R210A
Spiritual Formation
Revelation and Scripture
Lawrence Pascual
IPM

Outline
1.
2.
3.
4.
Questions
Part 1: Revelation
Part 2: Scripture
Part 3: Scripture Reading Points

Point/Goal

Understanding that we are called and gifted by the Trinitarian God , let us consider how he speaks to us:
Revelation and Scripture.

Objectives



Understanding Revelation
The Role of Scripture
Catholic Reading of the Bible

Part 1

Understanding Revelation



Definition
Catholic Application
Implications

Faith and Revelation


Faith: a gift by which we accept of
God’s self-communication: Christ
Revelation: a gift of God’s selfcommunication fully realized in and through Christ by the power of the Holy
Spirit

Revelation




Latin: revelatio
Greek: apocalypsis
Literally: to unveil, or uncover

 remove the veil as in marriage.
Dis-closure
God’s self-communication

Revelation (CCC 50)

“By natural reasons man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works. But there is another order of knowledge, which man cannot possibly arrive at by his own powers: the order of divine Revelation…”

Revelation (CCC 50)

“Through an utterly free decision, God has revealed himself and give himself to man. This he does by revealing the mystery, his plan of loving goodness, formed from all eternity in Christ, for the benefit of all men. God has fully revealed this plan by sending us his beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit.”

1 John 4:9-10
“…God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and his Son as expiation for our sins.”

, 17
”[God] loves us, he makes us see and experience his love, and since he has
‘loved us first’, love can also blossom as a response within us.”

Revelation




In terms of communication
Everyone can come to knowledge about
God naturally
Revelation is fulfilled in Christ
By love, God freely chooses to reveal

Faith and Revelation


God loved us first, we respond with love
God self-communicates love, we respond with faith: the acceptance of
God’s love

Approach to understanding


There have been various “answers” to the dilemma about Revelation.
Cardinal Avery Dulles, SJ, gives us a nice summary…

Theology has a Sociology

In Models of Revelation, Cardinal Avery
Dulles, SJ, identifies five basic models of understanding Revelation.

Natural

“For what can be known about God is evident to them. Ever since the creation of the world, his invisible attributes of eternal power and divinity have been able to be understood and perceived in what he has made.” (Rom 1:19-20)

History


Miraculous or self-evident historical events

E.g., the Exodus, parting of the Red Sea
God intervenes in natural order through deed (historic event) and word
(scripture)

Propositional



Communication of truths, which are then formulated in explicit propositions
E.g., “Jesus is the Good Shepherd”

“Jesus takes care of his followers as a faithful shepherd takes care of his sheep”
Doctrines

Similarities of the Models

Revelation is God’s free action whereby he communicates saving truth to humankind, especially through Jesus
Christ as accepted by the apostolic
Church


As witnessed by the Bible
As witnessed by the continuing community of believers.

Theology has a Sociology

In his innovation, he proposes the understanding of revelation as
“symbolic mediation.”

Symbolic Mediation


We do not encounter God directly
(since God is transcendent)
Revelation mediated by some experience in the world, person, event, story, or natural phenomenon

Thesis


Revelation never occurs in a purely interior experience or an unmediated encounter with God.
It is always mediated through symbol

I. The Meaning of Symbol

Symbol as an externally perceived sign that works mysteriously on the human consciousness so as to suggest more than it can clearly describe or define.

Not just an Indicator (sign)

Symbol



It is a special type of sign
Allow us to bring indefinite number of memories and experiences into a kind of focus
Requires full, conscious and active participation

Symbol Defined

A sign pregnant with a plenitude of meaning which is evoked rather than explicitly stated.

Note about Symbol


This isn’t “fictitious representation.”
Most people think FAKE, but NOT in academic/theological understanding.
Don’t restrict it to “literary understanding.”

Natural objects, historical persons, visible artifacts and dreams can all be symbols.

Common Properties of
Symbolism and Revelation
Symbol:

Gives participatory knowledge

Has a transforming effect


Powerful influence on commitment and behavior
Introduces us into realms of awareness not normally accessible to general communication

Participatory Knowledge


A symbol speaks to us only insofar as it lures us to situate ourselves mentally within the universe of meaning and value which it opens up to us.
(Makes you stop and think, even wrestle with the symbol)

Transforming Effect



Occurs insofar that it involves the knower.
It does something to us when we engage it.
“Wow, that’s deep...”

