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HIGHER INSTITUTE OF RELIGIOUS SCIENCES
SAINT JOSEPHINE BATKHITA
1timeYear
FUNDAMENTAL THEOLOGY
Teacher :
Father Dr Patrick NDODÉ-SIKOSSI, OP.
Academic year 2023-2024
Course Map
General Introduction
I. God's Revelation
II. Revelation as manifestation of God
III. Man's Response to Revelation
IV. Revelation, Scripture and Tradition
V. The Revelation of God given to the Church
General conclusion
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Fundamental Theology Course, ISSR – J. Bakhita/1timeYear, 2023-2024, P. Patrick N.-SIKOSSI, OP.
Selective bibliography
1. Work tools
Denziger H.,Symbol and definition of the Catholic faith,Edited by Peter Hünermann for
the original edition and by Joseph Hoffmann for the French edition, Paris, Cerf, 199738.
Dumiege G.,The Catholic faith, Paris, Orante, 19932.
Lacoste J.-Y., and Riaudel O, (dir.),Critical Dictionary of Theology, Paris, Quadriga/ PUF,
20073.
2. Bible
The TOB Bible,Paris, Cerf, 1973.
The Jerusalem Bible,New revised and corrected edition, Paris, Cerf, 199812.
3. Texts of the Magisterium
Council of Tente, Session IV,Decree on the Canon of Scriptureof April 8, 1946.
Vatican Council I, Dogmatic ConstitutionDei Filiusof April 24, 1870.
Vatican Council II, Dogmatic ConstitutionDei Verbumof November 18, 1965.
Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life,Guidelines
on training in religious Institutes,from February 2, 1990.
Pontifical Biblical Commission,The interpretation of the Bible in the Church,Librera Editor
Vaticana, Roma 1993.
John Paul II, Encyclical LetterFides and Ratio(Faith and Reason), September 14, 1998.
Benedict XVI, the Apostolic ExhortationVerbum Domini,dated September 30, 2010.
4. The works
Burggraff Jutta,Fundamental Theology, Paris, le Laurier, 1998.
Burke P., De Lubac H., Danielou J.,Theology of today and tomorrow, Paris, Cerf, 1967.
Congar Yves,Faith and Theology,Paris, Desclée, 1962.
Eboussi Boulaga F.,Christianity without fetish, Revelation and domination,Paris, Presence
African, 1981.
Francis, Apostolic ConstitutionVeritatis Gaudiumfrom December 8, 2017.
Rahner K.,Fundamental treatise on the faith. Studies on the concept of Christianity, Works 26,
Paris, Cerf, 2011.
Ricoeur P., Levinas E., Haulotte E.,The revelation,Brussels, Faculty Publications
University of Saint-Louis 7, 19842.
Sesboüé Bernard,Introduction to theology. History and understanding of dogma, Paris,
Salvador, 2017.
Waldenfels Hans,Manual of fundamental theology,Coll. “Cogitatio Fidei” 159, Paris, Cerf,
2010.
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Fundamental Theology Course, ISSR – J. Bakhita/1timeYear, 2023-2024, P. Patrick N.-SIKOSSI, OP.
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1. Philosophy and religion: human existence and questioning the meaning of life
a) Philosophical questioning
Philosophy is defined etymologically as “love of wisdom”. It is a sustained
reflection on the reality of man and the world in which he lives; on the nature and
meaning of things.
Social life sometimes takes place in indifference, or even ignorance of
philosophical reflections. This can lead one to think that philosophy is not necessary
for life. We could even do without her. This raises the question of the importance of
philosophy. What is the use of philosophy?
The common man does not often concern himself with the question ofbeing, a
concept that organizes philosophical discourse. What is it, truly? What is the meaning of
things? What is man? These questions which refer to the why of things and of life are
eminently philosophical questions which require reflection and arduous efforts at
conceptualization. From the pre-Socratics to Heidegger and Marcien Towa via Socrates-
Plato, Aristotle, Descartes, Kant, Hegel, etc., philosophers have been concerned with
revealing the truth of being. Rigorous reflections, speculations and sometimes ethereal
speeches have been produced over the centuries to provide answers to these questions.
