Revelation
The notion of "revelation" is central to three of the major world religions: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Through Christianity in particular it has long been an important element in the religious thought of the West, and the present entry will treat it in this context, especially that of Christian theology.
During the twentieth century, but beginning in the nineteenth century, many—especially Protestant—theologians radically revised their conception of revelation. The view that was virtually axiomatic for all schools of thought in the mid-nineteenth century and that still remains the majority position (for it continues both in Roman Catholicism and in sections of conservative Protestantism) may be called the prepositional view of revelation.
The Propositional Concept
In the prepositional view, that which is revealed is a body of religious truths capable of being expressed in propositions. Because a knowledge of these truths is necessary for man's salvation, God has supernaturally made them known. Accordingly, in the words of the Catholic Encyclopedia, "Revelation may be defined as the communication of some truth by God to a rational creature through means which are beyond the ordinary course of nature" (Vol. XIII, p. 1).
The fuller significance of this prepositional understanding of revelation appears when we view it in relation to three other basic theological categories with which it is closely connected.
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