Powerful Influence to commitments and behavior


Stirs the imagination, releases hidden energies in the soul, gives strength and stability to the personality.
E.g. A National Flag or anthem

A New awareness


It gives rise to thought.
“Opens up levels of reality which otherwise are closed to us” –Paul Tillich

Revelation does these 4 things
1.
2.
3.
4.
Gives participatory knowledge
Has a transforming effect
Powerful influence on commitment and behavior
Introduces us into realms of awareness not normally accessible to general communication

Participatory Knowledge

To accept the Christian revelation is to involve oneself in a community of faith and thus to share in the way of life marked out by Jesus.

Transforming Effect


Christians come to perceive themselves as personally related to God.
Adopted members of God’s family and household.

Powerful Influence to commitments and behavior


The response to Revelation (faith) must express itself in conduct.
FAITH IN ACTION.

A New awareness


Revelation obviously gives insight into mysteries that reason alone cannot make sense of.
It’s still intelligible nonetheless.

Examples of Christian
Symbolism

Examples of Christian
Symbolism

Examples of Christian
Symbolism

Point and Summary


The best way of understanding the concept of revelation is by “symbolic mediation.”

It makes use of the strengths of each model and overcomes their weaknesses.
Symbol can be understood as “a visible sign of an invisible reality.”

Sound familiar?

Reflection



Communication theorists tend to say that “communication is symbolic.”
Experts say that in our communication:



10% is in actual words
30% is in sounds
60% is in the nonverbal
How is all of this insightful for our faith?

BREAK

PART 2

SCRIPTURE
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

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Vocab
Observations
Readings Discussion
Theology has a sociology

Question

How would we connect our understanding of Revelation and Bible?

Vocab Overview


Inspiration
Tradition Scripture

Inspiration



Latin: Inspirare
Literally: “to breathe in”
How we understand “inspiration” will affect how we understand Scripture.

Inspiration of Scripture

“…all Scripture is inspired by God, and is useful for righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.” (Tim 3:16-17)

USCCB p. 32 (cont.)

The Sacred Scripture is inspired by God and truly contains the Word of God.
This action of God is referred to as
Inspiration.

(CCC 105, 107; DV 11)

God is the author of Sacred Scripture, inspiring the human authors, acting in and through them. Thus God ensured that the authors taught divine and saving truth without error.

Dei Verbum, 12

“In determining the intention of the sacred writers, attention must be paid to ‘literary forms for the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts’ and in other literary expression.”

Biblical interpretation


Bible was written by and for real people, living in specific historical contexts, to address particular individual and community needs
“The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose”

(William Shakespeare, The Merchant of
Venice)

Biblical interpretation

Attention to Context


E.g., “Fire!”
Do you read a newspaper the same way you read a magazine? A novel and textbook? Song and dictionary?

Biblical interpretation


A text without context is pretext


We would be “reading into the text”
Taking out context
“Jesus saves. I wonder where he shops.”

Biblical interpretation


Literal/Fundamentalist
Historical and Literary Critical

Historical




Social
Political
Cultural
Literary

Which Method?


The “Literal” Method has been altogether rejected.
Pope Pius XII approves the Historical-
Critical Method.

Divino afflante Spiritu (1943)

A Concise History and Teaching of Catholic
BIBLE INTERPRETATION

0
Catholic History of
Interpretation
Divino Afflante Spiritu
Pope Pius XII
1944
Fundamentalist
Trent
500 1500 1800 1960
The RPBC
1964
Dei
Verbum
1965 present
1600s
French Scholar
Richard Simon
1970s
“New” Biblical
Movement
Historical -Critical
Hermeneutical

Primary Sources of Teaching



Divino Afflante Spiritu (Pius XII, ‘44)
Roman Pontifical Biblical Commission
(‘64)
Dei Verbum (Vatican II, ‘65)

Divino Afflante Spiritu
(Encyclical by Pope Pius XII in 1944)


Within the Bible, there are different
“forms”. It may be said that it’s a library of Israel and of the Church. (35-39)
Hence, aside from the ‘historical writings’ there is also poetry, drama, epic, parable, preaching etc.


