 Sikhism 6 Recent revelations 7 Revealed religion 8 See also 9 References 10 Further reading 11 External linksBackground EditInspiration such as that bestowed by God on the author of a sacred book involves a special illumination of the mind in virtue of which the recipient conceives such thoughts as God desires him to commit to writing and does not necessarily involve supernatural communication 2 With the Age of Enlightenment in Europe beginning about the mid 17th century the development of rationalism materialism and atheism the concept of supernatural revelation itself faced skepticism In The Age of Reason 1794 1809 Thomas Paine developed the theology of deism rejecting the possibility of miracles and arguing that a revelation can be considered valid only for the original recipient with all else being hearsay 3 Types EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed July 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message Individual revelation Edit Thomas Aquinas believed in two types of individual revelation from God general revelation and special revelation In general revelation God reveals himself through his creation such that at least some truths about God can be learned by the empirical study of nature physics cosmology etc to an individual Special revelation is the knowledge of God and spiritual matters which can be discovered through supernatural means such as scripture or miracles by individuals Direct revelation refers to communication from God to someone in particular Though one may deduce the existence of God and some of God s attributes through general revelation certain specifics may be known only through special revelation Aquinas believed that special revelation is equivalent to the revelation of God in Jesus The major theological components of Christianity such as the Trinity and the Incarnation are revealed in the teachings of the church and the scriptures and may not otherwise be deduced Special revelation and general revelation are complementary rather than contradictory in nature According to Dumitru Stăniloae Eastern Orthodox Church s position on general special revelation is in stark contrast to Protestant and Catholic theologies that see a clear difference between general and special revelation and tend to argue that the former is not sufficient to salvation In Orthodox Christianity he argues there is no separation between the two and supernatural revelation merely embodies the former in historical persons and actions 4 Continuous revelation is a term for the theological position that God continues to reveal divine principles or commandments to humanity In the 20th century religious existentialists proposed that revelation held no content in and of itself but rather that God inspired people with his presence by coming into contact with them Revelation is a human response that records how we respond to God The philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche wrote of his personal experience of inspiration and his own experience of the idea of revelation in his work Ecce Homo book Has any one at the end of the nineteenth century any distinct notion of what poets of a stronger age understood by the word inspiration If not I will describe it If one had the smallest vestige of superstition left in one it would hardly be possible completely to set aside the idea that one is the mere incarnation mouthpiece or medium of an almighty power The idea of revelation in the sense that something which profoundly convulses and upsets one becomes suddenly visible and audible with indescribable certainty and accuracy describes the simple fact One hears one does not seek one takes one does not ask who gives a thought suddenly flashes up like lightning it comes with necessity without faltering I have never had any choice in the matter 5 Public revelation Edit The mass revelation at the Mount Horeb in an illustration from a Christian Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company 1907 Some religious groups believe a deity has been revealed or spoken to a large group of people or have legends to a similar effect In the Book of Exodus Yahweh is said to have given Ten Commandments to the Israelites at Mount Sinai In Christianity the Book of Acts describes the Day of Pentecost wherein the Holy Spirit descended on the disciples of Jesus in the form of fire that they began praising in tongues and experienced mass revelation The Lakota people believe Ptesaŋwiŋ spoke directly to the people in the establishment of Lakota religious traditions Some versions of an Aztec legend tell of Huitzilopochtli speaking directly to the Aztec people upon their arrival at Anahuac Historically some emperors cult leaders and other figures have also been deified and treated as though their words are themselves revelations Methods EditVerbal Edit