
''For information on the last book of the New Testament see the entry on the Book of Revelation.'' ''For the role playing game of this name, see Revelation (game).'' ''For the 2001 novel by Carol Berg, see Revelation (novel).'' ----- In Monotheism religions, revelation is the process in which God makes himself, his will, and/or other information known to mankind. The recipient of revelation is commonly referred to as a prophet, and sometimes is termed a messenger. There are a number of ways that religious thinkers have traditionally approached this topic; many widely differing views have been proposed. Generally speaking, one can find all of the following viewpoints in varying segments of Judaism and in varying groups within Christianity. ==Verbal revelation== Some people hold that God can communicate with humans in a way that gives direct, propositional content: This is termed verbal revelation. Orthodox Judaism and traditional Christianity hold that the first five books of Moses were communicated by God in such a fashion. Most proponents of verbal Biblical inspiration in the Christian tradition do not subscribe to a dictation theory in which the writer simply records the words of God. Rather, they argue that inspiration is an organic process wherein God superintends the writing such that the document communicates what God wants to reveal using the writer's style and circumstances. ==Aristotelian rationalism== The Aristotle philosophers of the medieval era held that revelation was the discovery of absolute truths about God, man, and man's place in God's universe, as discovered through logical philosophical inquiry. A prophet's connection to God was held to be the only way that a person could reach such a state of pure reason. A subset of this category is natural revelation. Some believe that God reveals himself through His Creation, and that at least some truths about Him can be learned by studying Nature, physics, cosmology, etc. This view is evidenced by Biblical verses such as "The heavens declare the glory of God" . ==Non-Verbal propositional revelation== One school of thought holds that revelation is non-verbal and non-literal, yet it may have propositional content. People were divinely inspired by God with a message, but not in a verbal-like fashion. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel has written that "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"] ==God's will as revealed through a people's historical development of their faith== Some believe that God is non-anthropomorphic, and thus believe the above listed forms of revelation are impossible. Hence they believe God's will is revealed through the interaction of man and God throughout history. For instance, Rabbi Louis Jacobs proposes that by viewing how the Jew have understood God's will throughout history, we see how God has actually influenced the development of halakha; it is this process that we should recognize as revelation. :One part of the Talmud declares rabbinic interpretation superior to biblical prophecy: "Rabbi Abdimi of Haifa said: Since the day when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the prophetic gift was taken away from the prophets and given to the Sages. Is a Sage not also a prophet?" The question is rhetorical, the answer clearly is "yes". The Talmud goes on to say: "What Rabbi Abdimi meant to say was this: although it has been taken from the prophets, prophecy has not been taken from the Sages. Amemar said: A Sage is even superior to a prophet, as it says "And a prophet has the heart of wisdom" (Psalms 90:21) Who is usually compared with whom? Is not the smaller compared with the greater?" (Talmud Bavli, Bava Batra 12A) ==Revelation for all mankind== In recent times, a new concept of revelation as being earned rather than being bestowed has emerged. This view argues that revelation from God is available to all those who seek it - provided they perform a certain level of sacrifice of the proper type - as opposed to being imparted to certain special individuals. The concept is a key tenet of the religion of Direct Worship. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches that God reveals His will both to prophets or witnesses called by Him, and mankind, and that each man may receive revelation according to his stewardship -- himself or herself principally. Thus, prophets may receive revelation for the masses, and church officers may receive revelation ''only'' as it pertains to himself and those for whom he has authorized religious stewardship. The important consequence of this is that each man 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. ==Existentialism== In the 20th century, religious existentialists proposed that revelation held no content in of itself; rather, they hold that God inspired people with His presence by coming into contact with them. In this view the Bible is a human response that records how we responded to God. Revelation or information from a supernatural source is of much lesser importance in some other religious traditions. It is not of great importance in the Asian religions Taoism, and Confucianism but similarities have been noted between the Abrahamic view of revelation and the Buddhism principle of Bodhi. == External links == *[http://www.religiousbook.net/Books/Online_books/Hs/Poems_meditations_Revelations.html Poems-meditations and Poems-Revelations]