The Roman Pontifical Biblical
Commission (Under Pope Paul VI in
1964)
While the Gospels are substantially historical, they are not literally historical in every word and detail. (111-15)


The Roman Pontifical Biblical
Commission (Under Pope Paul VI in
1964)
For the truth of the story is not at all affected by the fact that the Evangelists relate the words and deeds of the Lord in a different order, and express his sayings not literally but differently, while preserving (their) sense.


The Roman Pontifical Biblical
Commission (Under Pope Paul VI in
1964)
X. Unless the exegete pays attention to all these things which pertain to the origin and composition of the Gospels and makes proper use of all the laudable achievements of recent research, he will not fulfill his task of probing into what the sacred writers intended and what they really said.

PBC, 1964 and 1993

Fundamentalism confuses the words of
Scripture as the actual words and precise deeds of Jesus. This method does not account for the stages of
Gospel development.

The Three Stages of
Gospel Development
RPBC, 1964
See Raymond E. Brown’s
Biblical Exegesis and Church Doctrine

The First Stage

Jesus himself spoke and acted in the context of his own place and time.

He was a Palestenian Jew living two thousand years ago.

The Second Stage


The Apostles (Jews) adapted Jesus’ message to the people (Jews-Greeks) of their time


Second Third of the First century (30-60AD)
Translation into another language (Greek)

An effort to make sense in other circumstances
(large cities of Roman Empire)
They brought to the memories (of what Jesus had said and done) the transforming enlightenment of their post-resurrectional faith in Jesus.

The Third Stage



From the preaching the writers (or evangelists) selected stories and saying that fitted their purpose in presenting
Jesus to audiences of their time.
50AD-110AD
Were not written simply as records to aid remembrance, but written as encouragement to belief and life.

(Vatican II, 1965)



Used RPBC as its guide
Discussed Transmission of Revelation
Way of Reading Scripture

Point of Part 2

Applying “The symbolic understanding” of revelation in light of “theology has a sociology”, we ought to understand that the Word of God is not the Bible itself, but the message that it portrays.

In other words

Scripture is the word of God in the words of men.


It is symbolically mediated.
Scripture is inspired, but with the limits of human words derived from a particular time and place.




Three Considerations when
Reading Scripture
The Author
The Text
YOU, the Reader

The Gospels


Aren’t historical biographies of Jesus as we understand them today.
First and foremost, they’re theological reflections intended to strengthen the faith of their particular audiences.

The Gospels (Cont.)

A helpful way of understanding the design of the Gospels is the concept of


Mugshots
Portraits

The Mugshot

All you get are
“facts” and “details” about the person.

The Portrait

Designed to illustrate an aspect or reality of their character.
(Symbolic)

Point

First and foremost, the Gospels were written as “theological portraits” about
Jesus.

Theological Portraits of Jesus




Mark: The Suffering Servant
Matthew: The New Moses
Luke: The Universal Messiah/Savior
John: God in the Flesh

Is it correct to say that the
Gospels are NOT historical?



NO! They are historical in the truest sense in that they are based on an actual Jesus of
Nazareth.
This is different from measuring the Gospels to our modern standards of history.
Remember, theology has a sociology: These are Gospels written 2000 years ago throughout the Roman Empire.

Not knowing
“exactly” what Jesus said


Though it would be nice…

Even his own disciples didn’t get it.
Academic opinion always changes

(as it should be)

Application:
Symbolic Mediation



It honors historical inquiry and biblical studies of the person of Jesus
Doesn’t dwell on literal words
Yet, allows the Gospels to speak to us as Jesus did: symbolically.

Gospels clearly illustrate that.

Reflection Questions



What is both consoling and challenging about the way God has chosen to transmit his
Revelation?
How does the Church help you to understand the Bible?
Why might you say it makes perfect sense for
Jesus to commission followers to carry on his saving vision? How do leaders of the Catholic
Church continue the vision of Jesus in our times?

BREAK

Part 3: The Catholic reading of the Bible

Short on time? Restless students?
PERFECT PLACE TO STOP 

Gospel Summaries

Gospel of Mark




Written sometime between 60-75
Tradition: Mark, follower and
‘interpreter’ of Peter. Identified as John
Mark of Acts
Rome, where Christians were persecuted by Nero. Other places suggested.
Clearly writes to a community that experienced persecution and failure.