This section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed July 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message Some people hold that God can communicate with people in a way that gives direct propositional content This is termed verbal revelation Orthodox Judaism and some forms of Christianity hold that the first five books of Moses were dictated by God in such a fashion Isaiah writes that he received his message through visions where he would see YHWH the God of Israel speaking to angelic beings that surrounded him Isaiah would then write down the dialogue exchanged between YHWH and the angels citation needed This form of revelation constitutes the major part of the text of the Book of Isaiah The same formula of divine revelation is used by other prophets throughout the Tanakh such as Micaiah in 1 Kings 22 19 22 6 better source needed Non verbal propositional Edit One school of thought holds that revelation is non verbal and non literal yet it may have propositional content People were divinely inspired by God with a message but not in a verbal like sense Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel has written To convey what the prophets experienced the Bible could either use terms of descriptions or terms of indication Any description of the act of revelation in empirical categories would have produced a caricature That is why all the Bible does is to state that revelation happened how it happened is something they could only convey in words that are evocative and suggestive 7 Epistemology EditMembers of Abrahamic religions including Judaism Christianity and Islam believe that God exists and can in some way reveal his will to people Members of those religions distinguish between true prophets and false prophets and there are documents offering criteria by which to distinguish true from false prophets The question of epistemology then arises how to know Some believe that revelation can originate directly from a deity or through an agent such as an angel One who has experienced such contact with or communication from the divine is often called a prophet An article p 555 under the heading mysticism and contributed by Ninian Smart J F Rowny Professor of Comparative Religion University of California and President of the American Academy of Religion writing in the 1999 edition of The Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought W W Norton amp Co Inc suggests that the more proper and wider term for such an encounter would be mystical making such a person a mystic All prophets would be mystics but not all mystics would be prophets Revelation from a supernatural source is of lesser importance in some other religious traditions such as Taoism and Confucianism In various religions EditBaha i Faith Edit Main articles Baha i literature and Progressive revelation Baha i Revelation writing The first draft of a tablet of Baha u llah recorded in shorthand script by an amanuensis The Bab Baha u llah and Abdu l Baha the central figures of the Baha i Faith received thousands of written enquiries and wrote thousands of responses hundreds of which amount to whole and proper books while many are shorter texts such as letters In addition the Baha i Faith has large works which were divinely revealed in a very short time as in a night or a few days 8 Additionally because many of the works were first recorded by an amanuensis 9 most were submitted for approval and correction and the final text was personally approved by the revelator Baha u llah would occasionally write the words of revelation down himself but normally the revelation was dictated to his amanuensis who sometimes recorded it in what has been called revelation writing a shorthand script written with extreme speed owing to the rapidity of the utterance of the words Afterwards Baha u llah revised and approved these drafts These revelation drafts and many other transcriptions of Baha u llah s writings around 15 000 items some of which are in his own handwriting are kept in the International Baha i Archives in Haifa Israel 10 11 12 Christianity Edit Main articles Biblical inspiration Christian mystics and Visions of Jesus and Mary Many Christians believe in the possibility and even reality of private revelations messages from God for individuals which can come in a variety of ways Montanism is an example in early Christianity and there are alleged cases today also 13 However Christians see as of a much higher level the revelation recorded in the collection of books known as the Bible They consider these books to be written by human authors under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit They regard Jesus as the supreme revelation of God with the Bible being a revelation in the sense of a witness to him 14 The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that the