We could use more discussion of the concept of Revelation in other religious and philosophical traditions. ---- RK or whoever has worked on this, it looks like a great treatment of the topic. Not sure how to fit these in, but I think there is also: Natural Revelation Some believe that God reveals himself through His Creation, and that at least some truths about Him can be learned by stuying Nature. "The heavens declare the glory of God" type of passages that you see a lot in Psalms and Job, etc. : The way I understand it, this fits as a part of the Aristotelian rationalist view of revelation. It certainly is the way that many Jewish rationalists have seen this issue. This should be noted in the main body of the text. Regarding the whole Aristotelian thing, there was an interesting controversy in the 14th century between :Barlaam of Calabria and :Gregory Palamas. I'm about to oversimplify for the sake of brevity, but here goes. Barlaam was an Aristotelian who thought that the philosophers had a better understanding of God than did the prophets to whom God spoke directly. He observed the monks at Mount Athos, Greece, and derided them for spending too much time in contemplative prayer and not enough time studying. One of those monks, Gregory Palamas, was asked to defend them, and he claimed that the prophets had superior knowledge of God because it was more direct. One key issue was whether mortal man could apprehend or comprehend a transcendant God who is far beyond our understanding. Gregory thought that yes, God could give grace to a person and enable that man to see Himself. He also drew a sharp distinction between seeing God in his ''energies'' or works, and seeing God in his ''essence''. For Gregory, to see God in his energies was possible through God's grace, to see God in his essence remained impossible because of God's transcendance and complete otherness. The two went back and forth for years; in the end, the West hailed Barlaam as a saint, and the East hailed Gregory Palamas as a saint. It's known as the hesychast controversy, at least in the East, and is probably the East's most recent major theological development. Hope I haven't bored everyone to tears. --User:Wesley ---- I like a lot of things about this article, but I do have a quibble. I think that the statement, "The recipient of revelation is commonly referred to as a prophet, and sometimes may be termed a messenger" actually depends on the views on revelation. Some religions believe that divine revelation is potentially available to anyone, or that it is a collective or continuing process, not just an elect few who are designated as prophets. I don't think that sentence applies to those individuals. But I'm not quite sure how to incorporate that point into the body of the text. -- Egern : Well, Judaism fits what you describe. Some within Judaism (such as Maimonides) teach that potentially anyone might receive some form of prophecy; it also teaches that prophecy may be a collective or continuing process. (In fact, one of the terms used by Jewish theologians is progressive revelation.) No disagreement here. Judaism simply says that if one does happen to receive revelation, then that person should be termed a "prophet". You might be using a more traditional, restrictive definition of the word prophet, such as "one who has already been recognized as a prophet by the religious community." But the word prophet doesn't necessarily imply recognition; I think it merely means that a person has received some form of revelation. User:RK : Interesting. Quakers have a similar concept to what you described as the views of Maimonides. They usually refer to it as "continuing revelation", although I don't recall the term "prophet" being commonly used by Quakers to describe any recipients of revelation. But based on what you have told me, and since that sentence says "commonly" and "sometimes", I retract my objections. :) -- Egern. ---- The following article was found on revealed truth. I redirected that topic title to revelation and am copying the article itself to this talk page for reasons explained on talk:revealed truth. :Revealed truths are a category of truth that claim to be distinguished by their mode of discovery. Revealed truths are held by some to be given or shown to humanity by higher being(s). This 'higher power', often referred to as the God or one or more gods, are often seen as more objective and more knowledgeable