Gospel of Matthew




Written 80-90, give or take a decade
Tradition: Matthew, a tax collector among the Twelve. Wrote either the
Gospel or a collection of the Lord’s sayings.
Antioch Region
A Jewish-Christian Community with clear tensions with the Orthodox Jews

Gospel of Luke




85, Give or take five to ten years
Tradition: Luke, a physician, the fellow worker and traveling companion of
Paul.
Possibly Greece or Syria
Gentile-Christian communities affected by Paul’s mission

Gospel of John




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80-110.
Tradition: John, son of Zebedee, one of the Twelve.
The Beloved Disciple is not John.
Likely the Ephesus area.
Writing to a “Johannine” community.

Where or where?
Mk:
Rome
Mt:
Antioch
Lk:
Greece
Jn:
Ephesus

Short on time? Restless students?
PERFECT PLACE TO STOP 

Stuff to be aware of…

Why?

Because the average Catholic High School student is going over this material in their theology courses

Observation


Matthew, Mark and Luke


The Synoptic Gospels
Called this because they’re identical
Why?

Marcan Priority





Note: A Theory, but widely accepted
Shortest of the Gospels
Mk has the most basic Greek
Mt and Lk agree in their chronology only when they agree w/ Mk
Documents in the ancient Mediterranean were normally expanded upon, not shortened.

Observations
John
Luke
Mark

Observations (another step)
243

“Quelle”



The THEORETICAL source of Jesus’ sayings.
Quelle means SOURCE in German
“Q” for short

How Mt and Lk were written
M
L
Matt
Luke

How Mt and Lk were written
M
L
Matt
Luke

Implications of “Q”


Simply tells us that there was a Christian community solely interested in the sayings and teachings of Jesus.
Note, that this does not discount the other sayings of Jesus in the New
Testament.

Other implications of Marcan
Priority


The method of “redaction criticism” (a tool of historical-critical) becomes a useful tool for Bible interpretation.
The method looks at Matthew and Luke changed from the version of Mark.

In other words…

How does the changes of Matthew and
Luke affect the narrative?

This method is widely used and has revealed a lot of insight about Matthew and Luke’s theological views (and intentions).

Example:


Read the Baptism story of Mark,
Matthew and Luke.
What is the difference of the three?


What did Mt/Lk do?
What was the affect of the story?

Short on time? Restless students?
PERFECT PLACE TO STOP 

The Letters of Paul

Written before the Gospels

The earliest: 1 Thess
 around 50 AD

The latest: Romans

Around 57-58 AD

More stuff to be aware of…



Historical scholarship has debated over the letters of Paul, whether he wrote them or not.
Of those he did not write, the author apparently attributes to Paul (as inspired).
This was commonly accepted to be genuine authorship in the ancient world (theology has a sociology).

The Letters of Paul
UNDISPUTED
AUTHORSHIP

1 Thessalonians






Galatians
Philippians
Philemon
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Romans
POSSIBLY
PSEUDONYMOUS

2 Thessalonians





Colossians
Ephesians
Titus
1 Timothy
2 Timothy

Nevertheless…


The “letters of Paul” are accepted in the canon because of the sensus fidelium the “sense of the faithful.” (CCC 904) or
The Canon of Scripture is the library of the Church that reflects important aspects of the community.

Esp. Faith and Morals.

Fascinating observations


Paul’s letters appear more “organized” as they chronologically progress.

Romans (considered his last epistle) is more theologically systematic than Thess
(his first epistle)
Paul’s apocalyptic expectation tends to decrease as letters chronologically progress.

Travels of Paul
AD 36 Conversion to Christ
39 Visit to Jerusalem
44-45 At Antioch
Cicilia (area)
Damascus

First Missionary Journey
Paul (46-49)
Antioch
49 AD Council of Jerusalem
Attalia
Cyprus
Derbe
Perga
Antioch
Paphos
Salamis

Second Missionary Journey
Paul (50-52)
Philippi
Antioch
Derbe
Athens
1 Thessalonians
Corinth
Ephesus
Jerusalem
Antioch
Caesaria

Third Missionary Journey
Paul (54-58)
[imprisoned?]
Philippi
Antioch
Derbe
Athens
Corinth
Antioch
Caesaria
Jerusalem

Exercise

Go over Synoptic comparison of



“Q”
Jesus’ Baptism
Introduction of the Gospels