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Revelation, or divine revelation, is the disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through communication with a deity (god) or other supernatural entity or entities in the view of religion and theology.
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. The teachings of Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, are also of this nature. The holy book of Muslims, the Quran, is the product of a special revelation from God to Muhammad, which led to the emergence of the last divine religion, Islam. Special revelation and general revelation are complementary rather than contradictory in nature. That is, in understanding a "special revelation", first a "general revelation" provides the conditions, and after that "special revelation" occurs, the subsequent conditions for the occurrence of the "general revelation" also change at will.
According to Dumitru Stăniloae, Eastern Orthodox Church’s position on general/special revelation is in stark contrast to Protestantism and Catholic Church 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.
"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:
Some versions of an Aztec mythology 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.
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. 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.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, "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."God in Search of Man
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. The Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought suggests that the more proper and wider term for such an encounter would be "mystical", making such a person a mysticism.Ninian Smart (1999) "Mysticism" in The Norton Dictionary of Modern Thought (W. W. Norton & Co. Inc.) p. 555 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.
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.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.
Geisler 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. Coleman speaks of Biblical infallibility as meaning that the Bible is inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not history or science. The Catholic Church speaks not about infallibility of Scripture but about its freedom from error, holding "the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture". 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". 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." Dei Verbum, 12 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".Second Helvetic Confession, Of the Holy Scripture Being the True Word of God; Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy, Online text The Westminster Confession of Faith speaks of "the infallible truth and divine authority" of the Scriptures.
In the New Testament, Jesus treats the Old Testament as authoritative and says that it "cannot be broken" . 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". 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". 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".
This letter does not specify "the other Scriptures", and the term "all Scripture" in 2 Timothy does not indicate the writings that 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 have today consist of 66 of these books. None of the 66 or 73 books gives a list of revealed books.
The 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 considered faith to be eminently rational) and that both poles of the subjective human experience are complementary.Systematic Theology I, by Paul Tillich, University of Chicago Press, 205. 0-226803-37-6.
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.
The Catholic Church also believes Jesus Christ is the "fullness and mediator of all Revelations", and that no new divine revelation will come until the Second Coming. It also believes that God gradually leads the church into a deeper understanding of divine revelation, such as by private revelations, which do not fulfill, complete, substitute, or supersede divine revelation but help one live by divine revelation. The church does not obligate the faithful to believe in, follow, or publish private revelations whether or not they are approved.
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. Latter Day Saints also believe that the United States Constitution is a divinely inspired document. See D&C 101:77–80
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, the post-apostolic theologians had no choice but introduced 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 to the addition of new man-made doctrines. That 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. 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).
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. 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" (Smith, 362).Smith, Joseph F. (2007). 9781599551036, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. . ISBN 9781599551036
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.Esposito (2002b), pp.4–5 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 Injil while also having been taught the Torah.
According to Islamic traditions, Muhammad began receiving revelations from the age of 40 that were delivered through the angel Gabriel over the last 23 years of his life. The content of these revelations, known as the Qur'an,The term Qur'an was first used in the Qur'an itself. There are two different theories about the term and its formation that are discussed in Quran#Etymology and meaning 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.
Many 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.
In Judaism, issues of epistemology have been addressed by Jewish philosophers such as Saadiah Gaon (882–942) in his Emunoth ve-Deoth; Maimonides (1135–1204) in his Guide for the Perplexed; Hugo Bergmann, 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.Rabbi Nechemia Coopersmith and Rabbi Moshe Zeldman: "Did God Speak at Sinai", Aish HaTorah 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, Halakha 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. 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 Judaism 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.
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." 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:Aryeh Kaplan, The Handbook of Jewish Thought (1979). e
Maznaim: p. 9.
In certain passages of Guru Granth Sahib, it is clearly said the authorship is of divine origin and the gurus are merely the channel through which such revelations came.
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,Michael Freze, 1993, Voices, Visions, and Apparitions, OSV Publishing p. 252 or physical marks such as stigmata, have been reported. In rare cases, such as that of Saint Juan Diego, physical artifacts accompany the revelation.Michael Freze, 1989 They Bore the Wounds of Christ 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. In secondary usage, revelation refers to the resulting human knowledge about God, prophecy, and other divinity 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 Inward light or see "that of God in every one." Most Quakers believe in continuing revelation: God continuously reveals truth directly to individuals. George Fox said, "Christ has come to teach His people Himself."George Fox (1694). George Fox: An Autobiography (George Fox's Journal). Archived from the original. 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....""Isaac Penington to Thomas Walmsley (1670)". Quaker Heritage Press. Quakers reject the idea of priests and believe 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.
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. Jewish Theology and Process Thought (eds. Sandra B. Lubarsky & David Ray Griffin). SUNY Press, 1996.
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 Bhai Mardana "Oh Mardana, play the rabaab the Lord's word is descending onto me."
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.Beale G.K., The Book of Revelation, NIGTC, Grand Rapids – Cambridge 1999. 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). In Hinduism, the Vedas are considered apaurusheyatva, "not human compositions", and are supposed to have been directly revealed, and thus are called śruti, "what is heard". Hindus also consider the Bhagavad Gita to contain direct revelation from Krishna.
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