Christian faith is not a religion of the book Christianity is the religion of the Word of God a word which is not a written and mute word but the Word which is incarnate and living 15 Gregory and Nix speak of Biblical inerrancy as meaning that in its original form the Bible is totally without error and free from all contradiction including the historical and scientific parts 16 Coleman speaks of Biblical infallibility as meaning that the Bible is inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not history or science 17 The Catholic Church speaks not about infallibility of Scripture but about its freedom from error holding the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture 18 The Second Vatican Council citing earlier declarations stated Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation 19 20 It added Since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion the interpreter of Sacred Scripture in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words 21 The Reformed Churches believe in the Bible is inerrant in the sense spoken of by Gregory and Nix and deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual religious or redemptive themes exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science 22 The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks of the infallible truth and divine authority of the Scriptures 23 In the New Testament Jesus treats the Old Testament as authoritative and says it cannot be broken 24 2 Timothy 3 16 says All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness 25 The Second Epistle of Peter claims that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone s own interpretation For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit 26 It also speaks of Paul s letters as containing some things hard to understand which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction as they do the other Scriptures 27 This letter does not specify the other Scriptures nor does the term all Scripture in 2 Timothy indicate which writings were or would be breathed out by God and useful for teaching since it does not preclude later works such as the Book of Revelation and the Epistles of John may have been The Catholic Church recognizes 73 books as inspired and forming the Bible 46 books of the Old Testament and 27 books of the New Testament The most common versions of the Bible that Protestants have today consist of 66 of these books None of the 66 or 73 books gives a list of revealed books Theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher Paul Johannes Tillich 1886 1965 who sought to correlate culture and faith so that faith need not be unacceptable to contemporary culture and contemporary culture need not be unacceptable to faith argued that revelation never runs counter to reason affirming Thomas Aquinas who said that faith is eminently rational and that both poles of the subjective human experience are complementary 28 Karl Barth argued that God is the object of God s own self knowledge and revelation in the Bible means the self unveiling to humanity of the God who cannot be discovered by humanity simply through its own efforts For him the Bible is not The Revelation rather it points to revelation Human concepts can never be considered as identical to God s revelation and Scripture is written in human language expressing human concepts It cannot be considered identical with God s revelation However God does reveal himself through human language and concepts and thus Christ is truly presented in scripture and the preaching of the church Latter Day Saint movement Edit Main articles Revelation in Mormonism and Joseph Smith An 1893 engraving of Joseph Smith receiving the golden plates and other artifacts from the angel Moroni The Latter Day Saint movement teaches that the movement began with a revelation from God which began a process of restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth Latter Day Saints also teach that revelation is the foundation of the church established by Jesus Christ and that it remains an essential element of his true church today Continuous revelation provides individual Latter Day Saints with a testimony described by Richard Bushman as one of the most potent words in the Mormon lexicon 29 Latter Day Saints believe in an open scriptural canon and in addition to the Bible and the Book of Mormon have books of scripture containing the revelations of modern day prophets such as the Doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price In addition many Latter Day Saints believe that ancient prophets in other regions of the world received revelations that resulted in additional scriptures that have been lost and may one day be forthcoming citation needed Latter Day Saints also believe that the United States Constitution is a divinely inspired document 30 31 Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints Edit Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints sustain the President of the Church as prophet seer and revelator the only person on earth who receives revelation to guide the entire church They also sustain the two counselors in the First Presidency as well as the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as prophets seers and revelators 32 They believe that God has followed a pattern of continued revelation to prophets throughout the history of mankind to establish doctrine and maintain its integrity as well as to guide the church under changing world conditions 33 When this pattern of revelation was broken it was because the receivers of revelation had been rejected and often killed In the meridian clarification needed of time Paul described prophets and apostles in terms of a foundation with Christ as the cornerstone which was built to prevent doctrinal shift that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine 34 To maintain this foundation new apostles were chosen and ordained to replace those lost to death or transgression as when Matthias was called by revelation to replace Judas Acts 1 15 26 However as intensifying persecution led to the imprisonment and martyrdom of the apostles it eventually became impossible to continue the apostolic succession 35 Once the foundation of apostles and prophets was lost the integrity of Christian doctrine as established by Christ and the apostles began to be compromised by those who continued to develop doctrine despite not being called or authorized to receive revelation for the body of the church In the absence of revelation these post apostolic theologians couldn t help but introduce elements of human reasoning speculation and personal interpretation of scripture 2 Pet 1 19 20 which over time led to the loss or corruption of various doctrinal truths as well as the addition of new man made doctrines This naturally led to much disagreement and schism which over the centuries culminated in the large number of Christian churches on the earth today Mormons believe that God resumed his pattern of revelation when the world was again ready by calling the Prophet Joseph Smith to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth 36 Since that time there has been a consistent succession of prophets and apostles which God has promised will not be broken before the Second Coming of Christ Dan 2 44 37 Each member of the LDS Church is also confirmed a member of the church following baptism and given the gift of the Holy Ghost by which each member is encouraged to develop a personal relationship with that divine being and receive personal revelation for their own direction and that of their family The Latter Day Saint concept of revelation includes the belief that revelation from God is available to all those who earnestly seek it with the intent of doing good It also teaches that everyone is entitled to personal revelation with respect to his or her stewardship leadership responsibility Thus parents may receive inspiration from God in raising their families individuals can receive divine inspiration to help them meet personal challenges church officers may receive revelation for those whom they serve and so forth The important consequence of this is that each person may receive confirmation that particular doctrines taught by a prophet are true as well as gain divine insight in using those truths for their own benefit and eternal progress In the church personal revelation is expected and encouraged and many converts believe that personal revelation from God was instrumental in their conversion 38 Joseph F Smith the sixth president of the LDS Church summarized this church s belief concerning revelation by saying We believe in the principle of direct revelation from God to man 39 Smith 362 Hinduism Edit Main articles Sruti and Apaurusheyatva Sruti Sanskrit for that which is heard refers to the body of most authoritative ancient religious texts comprising the central canon of Hinduism 40 It includes the four Vedas including its four types of embedded texts the Samhitas the early Upanishads 41 Srutis have been variously described as a revelation through anubhava direct experience 42 or of primordial origins realized by ancient Rishis 40 In Hindu tradition they have been referred to as apauruṣeya not created by humans 43 The Sruti texts themselves assert that they were skillfully created by Rishis sages after inspired creativity just as a carpenter builds a chariot 44 Islam Edit Main articles Revelation in Islam and Tanzil Muhammad s Call to Prophecy and the First Revelation leaf from a copy of the Majmac al tawarikh Compendium of Histories ca 1425 Timurid From Herat Afghanistan Muslims believe that God Arabic ألله Allah revealed his final message