than humans themselves. :== Sources of revealed truth == :Those people who believe in a single, ultimate, infinite source of being in the universe (see monotheism) generally ascribe to this being the qualities of truthfulness, omnipresence (all-seeing), and omniscience (all-knowing). These three qualities lead many people to believe that this being is a reliable source of knowledge about the universe, which humanity may not otherwise be able to obtain through science or other worldly pursuits. :Certain monotheistic religions, notably Christianity, Islam and Judaism, add a fourth quality to God; that of being personally interested in the life of every human being. Christianity in particular states that God cared enough about humanity that He revealed the truth to us by becoming human in the form of Jesus. :Those people who do not see the ultimate being as communicating personally with humanity may believe that the truth is revealed through many higher beings, as in several forms of polytheism. :Many of these gods, most notably the Olympians, are seen as imperfect, with incomplete knowledge, and with the potential to deceive humanity. Adherents of these religions generally recognise this as the ultimate truth. In many of these faiths, the followers aim to serve one of these beings, hoping that this being will give them what they want, and prove stronger than other such gods. :Other forms of truth, which are not necessarily incompatible with revealed truth, are observed, reasoned, and intuitive (often called a conscience). ---- The traditional Christian view of verbal inspiration, as applied to Scripture in general, is not the same thing as dictation. Only some parts are described as dictated, or directly spoken by God, or by God mediated by angels. The rest is seen as the word of God in a sense that is almost precisely parallel to the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation: fully human and fully divine. The dictation view is analogous to the Christian heresy called monothelitism, and Christians normatively reject it. The misconception is upheld in numerous Wiki articles, though. Can someone offer proof that some Christians have believed that Scripture was given by dictation? User:Mkmcconn 21:53, 5 Nov 2003 (UTC) ==Revelation not exclusive domain of monotheism== The article begins "In monotheistic religions, revelation" etc. Revelation plays a central role in Mormonism, but few including Mormons would vigorously defend Mormonism as monotheistic... User:BoNoMoJo 15:13, Dec 11, 2003 (UTC) :Good points. In fact, the ancient Greeks and Romans believed that their gods sometimes talked to people. That certainly counts as revelation. Didn't most polytheistic peoples have similar beliefs as well? User:JeMa :Thanks. Clear evidence for the core role of revelation in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the "Mormons") is here: http://broadcast.lds.org/genconf/2004/oct/1/genconf2004oct1elderholland.mp3 Within Mormon theology, a strict fit within the definitions of classical monotheism is probably less important for members of the LDS Church than is an understanding of the nature of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ which, in the Mormon Church, came through revelation (also in the link above, near the end). Hope this adds more light than heat. --User:DanB 07:12, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC) * * * My name is Robert Merlin Evenson, and I know more about the book of Revelation than anyone who has walked the face of the earth, including the author. The secret of Revelation 13:18 (the beast with the name/number 666) is unlocked in "The Ouzo Prophecy," available at no charge from bobevenson@yahoo.com. The letters to the seven churches (continents) are God's unified message to mankind. If the main thought of each letter is connected to the next, the message is revealed: "It is not enough to merely recognize and hate evil: fear not the tribulation of Satan; fight evil wherever you find it, and do not allow it to flourish; contain evil and overcome it with perseverance and commitment to good." Robert Merlin Evenson/Church of Ouzo
See other meanings of words starting from letter:
Words begining with Revelation:
Revelation
Revelation
Revelations
Revelations_(2005_miniseries)
Revelations_(2005_miniseries)
Revelations_(Babylon_5)
Revelations_(Sliders)
Revelations_(star_wars)
Revelations_of_Glaaki
Revelation_(game)
Revelation_(novel)
Revelation_BASIC
Revelation_BASIC
Revelation_BASIC_programming_language
Revelation_BASIC_programming_language
Revelation_of_Ares
Revelation_of_Arès
Revelation_of_John
Revelation_of_Peter
Revelation_of_Saint_John_the_Divine
Revelation_of_the_Daleks
Revelation_Records
Revelation_Records
Revelation_Records_Discography
Revelation_Software
Revelation_Space
Revelation_to_John
Revelation_virus
Revelation_virus
Revelation