Indeed, philosophical discourses seem to move away from sociohistorical
realities. Philosophy does not provide concrete solutions to the problems of men in
society: the hungry man needs food for his survival; he who is sick will be concerned
above all to be relieved of his illness and cured of his illness; the young person who does
not have a job will look for work, will dream of a happy life; the father or mother will be
concerned about the well-being of their children and harmony within their home; we
will seek to invent efficient ways to move more quickly from one city to another or from
one country to another; to build devices to communicate over long distances; to make
formidable weapons to defend against enemies, etc. For this, man does not need
philosophy, but rather other disciplines such as agronomy, medicine, technology,
aviation, telecommunications, etc. But, beyond the search for solutions to life's
problems, the question of the fundamental meaning of life remains raised, hence the
importance of philosophy.
In fact, being thelove of wisdom, philosophy is a permanent quest for meaning.
This quest is an integral part of human existence. Unlike other beings, man is naturally
endowed with a quality (intelligence) which allows him to question his origin, the
meaning of his existence and the meaning to be given to things. Hence the importance
of philosophical questioning. Socrates said, “know thyself» ?Thanks to his cognitive
capacity, man is able to think1.
Indeed, the things of nature in their mechanical, physical and organic determination are
incapable of themselves reflecting the higher reality which passes through them, namely the
1Cf. According to the French philosopher René Descartes, “cogito ergo sum» (I think so I am).
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Fundamental Theology Course, ISSR – J. Bakhita/1timeYear, 2023-2024, P. Patrick N.-SIKOSSI, OP.
reason (Cf. Hegel). They lack the moment of subjectivity. Furthermore, the animal
cannot transfigure its existence for itself, that is to say, give it meaning; he cannot
fully drive something he senses. For this, he is as if sick, and it is to man as an
intelligent being capable of reflexivity/rationality that the privilege of another life
falls; thanks to rationality, men can transcend the limits of nature. In this sense, we
affirm with Karl Jaspers that “man cannot do without philosophy”2. For Jaspers, one
cannot escape philosophy; “the only question that arises is whether it is conscious or
not, good or bad, confused or clear. Anyone who rejects it thereby affirms a
philosophy, without being aware of it.3.
Philosophizing is therefore an unsurpassable human determinant. It is thanks to
philosophy that man accesses the light, the truth of things, as Plato makes known
through theMyth of the cave4.Philosophy allows us to ask fundamental questions about
the purpose of human existence and of all things. Isn’t such a discipline a preparation
for theology as Thomas Aquinas said “philosophia ancilla theologiæ» ? Therefore,
wouldn't it be a means of deepening the meaning of religion?
b) Religion as a response to the human thirst for the absolute
Religion comes from the Latin wordreligar,which means to connect. Religion is an indefinable
link between man and divinity, the natural and the supernatural, grace and nature. Religion refers to
the sacred. This is why the sacred is so mysterious. But the sacred and the profane are linked,
because it is from the profane world that the sacred emerges. The relationship of the profane and the
sacred to its foundation within man himself. Man's relationship with God cannot be objectified, God
does not occupy space, consequently our relationship with Him is not to be thought of spatially. In
invoking God, I call him to me but without externalizing him from me. Thus, in prayer, we establish a
relationship that is both subjective and objective. The relationship with God is a relationship without
exteriority which makes God in me and me by removing the distance which seems to separate us.
Invocation is in this sense meditation.
Indeed, the relationship with God presents itself as an interiorization, an interior unification.
In the relationship with God, we also enter into a relationship with ourselves, because it is the soul
which finds its unity, the being is reconciled within itself. Our relationship with God transforms our
view of the world which becomes spiritual. It is a look in which the visible and the invisible, the natural
and the supernatural, mingle. This view also belongs to the poet, the artist, etc.
But what man senses in his philosophical questioning and in his religious
experience becomes intelligible with theology, in particular Christian theology.
2Karl Jaspers,Introduction to philosophy, Translated from German by Jeanne Hersch, Paris, Plon, 1952, p.
235.
3Ibid.,p. 8.
4Cf. Plato,The Republic,“Book VII.
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2. Discovering theology as a science: Christian experience and birth of
theology
a) The origin of Christian theology and its evolution towards a scientific discipline
According to Yves Congar, “theology is a Christian fact5". But it must be remembered
that the word theology is of pagan and philosophical origin. For example, in Plato, theology
refers to myths. In Aristotle, theology designates the highest science, after physics and
mathematics, it deals with the immovable and the eternal, it is metaphysics.