to all of existence through Muhammad via the angel Gabriel 45 Muhammad is considered to have been the Seal of the Prophets and the last revelation the Qur an is believed by Muslims to be the flawless final revelation of God to humanity valid until the Last Day The Qur an claims to have been revealed word by word and letter by letter citation needed Muslims hold that the message of Islam is the same as the message preached by all the messengers sent by God to humanity since Adam Muslims believe that Islam is the oldest of the monotheistic religions because it represents both the original and the final revelation of God to Abraham Moses David Jesus and Muhammad 46 47 Likewise Muslims believe that every prophet received revelation in their lives as each prophet was sent by God to guide mankind Jesus is significant in this aspect as he received revelation in a twofold aspect as Muslims believe he preached the Gospel while also having been taught the Torah According to Islamic traditions Muhammad began receiving revelations from the age of 40 delivered through the angel Gabriel over the last 23 years of his life The content of these revelations known as the Qur an 48 was memorized and recorded by his followers and compiled from dozens of hafiz as well as other various parchments or hides into a single volume shortly after his death In Muslim theology Muhammad is considered equal in importance to all other prophets of God and to make distinction among the prophets is a sin as the Qur an itself promulgates equality between God s prophets Qur an 3 84 Many scholars have made the distinction between revelation and inspiration which according to Muslim theology all righteous people can receive Inspiration refers to God inspiring a person to commit some action as opposed to revelation which only the prophets received Moses s mother Jochebed being inspired to send the infant Moses in a cradle down the Nile river is a frequently cited example of inspiration as is Hagar searching for water for the infant Ishmael Judaism Edit Main article Jewish principles of faith Mattan Torah redirects here Mattan Torah is the gift of Torah For Z man Mattan Torah the time of the giving of the Torah see Shavuot The term revelation is used in two senses in Jewish theology it either denotes 1 what in rabbinical language is called Gilluy Shekinah a manifestation of God by some wondrous act of his which overawes man and impresses him with what he sees hears or otherwise perceives of his glorious presence or it denotes 2 a manifestation of his will through oracular words signs statutes or laws 49 In Judaism issues of epistemology have been addressed by Jewish philosophers such as Saadiah Gaon 882 942 in his Book of Beliefs and Opinions Maimonides 1135 1204 in his Guide for the Perplexed Samuel Hugo Berman professor of philosophy at the Hebrew University Joseph Dov Soloveitchik 1903 1993 talmudic scholar and philosopher Neil Gillman professor of philosophy at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America and Elliot N Dorff professor of philosophy at the American Jewish University One of the major trends in modern Jewish philosophy was the attempt to develop a theory of Judaism through existentialism One of the primary players in this field was Franz Rosenzweig His major work Star of Redemption expounds a philosophy in which he portrays the relationships between God humanity and world as they are connected by creation revelation and redemption Conservative Jewish philosophers Elliot N Dorff and Neil Gillman take the existentialist philosophy of Rosenzweig as one of their starting points for understanding Jewish philosophy They come to different conclusions however Rabbinic Judaism and contemporary Orthodox Judaism hold that the Torah Pentateuch extant today is essentially the same one that the whole of the Jewish people received on Mount Sinai from God upon their Exodus from Egypt 50 Beliefs that God gave a Torah of truth to Moses and the rest of the people that Moses was the greatest of the prophets and that the Law given to Moses will never be changed are three of the Thirteen Principles of Faith of Orthodox Judaism according to Maimonides Orthodox Judaism believes that in addition to the written Torah God also revealed to Moses a set of oral teachings called the Oral Torah In addition to this revealed law Jewish law contains decrees and enactments made by prophets rabbis and sages over the course of Jewish history Haredi Judaism tends to regard even rabbinic decrees as being of divine origin or divinely inspired while Modern Orthodox Judaism tends to regard them as being more potentially subject to human error although due to the Biblical verse Do not stray from their words Deuteronomy 17 11 it is still accepted as binding law Conservative Judaism tends to regard both the Torah and the