''For information on the last book of the New Testament see the entry on the Book of Revelation.'' ''For the role playing game of this name, see Revelation (game).'' ''For the 2001 novel by Carol Berg, see Revelation (novel).'' ----- In Monotheism religions, revelation is the process in which God makes himself, his will, and/or other information known to mankind. The recipient of revelation is commonly referred to as a prophet, and sometimes is termed a messenger. There are a number of ways that religious thinkers have traditionally approached this topic; many widely differing views have been proposed. Generally speaking, one can find all of the following viewpoints in varying segments of Judaism and in varying groups within Christianity. ==Verbal revelation== Some people hold that God can communicate with humans in a way that gives direct, propositional content: This is termed verbal revelation. Orthodox Judaism and traditional Christianity hold that the first five books of Moses were communicated by God in such a fashion. Most proponents of verbal Biblical inspiration in the Christian tradition do not subscribe to a dictation theory in which the writer simply records the words of God. Rather, they argue that inspiration is an organic process wherein God superintends the writing such that the document communicates what God wants to reveal using the writer's style and circumstances. ==Aristotelian rationalism== The Aristotle philosophers of the medieval era held that revelation was the discovery of absolute truths about God, man, and man's place in God's universe, as discovered through logical philosophical inquiry. A prophet's connection to God was held to be the only way that a person could reach such a state of pure reason. A subset of this category is natural revelation. Some believe that God reveals himself through His Creation, and that at least some truths about Him can be learned by studying Nature, physics, cosmology, etc. This view is evidenced by Biblical verses such as "The heavens declare the glory of God" . ==Non-Verbal propositional revelation== One school of thought holds that revelation is non-verbal and non-literal, yet it may have propositional content. People were divinely inspired by God with a message, but not in a verbal-like fashion. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel has written that "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"] ==God's will as revealed through a people's historical development of their faith== Some believe that God is non-anthropomorphic, and thus believe the above listed forms of revelation are impossible. Hence they believe God's will is revealed through the interaction of man and God throughout history. For instance, Rabbi Louis Jacobs proposes that by viewing how the Jew have understood God's will throughout history, we see how God has actually influenced the development of halakha; it is this process that we should recognize as revelation. :One part of the Talmud declares rabbinic interpretation superior to biblical prophecy: "Rabbi Abdimi of Haifa said: Since the day when the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, the prophetic gift was taken away from the prophets and given to the Sages. Is a Sage not also a prophet?" The question is rhetorical, the answer clearly is "yes". The Talmud goes on to say: "What Rabbi Abdimi meant to say was this: although it has been taken from the prophets, prophecy has not been taken from the Sages. Amemar said: A Sage is even superior to a prophet, as it says "And a prophet has the heart of wisdom" (Psalms 90:21) Who is usually compared with whom? Is not the smaller compared with the greater?" (Talmud Bavli, Bava Batra 12A) ==Revelation for all mankind== In recent times, a new concept of revelation as being earned rather than being bestowed has emerged. This view argues that revelation from God is available to all those who seek it - provided they perform a certain level of sacrifice of the proper type - as opposed to being imparted to certain special individuals. The concept is a key tenet of the religion of Direct Worship. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints teaches that God reveals His will both to prophets or witnesses called by Him, and mankind, and that each man may receive revelation according to his stewardship -- himself or herself principally. Thus, prophets may receive revelation for the masses, and church officers may receive revelation ''only'' as it pertains to himself and those for whom he has authorized religious stewardship. The important consequence of this is that each man 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. ==Existentialism== In the 20th century, religious existentialists proposed that revelation held no content in of itself; rather, they hold that God inspired people with His presence by coming into contact with them. In this view the Bible is a human response that records how we responded to God. Revelation or information from a supernatural source is of much lesser importance in some other religious traditions. It is not of great importance in the Asian religions Taoism, and Confucianism but similarities have been noted between the Abrahamic view of revelation and the Buddhism principle of Bodhi. == External links == *[http://www.religiousbook.net/Books/Online_books/Hs/Poems_meditations_Revelations.html Poems-meditations and Poems-Revelations]