Theology as a discourse with scientific pretensions was born from the need for Christians
to defend their faith. In fact, from the first century AD, Christianity – emerging from Judaism –
very quickly came into contact with the Greco-Latin world influenced by secular, literary and
philosophical culture: “From there arose the need, 1 °) a defense and justification of Christians
before the authorities and public opinion; 2°) of an internal struggle against heresies: docetism,
gnosis, Marcionism, Montanism6". In the first case, it is the apologists7
who will do a remarkable job of showing that there is no incompatibility between
Revelation and reason by presenting Christ as the true logos.
The epistemological meaning of theology “in the modern sense that Abelard, precisely,
was the first to use8» asserted itself in the 13thecentury, as a fruit of university
organization and activity where theology appeared in the list of school disciplines.
Theology as an academic discipline reached its peak with Albert the Great and
Thomas Aquinas. In the work of Thomas Aquinas, theology presents itself as the fruit of
faith and reason. Thus, Congar defines theology as "a science by which the reason of
the Christian, holding certainty and light from faith, strives through reflection to
understand what it believes, that is to say the mysteries revealedwith their
consequences9". According to the formula of Saint Anselm of Cantobery, theology is
defined asFides quaerens intellectum(faith seeking intelligence).In this, the theological
proposition “is neither purely divine, like that of faith, nor purely human, like that of
philosophy, but divinohuman: because theology is that enterprise of man which
combines knowledge received from above and knowledge coming from below10". The
theologian is not a philosopher who works on a belief, but rather a believer, a man of
faith “who uses the fullness of usable human knowledge to realize humanly and
scientifically what he believes11". Theology is not only a science, it is also a wisdom.
5Yves MJ Congar,Faith and Theology,Paris, Desclée, 1962, p. 128.
6Ibid.,p. 212. Ancient Judaism had hardly practiced this, except Philo of Alexandria, a Hellenizer.
7Among them, we can notably cite Justin, “philosopher and martyr”, Tatian, Athenagoras of Athens,
Theophilus of Antioch, on the side of the Greek Fathers; Tertullian, Irenaeus of Lyon, Clement of
Alexandria, Origen, Basil of Caesarea and Augustine on the side of the Latin Fathers. Everyone will be
particularly involved against gnosis.
8Yves MJ Congar,Faith and Theology,Paris, Desclée, 1962, p. 238. Emphasis is given by the author.
9Ibid.,127. Emphasis added.
10Ibid.,p. 130.
11Ibid.,175.
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Fundamental Theology Course, ISSR – J. Bakhita/1timeYear, 2023-2024, P. Patrick N.-SIKOSSI, OP.
b) Theology as wisdom
Wisdom is the quality of man who has a coherent knowledge of the world, who has a
fair appreciation of the place of things and of his own. As such, Congar asserts that
theology is, in principle, among human knowledge, not a wisdom, buttherewisdom,
because it is knowledge through the highest cause, through the very principle of the order
of history and the world. It lives by a communication of the very Design and Wisdom of
God. It is enveloping compared to everything else. As such, it is up to him to possibly make
a sovereign judgment12.
Thus, theology will have two classic and permanent tasks: “theology as wisdom and
theology as rational knowledge”. As wisdom, theology was, in the first centuries of the
Church, closely linked to the spiritual life based on meditation on the Bible, the art of
directing one's life according to the evangelical ideal towards spiritual perfection and
holiness. This theology was above all monastic. For this reason, she cared little about world
affairs. By agreeing to enter into dialogue with the thought of its time, this theology uses
the Platonic and neo-Platonic categories.
Although theology, as rational knowledge, is illustrated with scholasticism – in particular
the Albertino-Thomist revolution – the notion of wisdom does not disappear. But this balance did
not survive the rupture between theology and spirituality which took place in the 14th century.e
century.
c) Theology after scholasticism and in the wake of the Council of Trent
It should also be noted that scholastic theology, taken within the framework of school, tended
to become an end in itself. We were doing philosophy instead of theology. Congar describes the
theological situation of the time in these terms:
Debates between theological schools take place in the field of philosophy. We are also increasingly
schooling, and profaning, the act of speaking about God. The XIVe-XVecenturies are times when
universities were founded throughout Europe; the "Doctor" takes precedence over the Pastor or the
spiritual Man, who follows his line on his side: this is the time when he has, not only prestige, but a
true magisterium in holy Church13.