Oral law as not verbally revealed The Conservative approach tends to regard the Torah as compiled by redactors in a manner similar to the Documentary Hypothesis However Conservative Jews also regard the authors of the Torah as divinely inspired and many regard at least portions of it as originating with Moses Positions can vary from the position of Joel Roth following David Weiss HaLivni that while the Torah originally given to Moses on Mount Sinai became corrupted or lost and had to be recompiled later by redactors the recompiled Torah is nonetheless regarded as fully Divine and legally authoritative to the position of Gordon Tucker that the Torah while Divinely inspired is a largely human document containing significant elements of human error and should be regarded as the beginning of an ongoing process which is continuing today citation needed Conservative Judaism regards the Oral Law as divinely inspired but nonetheless subject to human error Reform and Reconstructionist Jews also accept the Documentary Hypothesis for the origin of the Torah and tend to view all of the Oral law as an entirely human creation Reform believe that the Torah is not a direct revelation from God but is a document written by human ancestors carrying human understanding and experience and seeking to answer the question What does God require of us They believe that though it contains many core truths about God and humanity it is also time bound They believe that God s will is revealed through the interaction of humanity and God throughout history and so in that sense Torah is a product of an ongoing revelation Reconstructionist Judaism denies the notion of revelation entirely Prophets Edit Although the Nevi im the books of the Prophets are considered divine and true this does not imply that the books of the prophets are always read literally Jewish tradition has always held that prophets used metaphors and analogies There exists a wide range of commentaries explaining and elucidating those verses consisting of metaphor Rabbinic Judaism regards Moses as the greatest of the prophets and this view is one of the Thirteen Principles of Faith of traditional Judaism Consistent with the view that revelation to Moses was generally clearer than revelation to other prophets Orthodox views of revelation to prophets other than Moses have included a range of perspectives as to directness For example Maimonides in The Guide for the Perplexed said that accounts of revelation in the Nevi im were not always as literal as in the Torah and that some prophetic accounts reflect allegories rather than literal commands or predictions Conservative Rabbi and philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel 1907 1972 author of a number of works on prophecy said that Prophetic inspiration must be understood as an event not as a process 51 In his work God in Search of Man he discussed the experience of being a prophet In his book Prophetic Inspiration After the Prophets Maimonides and Others Heschel references to continued prophetic inspiration in Jewish rabbinic literature following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and into medieval and even Modern times He wrote that To convey what the prophets experienced the Bible could either use terms of descriptions or terms of indication Any description of the act of revelation in empirical categories would have produced a caricature That is why all the Bible does is to state that revelation happened How it happened is something they could only convey in words that are evocative and suggestive 52 Sikhism Edit The Guru Granth Sahib is considered to be a divine revelation by God to the Sikh gurus In various verses of Guru Granth Sahib the Sikh gurus themselves state that they merely speak what the divine teacher God commands them to speak Guru Nanak frequently used to tell his ardent follower Mardana Oh Mardana play the rabaab the Lord s word is descending onto me In certain passages of Guru Granth sahib it is clearly said the authorship is of divine origin and the gurus were merely the channel through which such revelations came Recent revelations Edit Crowd looking at the Sun during the Miracle of the Sun Fatima Portugal 1917 The Miracle of the Sun occurred in Fatima Portugal in 1917 While some consider it to be a genuine miracle others regard it as a natural phenomenon with a natural explanation 53 Revealed religion EditRevealed religions have religious texts which they view as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired For instance Orthodox Jews Christians and Muslims believe that the Torah was received from God on biblical Mount Sinai 54 55 Most Christians believe that both the Old Testament and the New Testament were inspired by God Muslims believe the Quran was revealed by God to Muhammad word by word through the angel Gabriel