1. Divine Revelation
God and God’s Word

2. Ways of Knowing God Experiencing God Reasoning to God
Believing Another
Experts say 90% of our knowledge comes from reading (believing the word of another.)

3. Experiencing God
Experiencing God is somewhat like experiencing the sun.
We experience the sun not directly, but indirectly by its effects: heat, light, energy.
Similarly, we experience God indirectly by increases in faith, hope, or love.

4. Reasoning to God
The only reasonable explanation of our universe is that an infinite intelligence created it.
Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

5. Faith in God
We are very limited in what we can know about God from experience and reason
Only Jesus can give us a clear and certain knowledge of God.
John 1:18

6. Divine Revelation
Refers to public revelation as opposed to private revelation.
Ended with last apostle’s death
We continue to uncover deeper meanings in it through study and prayer. (CCC 66-67)

7. What about “private revelations,” like Fatima?
After investigation, if the Church rules a specific “private revelation” in not in conflict with public revelation, it may be believed
The Church obliges no one to believe “private revelation”

8. Margaret Mehren Three ways of knowing?
Did she experience God, reason to God and/or believe another?
Testing the truth of the experience:
Did she grow more faith-filled?
Did she grow more hopeful?
Did she grow more loving?
(Faith , hope and love are theological virtues because they come from and lead to God.)

9. Handing on Revelation Revelation
Public (Bible/Tradition)
Private (e.g. visions)
Immediate (deeds Ps 78:52, dreams Mt 1:20, visions Is 6:1-8)
To Prophets
To Apostles
Mediate (handing on immediate revelation)
To Future Generations
Under Holy Spirit’s Guidance

10. Sacred Tradition
Teachings passed orally and unerringly form generation to generation
Example: Mary was a virgin all her life

11. Sacred Scripture (CCC 126)Gospels developed through three stages:
Life: what Jesus said and did
Oral: what apostles preached
Written: what evangelists wrote
Divine Inspiration
Holy Spirit and human writer act as a team (The Spirit acts through the talents of the writer.)
Inerrancy of Scripture
“free from religious error in matters related to salvation”
Bible is not free from scientific or historical error
Interpretation of Scripture
“You must go back, as it were, in spirit to those remote centuries of the East. With the aid of history, archaeology, ethnology, and other sciences, you must determine accurately what modes of writing the ancient writers would likely use, and in fact did use.” Pope Pius XII to biblical scholars.
The Church is the mother of the New Testament and thus the interpreter.

12. Canon of Scripture
Testament comes form the Greek meaning od “sacred agreement” (covenant)
Old Testament: God’s covenant with Israel mediated by Moses.
New Testament: God’s covenant with all people mediated by Jesus
Dead Sea Scrolls importance:
~1000 yrs older than oldest biblical manuscripts known to us
Non-biblical scrolls fill in gap of little-known Jewish history between 200 BC and 50 AD, and they help clarify biblical writings from this period

13. Old Testament Act One: Creation – God Creates
Act Two: De-creation – Sin Destroys
Act Three: Re-creation – God Saves Us

14. Interpreting the Bible
Literalists
Interpret with the text alone – Adam lived 930 yrs
Creation happened in 4004 BC or 4026 BC (depending on which genealogies are used)
Genealogies were never intended to be taken literally – they build a literary bridge between Adam (father of all people) and Abraham (father of all Hebrews)
Declining age spans symbolize the tragic impact that sin is having on the human family.
Contextualists
Interpret with text and context (literary, cultural, historical)
Early chapters deal with pre-history – the fuzzy era between the appearance of people and the recording of their stories

15. Bible Connection Old Testament (46 books) has 4 parts
Pentateuch (5 books + 3 special books)
Wisdom (7 books)
Historical (13 books)
Prophetic (18 books)
New Testament (27 books) has 4 parts
Gospels (4 books)
Acts (1 book)
Letters (21 books)
Revelation (1 book)

16. Creation
Creation Story: Like Jesus’ parables convey religious truths and not historical facts Four Religious Truths of the Creation Story: God is One God planned creation God created everything good God made the Sabbath holy Second Creation Story It is suggested the image of God “breathing” life in to clay was inspired by mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, which ancients were familiar with (eg 2 Kings 4:32-34)

17. De-Creation
De-creation: -Misuse of environment -Misuse of free will Sin: Personal Sin: the free act of a single individual (CCC 1868) Social Sin: involves the collective behavior of a group of people, like a nation (CCC 1869) Two forms: -Commission – doing bad -Omission – not doing good

18. Origin of Sin
First “sin story” is the snake tempting Adam and Eve to eat the apple
Symbolic Story - Symbolic Meaning
Symbols
Snake = devil
Eating = sinful act
Teaching
Evil enters the world through the sin of the first couple
Three major tragic effects of the first sin
Introduces evil into world
Flawed human race
Doomed human race
(God’s responses explained “origin” of disturbing realities)
The pain involved in childbirth (to the woman)
The pain involved in hard labor (to the man)
The ongoing struggle between good and evil in the world (to the snake)
Ray of Hope: God’s remark to the snake (CCC ; 1 John 3:8)

19. “Her offspring (Jesus) Will crush your head (devil)
“Her offspring (Jesus) Will crush your head (devil). In the process, however, Jesus will suffer (snake will bite his heel.)”

20. Re-creation Act 1: God creates us Act 2: Sin destroys us
Act 3: God re-creates us
Covenant with Abraham
New identity – God’s chosen person
New destiny – Father of nations
Covenant with Israel
New identity – Chosen people
New destiny – Priestly people
Covenant with David
New identity – Chosen king
New destiny – Ancestor of the Messiah
God’s covenant moved form Abraham to Israel to David (CCC )

21. God’s people sin God’s people suffer God’s people wait
After Solomon’s death: kingdom divided
North – Israel
South - Judah
Beginning of personal and social sins against God
God raised prophets, Israel did not reform, Assyria destroyed Israel in 722 BC
Judah also did not listen to prophets, Babylonian armies destroyed Jerusalem and Temple, people enslaved
God’s people suffer
People exiled to Babylon, prophets try to help restore faith
Babylon conquered by Cyrus of Persia and Judah freed –sort of, other conquers claimed Judah before the Roman came in 63 BC
God’s people wait
Hebrew scriptures end “unfinished”
Faithful Jews await the Messiah, pray for God to complete the work of re-creation in the world (CCC 716)