Indeed, scholastic theology will gradually transform – especially from the Council of
Trent (1545-1563) – into an auxiliary discipline of the ecclesiastical Magisterium. Its function
will then be: 1. to define, expose and explain the revealed truths; 2. to examine doctrines, to
condemn those which are false and to defend those which are true; to teach with authority
the revealed truths.
This epistemological shift will lead to granting more authority and favor to
theological centers close to the magisterium, and especially to Roman universities. This
12Ibid.,p. 188.
13Yves MJ Congar,Faith and Theology,Paris, Desclée, 1962, p. 252.
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practice will persist in the Church until the 20thecentury14. But, with the Second Vatican
Council, a new era dawned for theology.
d) Theology since the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council
At Vatican II, there was a shift from a theology centered almost exclusively on God to a
theology which discovered more clearly that God, by revealing himself to us, reveals man to
himself. The Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the World of TodayGaudium et spes is a
beautiful illustration of this. The Word about God is also a word about man. We are moving,
we can say, from a theology to a theo-anthropology. We perceive a desire to root theology
in a historical praxis: this enriches the traditional conception of theology as an intelligence
of faith.
3. Theological sources and places
a) The sources of theology
There are essentially two sources of theology15: Scripture, the Tradition of the Fathers, the
Magisterium on the one hand and, on the other hand, the problems of concrete life, "the joys and the
hopes, the sadness and the anguish of the men of this time16".
b) Theological places
The theorist of theological places is the Dominican Melchior Cano (1509-1560).
Theological places are the areas from which theology can draw its arguments. Cano's
thought is of considerable importance for modern theology. By considering natural
reason, the authority of philosophers and jurists, as well as history as theological places,
Cano's systematization consecrates the entry of secular disciplines (later called the
human sciences) into theological argumentation under the title of additional theological
places. Previously, philosophy was practically the only partner of theology.
Cano will have allowed us to understand that theology must be in permanent
dialogue with culture and modern rationality; it presents itself as a crossroads where all
scientific disciplines meet. However, Revelation remains at the foundation of theology,
hence the importance of fundamental theology.
14SeeMarie-Dominique Chenu,A school of theology: Saulchoir,With studies by Giuseppe Alberigo,
Etienne Fouilloux, Jean Ladrière and Jean-Pierre Jossua, Preface by René Rémond, Paris, Cerf, 1985.
15Francis, Apostolic ConstitutionVeritatis Gaudium,Art. 69.
16Vatican Council II, Pastoral ConstitutionGaudium and Spes#1.
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4. What is fundamental theology?
a) From apologetics to fundamental theology
The word “apologetics” comes from the ancient Greekapologiawhich means “justification,
defense (against an attack)”. Apologetics certainly draws its roots from 1 Pt 3:15-16 which
challenges every believer of Christ in these terms:
Always be ready for defense (professional apologian, 'to make the apology of') against anyone
who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But let it be with gentleness and respect,
with a good conscience, so that, at the very point where you are slandered, those who decry
your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.
Apologetics is therefore, so to speak, recommended by Scripture, asking us to justify faith in
the light of reason. Thus the apostle Peter calls for a permanent task, when he asks the
disciples of Christ to be “always ready” to give reason for their faith, wherever they are and
before anyone who questions them on their faith. This other in front of whom we must
justify our faith will take different forms and will test the Christian in his faith throughout
history. Which explains the great variety of theological discourse according to the times,
because it is forced to always renew itself according to new questions.
From now on, it is a question of harmonizing faith and reason while considering at the
same time that we ourselves are the first to need thereasonsto believe. We therefore strive to
achieve a certain intellectual and spiritual stability which allows us to respond to others. And in
this sense, we can say that fundamental theology has a double recipient: the believer and “the
other”. It is a question of giving the first the “reasons” for his belief, and the second the reasons
to take into consideration at least the challenge of faith. And this, by showing that precisely the
act of believing is “reasonable”, that faith has reasons whose plausibility can be rationally
assumed. It is a question of showing that faith is a founded human act, which carries meaning on
a simply anthropological level; that believing is simply not absurd.