Jibril 56 57 In Hinduism some Vedas are considered apauruṣeya not human compositions and are supposed to have been directly revealed and thus are called sruti what is heard The 15 000 handwritten pages produced by the mystic Maria Valtorta were represented as direct dictations from Jesus while she attributed The Book of Azariah to her guardian angel 58 A revelation communicated by a supernatural entity reported as being present during the event is called a vision Direct conversations between the recipient and the supernatural entity 59 or physical marks such as stigmata have been reported In rare cases such as that of Saint Juan Diego physical artifacts accompany the revelation 60 The Roman Catholic concept of interior locution includes just an inner voice heard by the recipient In the Abrahamic religions the term is used to refer to the process by which God reveals knowledge of himself his will and his divine providence to the world of human beings 61 In secondary usage revelation refers to the resulting human knowledge about God prophecy and other divine things Revelation from a supernatural source plays a less important role in some other religious traditions such as Buddhism Confucianism and Taoism Quakers known formally as the Religious Society of Friends are generally united by a belief in each human s ability to experience the light within or see that of God in every one 62 Most Quakers believe in continuing revelation that God continuously reveals truth directly to individuals George Fox said Christ has come to teach His people Himself 63 Friends often focus on feeling the presence of God As Isaac Penington wrote in 1670 It is not enough to hear of Christ or read of Christ but this is the thing to feel him to be my root my life and my foundation 64 Quakers reject the idea of priests believing in the priesthood of all believers Some express their concept of God using phrases such as the inner light inward light of Christ or Holy Spirit Quakers first gathered around George Fox in the mid 17th century and belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations See also EditConfabulation Continuous revelation Cryptomnesia Darsana Disciple Christianity Epiphany feeling Gnosis God helmet Hierophany Intuition psychology Jean Luc Marion Mediumship Nous Oracle Prophecy Religious experience The Urantia BookReferences Edit Bernhardt Reinhold 2007 Revelation In von Stuckrad Kocku ed The Brill Dictionary of Religion Leiden and Boston Brill Publishers doi 10 1163 1872 5287 bdr SIM 00056 ISBN 9789004124332 Joyce George Revelation The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol 13 New York Robert Appleton Company 1912 3 May 2014 Newadvent org Retrieved 2014 05 12 Paine Thomas 1987 1794 Foot Michael Kramnick Isaac eds The Thomas Paine Reader New York Penguin Books p 403 ISBN 0 14 044496 3 Staniloae Staniloae 2000 Orthodox Dogmatic Theology The Experience of God v 1 Orthodox Dogmatic Theology Volume 1 Revelation and Knowledge of the Triune God T amp T Clark Ltd ISBN 978 0917651700 Nietzsche Friedrich 1911 Levy Oscar ed The Complete Works of Friedrich Nietzsche Vol 17 Ecce Homo Translated by Ludovici Anthony M New York The MacMillan Company pp 101 102 Retrieved 3 May 2022 1 Kings 22 Hebrew English Bible Mechon Mamre Mechon mamre org Retrieved 2012 01 27 God in Search of Man Book of Certitude Dating the Iqan Kalimat Press 1995 Retrieved 2007 02 26 The Writings of Baha u llah Published in The Baha i World Vol 14 Baha i World Centre pp 620 32 Retrieved 2007 02 26 A new volume of Baha i sacred writings recently translated and comprising Baha u llah s call to world leaders is published Baha i World Centre May 2002 Retrieved 2007 02 26 Taherzadeh A 1976 The Revelation of Baha u llah Volume 1 Baghdad 1853 63 Oxford UK George Ronald ISBN 0 85398 270 8 For extended comments on the divine revelation of the Bab Baha u llah and Abdu l Baha see Number of tablets revealed by Baha u llah by Robert Stockman and Juan Cole Numbers and Classifications of Sacred Writings texts by the Universal House of Justice and Horace Holley s preface of The Baha i Revelation including Selections from the Baha i Holy Writings and Talks by Abdu l Baha Catechism of the Catholic Church 67 Vatican va Retrieved 2014 05 12 Catechism of the Catholic Church 426 516 Catechism of the Catholic Church 2nd ed para 108 Geisler amp Nix 1986 A General Introduction to the Bible Moody Press Chicago ISBN 0 8024 2916 5 Coleman R J 1975 Biblical Inerrancy Are We Going Anywhere Theology Today 31 4 295 doi 10 1177 004057367503100404 S2CID 170389190 Cardinal Augustin Bea Vatican II and the Truth of Sacred Scripture Archived from the original on 2012 05 08 Retrieved 2014 05 12 Second Vatican Council Dei Verbum Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation 11 Vatican va Retrieved 2014 05 12 Catechism of