Revelation
We could use more discussion of the concept of Revelation in other religious and philosophical traditions. ---- RK or whoever has worked on this, it looks like a great treatment of the topic. Not sure how to fit these in, but I think there is also: Natural Revelation Some believe that God reveals himself through His Creation, and that at least some truths about Him can be learned by stuying Nature. "The heavens declare the glory of God" type of passages that you see a lot in Psalms and Job, etc. : The way I understand it, this fits as a part of the Aristotelian rationalist view of revelation. It certainly is the way that many Jewish rationalists have seen this issue. This should be noted in the main body of the text. Regarding the whole Aristotelian thing, there was an interesting controversy in the 14th century between :Barlaam of Calabria and :Gregory Palamas. I'm about to oversimplify for the sake of brevity, but here goes. Barlaam was an Aristotelian who thought that the philosophers had a better understanding of God than did the prophets to whom God spoke directly. He observed the monks at Mount Athos, Greece, and derided them for spending too much time in contemplative prayer and not enough time studying. One of those monks, Gregory Palamas, was asked to defend them, and he claimed that the prophets had superior knowledge of God because it was more direct. One key issue was whether mortal man could apprehend or comprehend a transcendant God who is far beyond our understanding. Gregory thought that yes, God could give grace to a person and enable that man to see Himself. He also drew a sharp distinction between seeing God in his ''energies'' or works, and seeing God in his ''essence''. For Gregory, to see God in his energies was possible through God's grace, to see God in his essence remained impossible because of God's transcendance and complete otherness. The two went back and forth for years; in the end, the West hailed Barlaam as a saint, and the East hailed Gregory Palamas as a saint. It's known as the hesychast controversy, at least in the East, and is probably the East's most recent major theological development. Hope I haven't bored everyone to tears. --User:Wesley ---- I like a lot of things about this article, but I do have a quibble. I think that the statement, "The recipient of revelation is commonly referred to as a prophet, and sometimes may be termed a messenger" actually depends on the views on revelation. Some religions believe that divine revelation is potentially available to anyone, or that it is a collective or continuing process, not just an elect few who are designated as prophets. I don't think that sentence applies to those individuals. But I'm not quite sure how to incorporate that point into the body of the text. -- Egern : Well, Judaism fits what you describe. Some within Judaism (such as Maimonides) teach that potentially anyone might receive some form of prophecy; it also teaches that prophecy may be a collective or continuing process. (In fact, one of the terms used by Jewish theologians is progressive revelation.) No disagreement here. Judaism simply says that if one does happen to receive revelation, then that person should be termed a "prophet". You might be using a more traditional, restrictive definition of the word prophet, such as "one who has already been recognized as a prophet by the religious community." But the word prophet doesn't necessarily imply recognition; I think it merely means that a person has received some form of revelation. User:RK : Interesting. Quakers have a similar concept to what you described as the views of Maimonides. They usually refer to it as "continuing revelation", although I don't recall the term "prophet" being commonly used by Quakers to describe any recipients of revelation. But based on what you have told me, and since that sentence says "commonly" and "sometimes", I retract my objections. :) -- Egern. ---- The following article was found on revealed truth. I redirected that topic title to revelation and am copying the article itself to this talk page for reasons explained on talk:revealed truth. :Revealed truths are a category of truth that claim to be distinguished by their mode of discovery. Revealed truths are held by some to be given or shown to humanity by higher being(s). This 'higher power', often referred to as the God or one or more gods, are often seen as more objective and more knowledgeable than humans themselves. :== Sources