The term “fundamental theology” designates the first form of scientifically
conducted theology. It is therefore not a question of a fundamentalist theology. We
mentioned above the enterprise of apologists aiming to assume faith in the face of
reason in general. But, to escape the narrow views of an “apologetics” reduced to a
defense of the faith often carried out in a polemical manner, a certain number of
theological reflections will, from the 19thecentury to claim the name of “fundamental
theology”, thus gradually abandoning that of “apologetics”17. In the 20thecentury, the
Second Vatican Council will not even mention apologetics. Nevertheless, the term
reappears a few years later, more precisely in 1976, in a document on the training of
future priests, in which it is defined as being "the basis of the rational development of all
theological disciplines18". It is then mentioned by Jean Paul
17Cf.Bernard Sesboüé,Introduction to theology. History and understanding of dogma, Paris, Salvator, 2017,
p. 29-52; Jutta Burggraff,Fundamental Theology, Paris, le Laurier, 1998, p. 15-17; Hans Waldenfels, Manual
of fundamental theology,Coll. “Cogitatio Fidei” 159, Paris, Cerf, 2010, p. 111-124.
18Cf.Congregation for Catholic Education,Theological training of future priests, II. 6, of February
22, 1976.
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II in the apostolic constitutionSapientia christianaof 1979 which considers it to be one of the
obligatory disciplines, after Sacred Scripture, because it contains the bases of all other
theological treatises19. In the encyclicalFides and ratioof 1998, John Paul II will assign to
fundamental theology the task of working to justify and explain the relationship between
faith and philosophical reflection20.
b) Purpose and method of fundamental theology
It must be emphasized that the transition from apologetics to fundamental
theology is not limited to the change of name; this is a new direction. Fundamental
theology certainly seeks to continue the old effort, but from a new perspective.
Which subsequently leads to a new understanding of the object as well as the
method of this theological discipline.
As its name indicates, fundamental theology has as its object the
prerequisites or presuppositions or even the “foundation” of theological work. It
concerns basic realities in the sense that it unfolds around the fundamental
questioning, namely: how is it that man has news of the transcendent and eternal
God, that he can speak of this absolute and unfathomable Being? ; even more so
that he can talk with him? In other words, fundamental theology focuses above all
on the fact that for Christianity, the answer to this fundamental question refers to
God's primary initiative, to go to meet man, torevealto him so that the latter can
know him and love him more deeply than before. Here, it is no longer only man who
seeks God, but it is God who comes in person to speak to man about himself and
show him the way that will allow him to reach him. This is what Hans Waldenfels
wants to emphasize when he states: “Current fundamental theology focuses largely
on revelation – the self-communication of God in Jesus Christ – as the central
moment of faith and theology21". The object of fundamental theology is therefore
essentially Revelation as an action of God addressed to man, and as a response
from man who has good reasons to welcome it.
The method in fundamental theology refers to theology as a science, as we have
discussed it. It is about faith that seeks to understand –fides quaerens intellectum.
Which amounts to saying that theology is a reflection within faith. It is a question of
developing a theology of revelation from revelation itself which is not above all a human
affair, but rathera mysteryAnda donationof God. In this sense fundamental theology
pays particular attention to the knowledge of Sacred Scripture22, to the testimony of
tradition, to the teachings of the Magisterium, as well as to the way in which these
realities have been experienced and explained throughout history.
But since it is always also a question of defending the faith with the force of
reason, fundamental theology cannot do without a certain apologetic method,
19Cf. John Paul II, Apostolic ConstitutionSapientia christiana ordinationes, of April 29, 1979, Art.
51; Francis, Apostolic ConstitutionVeritatis Gaudium,Art. 69-70.
20Cf. John Paul II, EncyclicalFides and ratio, no. 67.
21Hans Waldenfels, Handbook of Fundamental Theology, p. 115
22Cf. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic ConstitutionDei Verbum,No. 24.
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particularly when it comes to credibility which underlines the human aspect of both
faith and revelation itself. In addition, fundamental theology must be in dialogue
with cultures and major religions in order to further mature the faith.23.
Cf. Congregation for Catholic Education,The training of future priests, II. 6. 8, of February
23
22, 1976; Francis, Apostolic ConstitutionVeritatis Gaudium,Art. 71-72.
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I. GOD’S REVELATION
1. General notions of revelation
Revelation comes from the Latin wordrevealand Greekapokalupteinwhich means removing the awning,
(veil) ; reveal, manifest what was hidden, make it known, make it visible24. God is “a hidden
God”. But the Christian God is different from the hidden, mysterious or silent God. The silent
God became God-Word. The world is an expression of the existence of God the creator (or
artist): it isthe cosmic revelation. In holy history, God made himself known through his
Word.