the Catholic Church 105 108 Vatican va Retrieved 2014 05 12 Dei Verbum 12 Second Helvetic Confession Of the Holy Scripture Being the True Word of God Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy Online text Wikisource Confession of Faith Ratification Act 1690 John 10 34 36 2 Timothy 3 16 2 Peter 1 20 21 2 Peter 3 15 16 Systematic Theology I by Paul Tillich University of Chicago Press 205 0 226803 37 6 Paul Tillich Systematic Theology p 307 ISBN 0 226 80336 8 Bushman Richard L 2008 Mormonism a very short introduction Oxford Oxford University Press pp 27 doi 10 1093 actrade 9780195310306 003 0002 ISBN 978 0 19 531030 6 Dallin H Oaks Feb 1992 The Divinely Inspired Constitution Ensign See D amp C 101 77 80 Prophets churchofjesuschrist org Retrieved 2014 05 12 Revelation churchofjesuschrist org Retrieved 2014 05 12 Eph 2 20 and 4 11 14 see also Matt 16 17 18 Gospel Principles Chapter 16 The Church of Jesus Christ in Former Times churchofjesuschrist org Retrieved 2014 05 12 Gospel Principles Chapter 17 The Church of Jesus Christ Today churchofjesuschrist org Retrieved 2014 05 12 The Church of Jesus Christ churchofjesuschrist org Retrieved 2014 05 12 Continuing Revelation Mormon org Retrieved August 5 2005 Smith Joseph F November 2007 41 Continuing Revelation for the Benefit of the Church Teachings of Presidents of the Church Joseph F Smith Salt Lake City UT The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints p 362 ISBN 978 1 59955 103 6 a b James Lochtefeld 2002 Shruti The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Hinduism Vol 2 N Z Rosen Publishing ISBN 9780823931798 page 645 Wendy Doniger O Flaherty 1988 Textual Sources for the Study of Hinduism Manchester University Press ISBN 0 7190 1867 6 pages 2 3 Michael Myers 2013 Brahman A Comparative Theology Routledge pp 104 112 ISBN 978 1 136 83572 8 P Bilimoria 1998 The Idea of Authorless Revelation in Indian Philosophy of Religion Editor Roy Perrett ISBN 978 94 010 7609 8 Springer Netherlands pages 3 143 166 Hartmut Scharfe 2002 Handbook of Oriental Studies BRILL Academic ISBN 978 9004125568 pages 13 14 Watton 1993 Introduction Esposito 2002b pp 4 5 Quran 42 13 The term Qur an was first used in the Qur an itself There are two different theories about this term and its formation that are discussed in Quran Etymology and meaning Revelation Jewish Encyclopedia Jewishencyclopedia com Retrieved 2014 05 12 Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith and Rabbi Moshe Zeldman Did God Speak at Sinai Aish HaTorah Heschel Abraham Joshua 1955 God in Search of Man A Philosophy of Judaism Noonday p 209 ISBN 0 374 51331 7 Heschel Abraham Joshua 1987 God in Search of Man A Philosophy of Judaism ason Aronson Inc ISBN 0 87668 955 1 The Lady of Fatima amp the Miracle of the Sun LiveScience com 2 May 2013 Retrieved 2015 10 13 Beale G K The Book of Revelation NIGTC Grand Rapids Cambridge 1999 ISBN 0 8028 2174 X Esposito John L What Everyone Needs to Know about Islam New York Oxford University Press 2002 pp 7 8 Lambert Gray 2013 The Leaders Are Coming WestBow Press p 287 ISBN 9781449760137 Roy H Williams Michael R Drew 2012 Pendulum How Past Generations Shape Our Present and Predict Our Future Vanguard Press p 143 ISBN 9781593157067 Maria Valtorta The Poem of the Man God ISBN 99926 45 57 1 Michael Freze 1993 Voices Visions and Apparitions OSV Publishing ISBN 0 87973 454 X p 252 Michael Freze 1989 They Bore the Wounds of Christ ISBN 0 87973 422 1 Revelation Define Revelation at Dictionary com Dictionary reference com Retrieved 2013 07 14 Fox George 1903 George Fox s Journal Isbister and Company Limited pp 215 216 This is the word of the Lord God to you all and a charge to you all in the presence of the living God be patterns be examples in all your countries places islands nations wherever you come that your carriage and life may preach among all sorts of people and to them then you will come to walk cheerfully over the world answering that of God in every one whereby in them ye may be a blessing and make the witness of God in them to bless you then to the Lord God you will be a sweet savour and a blessing George Fox 1694 George Fox An Autobiography George Fox s Journal Archived from the original Isaac Penington to Thomas Walmsley 1670 Quaker Heritage Press Further reading EditWilhelm Joseph 1906 Book 1 Part 1 Chapters I IV Divine Revelation A Manual Of Catholic Theology Benzinger Brothers External links Edit Look up revealed religion in Wiktionary the free dictionary Look up revelation in Wiktionary the free dictionary Wikiquote has quotations related to Revelation The dictionary definition of revelation at Wiktionary Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Revelation amp oldid 1135548877, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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