of revealed truth == :Those people who believe in a single, ultimate, infinite source of being in the universe (see monotheism) generally ascribe to this being the qualities of truthfulness, omnipresence (all-seeing), and omniscience (all-knowing). These three qualities lead many people to believe that this being is a reliable source of knowledge about the universe, which humanity may not otherwise be able to obtain through science or other worldly pursuits. :Certain monotheistic religions, notably Christianity, Islam and Judaism, add a fourth quality to God; that of being personally interested in the life of every human being. Christianity in particular states that God cared enough about humanity that He revealed the truth to us by becoming human in the form of Jesus. :Those people who do not see the ultimate being as communicating personally with humanity may believe that the truth is revealed through many higher beings, as in several forms of polytheism. :Many of these gods, most notably the Olympians, are seen as imperfect, with incomplete knowledge, and with the potential to deceive humanity. Adherents of these religions generally recognise this as the ultimate truth. In many of these faiths, the followers aim to serve one of these beings, hoping that this being will give them what they want, and prove stronger than other such gods. :Other forms of truth, which are not necessarily incompatible with revealed truth, are observed, reasoned, and intuitive (often called a conscience). ---- The traditional Christian view of verbal inspiration, as applied to Scripture in general, is not the same thing as dictation. Only some parts are described as dictated, or directly spoken by God, or by God mediated by angels. The rest is seen as the word of God in a sense that is almost precisely parallel to the orthodox doctrine of the Incarnation: fully human and fully divine. The dictation view is analogous to the Christian heresy called monothelitism, and Christians normatively reject it. The misconception is upheld in numerous Wiki articles, though. Can someone offer proof that some Christians have believed that Scripture was given by dictation? User:Mkmcconn 21:53, 5 Nov 2003 (UTC) ==Revelation not exclusive domain of monotheism== The article begins "In monotheistic religions, revelation" etc. Revelation plays a central role in Mormonism, but few including Mormons would vigorously defend Mormonism as monotheistic... User:BoNoMoJo 15:13, Dec 11, 2003 (UTC) :Good points. In fact, the ancient Greeks and Romans believed that their gods sometimes talked to people. That certainly counts as revelation. Didn't most polytheistic peoples have similar beliefs as well? User:JeMa :Thanks. Clear evidence for the core role of revelation in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the "Mormons") is here: http://broadcast.lds.org/genconf/2004/oct/1/genconf2004oct1elderholland.mp3 Within Mormon theology, a strict fit within the definitions of classical monotheism is probably less important for members of the LDS Church than is an understanding of the nature of God the Father and His Son, Jesus Christ which, in the Mormon Church, came through revelation (also in the link above, near the end). Hope this adds more light than heat. --User:DanB 07:12, 22 Nov 2004 (UTC) * * * My name is Robert Merlin Evenson, and I know more about the book of Revelation than anyone who has walked the face of the earth, including the author. The secret of Revelation 13:18 (the beast with the name/number 666) is unlocked in "The Ouzo Prophecy," available at no charge from bobevenson@yahoo.com. The letters to the seven churches (continents) are God's unified message to mankind. If the main thought of each letter is connected to the next, the message is revealed: "It is not enough to merely recognize and hate evil: fear not the tribulation of Satan; fight evil wherever you find it, and do not allow it to flourish; contain evil and overcome it with perseverance and commitment to good." Robert Merlin Evenson/Church of Ouzo
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RA | RB | RC | RD | RE | RF | RG | RH | RI | RJ | RK | RL | RM | RN | RO | RP | RS | RT | RU | RW | RX | RY | RZ |Words begining with Revelation:
Revelation
Revelation
Revelations
Revelations_(2005_miniseries)
Revelations_(2005_miniseries)
Revelations_(Babylon_5)
Revelations_(Sliders)
Revelations_(star_wars)
Revelations_of_Glaaki
Revelation_(game)
Revelation_(novel)
Revelation_BASIC
Revelation_BASIC
Revelation_BASIC_programming_language
Revelation_BASIC_programming_language
Revelation_of_Ares
Revelation_of_Arès
Revelation_of_John
Revelation_of_Peter
Revelation_of_Saint_John_the_Divine
Revelation_of_the_Daleks
Revelation_Records
Revelation_Records
Revelation_Records_Discography
Revelation_Software
Revelation_Space
Revelation_to_John
Revelation_virus
Revelation_virus
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