MODEL

ADHERENTS

DEFINITION

PURPOSE

VIEW OF BIBLE

HISTORICAL RELATIONSHIP

HUMAN APPREHENSION

HEURMENEUTIC

STRENGTHS

WEAKNESSES

Revelation as Doctrine

• Church Fathers

Revelation is divinely authoritative and is conveyed objectively and propositionally through the exclusive medium (words) of the Bible** Its propositions generally assume the character of doctrine

To elicit saving faith through acceptance of the truth as revealed ultimately in Jesus Christ

The Bible is the Word of God (both in form and content)

Revelation is trans-historical (it is discrete and determinative with regard to its continuity with history)

Illumination (by the Holy Spirit)

Induction (objective)

• It derives from the Bible’s own testimony to itself
• It is the traditional view from the patristic fathers to the present
• It is distinctive by virtue of its internal coherence
• It provides the basis for consistent theology

• The Bible does not claim propositional infallibility of itself. Early and medieval exegets were amenable to allegorical/spiritual interpretations. The variety of literary terms and conventions argues against this model.
• Modern science refutes biblical literalism and other notions attached to this model.
• Its hermeneutic ignores the suggestive power of biblical context.

Revelation as Inner Experience

• Friedrich Schleimeracher
• D.W.R. Inge
• C.H. Dodd
• Karl Rahner

Revelation is the self-disclosure of God by His intimate presence in the depths of the human spirit and psyche.

To impart an experience of union with God that equates with immortality

The Bible contains the word of God (intermingled with the human elements of error and myth: the Bible is a "husk" wrapped around a "kernel" of truth). That truth can be apprehended (experienced) only by personal illumination.

Revelation is psycho-historical (the Bible reveals history within history)

Intuition

Eclecticism (subjective)

• It offers a defense against a rationalistic critique of the Bible
• It promotes devotional life
• Its flexibility encourages inter-religious dialogue

• It "picks & chooses" from the Bible
• It substitutes natural elitism for the Biblical concept of election. It divorces revelation from doctrine by its emphasis on experience.
• Its experiential orientation also risks excessive introspection on the part of the devotionalist.

Revelation as New Awareness

• Teilhard de Chardin
• M. Blondel
• Gregory Baum
• Leslie DeWart
• Ray L. Hart
• Paul Tillich

Revelation is one's arrival at a higher level of consciousness as one is attracted to a more fruitful sharing in the divine creativity.

To achieve the restructuring of perception / experience and a concomitant self-transformation

The Bible is a paradigm - a mediator through which self-transformation and transcendence may be achieved (but the Bible is only a human effort using "limping" human language pursuant to this end).

Revelation is ahistorical (history is rendered practically irrelevant as it is subjected to ongoing reinterpretations of personal transcendence).

Rational / al meditation

Ultra- eclecticism (extremely subjective)

• It escapes inflexibility and authoritarianism. It respects the active role of the person in the revelatory process. It harmonizes with evolutionist or transformationalist thinking.
• Its philosophy satisfies the need of worldly fruitfulness.

• It does violence to Scripture through its unorthodox interpretations.
• It is a neo-gnosticism that is inadequate to meaningful Christian experience.
• In its totality, it denies the cognitive / objective value of the Bible.