There are three types of revelation according to the economy of God's unveiling: 1°)The
natural revelationwhich is the work of human intelligence: man considers the world as creation,
the icon of God; 2°)the supernatural revelationwhich is not accessible by intelligence. For it is
God himself who makes himself known; and 3°)eschatological revelation announced by the
Scriptures as the possibility of seeing God face to face.
The term revelation is generally used in theology to mean the manifestation
by God to men of things that were previously hidden from them about the world,
about man and about God himself (Rom 16:25-26).
2. Revelation according to the dogmatic ConstitutionDei Filiusof the First Vatican Council
Promulgated by Pope Pius IX on April 24, 1870,Dei Filiusunderlines the unity of
two orders of knowledge, one of which comes from reason (natural) and the other from
faith (supernatural). The two orders cannot come into conflict because they both come
from God as their source. God is therefore the source of divine Revelation, of religious
faith as well as of human intelligence. In this sense, there is no contradiction between
faith and reason, between affirmation of God and dignity of man, because in revealed
truth we find in a certain way the same God that we discover as as Creator of the
universe when we reflect on reality. Indeed the First Vatican Council teaches:
God, principle and end of all things, can certainly be known by the natural lights of human reason, by
means of created things (Rom. 1, 20); for the invisible things of God are perceived by means of the
creation of the world and understood by means of the created things. However, it pleased the
wisdom and goodness of God to reveal Himself to us and to reveal to us the eternal decrees of His
will by another supernatural way, according to what the Apostle says: "God, who has spoken to our
fathers by the Prophets many times and in many ways, spoken to us in these last times and in our
days by his Son. (Heb. I, 1,2)"25.
24We limit ourselves here to a theological approach to the concept of “revelation” (Cf. Jutta Burggaf,
Fundamental Theology, Paris, le Laurier, 1998, p. 14-38; Hans Waldenfels,Manual of fundamental
theology,…249-269).
25VaticanI, Dogmatic ConstitutionDei Filius, chap. II § 1. The council echoes the assertion of the apostle Paul
in Rom 1, 20.
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This doctrine of Vatican I, of the knowledge of God through creation, will be
taken up by the Second Vatican Council26. However, we must be careful not to falsely
interpret the teaching of these two councils on the possible knowledge of God
through natural reason. This teaching in no way means that we can deduce with
certainty the mystery of God from the mystery of creation (created things in general
or of man in particular). In other words, God is not an invention of man, an idol that
man has made for himself, nor the projection of his desires and nostalgia. God is
only truly God if his mystery is deeper and greater than the mystery of creation and
of man. The apostle Paul reminds us of this in Rm 11, 33-36. God is thus part of an
order of realities which man cannot in any way reach by his own means, and which it
is impossible for us to know if they had not been communicated to us; because they
cannot rightly be deduced from the phenomena that surround us. Conciliar teaching
therefore simply means that we can also arrive at a certain knowledge of God from
the world and from man through reason, that we can therefore speak to every man
about God without this is nonsense.
With Vatican II, a new stage is reached in the understanding of Revelation
Divine.
3.Revelation according to the dogmatic ConstitutionDei Verbumof the Second Vatican Council
Promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 18, 1965, the dogmatic constitution
Dei Verbumof the Second Vatican Council is indeed the first magisterial text to explicitly
propose a doctrinal theme of Revelation. This Council produced a total of sixteen texts
which are for the most part designated by their first words and which are divided into
three categories27. THEconstitutionsare fundamental positions on an area of religious
doctrine or practice; THEdecreesare resolutions and instructions on a concrete issue; in
the end thedeclarationsare explanations on a specific question, serving to designate
and describe a problem to be solved. We will focus on the dogmatic constitutionDei
Verbumto understand the meaning of Revelation according to the Council Fathers28.
26Cf. Dogmatic ConstitutionDei verbum,6.
