Divine Revelation
Revelation or 'taking away the veil' indicates the disclosure, freely brought about by God's loving initiative, of what was previously unknown, the primary theme of the Second Vatican Council's Constitution on Divine Revelation of 1965, Dei Verbum 'the Word of God' . This classic document understands such disclosure to be primarily God's self-revelation, which invites the personal response of faith, and to be secondarily the communication of truths about God and human beings that would...
Foundational and Dependent Revelation
Furthermore, we should recall here how Dei Verbum also portrays revelation as an ongoing reality which is ever being actualized and constantly invites human faith 'The obedience of faith Rom. 16 26 .must be given to the God who reveals' no. 5 . People are called, in one generation after another, to accept in faith the divine self-manifestation that was completed with Jesus and his first disciples. Dei Verbum associates revelation as it happened then with revelation as it happens now in the...
Picture Credits
The authors and publishers wish to thank the following for their kind permission to reproduce the illustrations Abbas Magnum Photos Abegg-Stiftung Riggisberg Bridgeman Art Library The Art Archive Missions Etrang res Paris Dagli Orti Biblioth que des Arts Decoratifs, Paris Bridgeman-Charmet Collection Catholic News Service Sonia Halliday Photographs Harris Museum and Art Gallery, Preston Bridgeman Art Library The National Gallery, London Popperphoto Carlos Reyes-Manzo Andes Press Agency Topham...
From Justin to Cyprian
To complete this account of elements from pre-Constantinian times that retain their importance for those who appreciate Catholic Christianity, we wish to retrieve some items from the witness of five writers. We begin with Justin. Among the distinctive features of his writings, two have shown their face in twentieth-century Catholicism. First of all, his Dialogue with Trypho illustrated how Catholic thinking should flow naturally towards Judaism. Justin shared the Hebrew scriptures with the Jew...
Early Leadership and Life
In concluding his Letter to the Romans, Paul begins with 'our sister Phoebe, a deacon of the church', speaks of those who 'work' to spread the good news, and greets twenty-six people, twenty-four of them by name. As much as any passage in the NT, the final chapter of Romans raises the question was the Church meant to be a completely egalitarian community, free of any kind of subordination to office-holders and hierarchical authorities Did the vision of Jesus and the spontaneous direction of the...