27Four (4) Constitutions:the dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation,Dei Verbum;the dogmatic Constitution
on the Church,Lumen Gentium;the Constitution on the Holy LiturgySacrosanctum Concilium;and the Pastoral
Constitution on the Church in the world of our timesGaudium and Spes;
Nine (9) Decrees:on the pastoral charge of bishops,Christus Dominus;on the ministry and life of priests,
Presbyterorum Ordinis;on the training of priests,Optatam Totius;on religious life,Perfect Caritatis; on the
apostolate of the laity,Apostolicam Actuositatem;on the missionary activity of the Church,Ad Gentes;on the
Eastern Catholic Churches,Orientalium Ecclesiarum;on ecumenism,Unitatis Redintegratio;and on the means
of social communicationInter Mirifica;
Three (3) Declarations:on Christian education,Gravissimum Educationis;on the Church and non-Christian
religionsNostra Aetate;and on religious freedom,Dignitatis Humanae.
28In this chapter, we are not going to give a detailed presentation of the different chapters, except the
first on: “The Revelation itself".Each learner must take personal ownership of it.
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At the First Vatican Council, Revelation was conceived as content (body of fixed
doctrinal truths), and not as an act29. At Vatican II, it is presented as a self-manifestation of
God in the history (of the people of Israel), the history of salvation, a meaningful history of
which Christ is the summit, the fullness. Scriptural resourcing is the basis of the conception
of the Revelation ofDei Verbum.It is a question of the transition from an abstract and
notional theology of Revelation (at Vatican I) to a historical and concrete theology.
Revelation is inseparably word and history, meaning and event. It is about God's personal
dialogue with humanity, a living conversation.Dei Verbumunderstands revelation as an
encounter between God and man. The following lines attest to this:
It pleased God in his goodness and wisdom to reveal himself in person and to make known
the mystery of his will (cf. Eph 1:9) thanks to which men, through Christ, the Word made
flesh, access the Holy Spirit, with the Father and are made participants in the divine nature
(cf. Eph 2:18; 2 Peter 1:4). Through this revelation, the invisible God (cf. Col 1:15; 1 Tim 1:17)
addresses men in his superabundant love as friends (cf. Ex 33:11; Jan 15:14-15), he talks
with them (cf. Ba 3:28) to invite them and admit them to share his own life. Such an
economy of Revelation includes actions and words intimately linked together, so that the
works accomplished by God in the history of salvation attest and corroborate both the
doctrine and the meaning indicated by the words, while the words proclaim the works and
illuminate the mystery they contain. The profound truth that this Revelation manifests,
about God and the salvation of man, shines for us in Christ, who is both the Mediator and
the fullness of all Revelation30.
The object of revelation appears here as the unfolding of the fundamental mystery of
God's self-communication; revelation introduces us to an encounter with the mystery of God
which consists of his goodness and wisdom, thus opening to the reality of God himself: the gift
that God makes of his life to men. This self-communication effectively puts men in relationship
with the central Christian mystery of the Triune God which manifests itself through the
incarnation of the Word made flesh, in the power of the Holy Spirit, as access to the Father. In
other words, the manifestation of the Trinitarian mystery of God makes men capable of entering
into communion and forming community with Him.
The conciliar text evokes the link between revelation and salvation, when it speaks of
the truth of God and the salvation of man which revelation precisely manifests.Dei Verbum
also sees a link between revelation and truth, but not primarily in the classical sense of truth
asadaequatio intellectus and rei, but rather, with the practical realization of the truth, as
adaequatio rei hominis ad intellectum et voluntatem Dei.
Above all, it should be noted that the history of revelation has since its origins been
considered a history of salvation. According to the Council Fathers31, this history knows three
eras: 1°) the beginning of creation, 2°) the history after original sin and, 3°) the particular history
of Israel since Abraham the patriarch. Through these threeeras, the Second Vatican Council
claims to recognize the deployment of adivine pedagogyin the realization of the gift of salvation
from a universal context in a particular context. In other words,
Cf. Claude Geffré, “Outline of a theology of Revelation”,The revelation,Brussels,
29
Publications of the University Faculties of Saint-Louis 7, 19842, p. 179.
30Dei Verbum, 2.
31SeeIbid., 3.
13
Fundamental Theology Course, ISSR – J. Bakhita/1timeYear, 2023-2024, P. Patrick N.-SIKOSSI, OP.
the quest for salvation will continue during these threeerasand its understanding will be modified
according to a certain divine pedagogy.
14
Fundamental Theology Course, ISSR – J. Bakhita/1timeYear, 2023-2024, P. Patrick N.-SIKOSSI, OP.
