7. The Second Vatican Council

The Dogmatic Constitution on Revelation issued by the second Vatican Council noticeably incorporates significant changes in the conception of revelation. The first draft of the document, entitled "On the Sources of Revelation" and completed in 1962, preserved the scholastic trait that revelation is contained objectively in the written scripture and in the unwritten traditions. Nevertheless, the proper relation between scripture and tradition is uncertain and unconcerned. In fact, more weight is put on the latter due to the new insights on it since the beginning of the nineteenth century. Moreover, the first draft stressed on the verbal inspiration of scripture and a very strict interpretation of inerrancy. It espoused a naive historical view that the gospels reproduce the actual words and acts of Jesus Christ. This preparatory document unsurprisingly received a lot of criticism and after several hard discussions a final draft was presented and received the acceptance of an overwhelming majority of the council fathers in 1965. This final document gives full recognition to the rights of scientific exegesis and a broad understanding of inspiration and inerrancy. It reflects on revelation as the self-disclosure of God in the context of human history, reaching its climax in God's definitive self-manifestation in Jesus Christ.

Human beings are called upon to enter into an interpersonal relationship with God:"By this revealing of himself of God, who is invisible, in his great love speaks to humankind as friends and enters into their life, so as to invite and receive them into relationship with himself."26 Vatican II actually revitalized the idea of illumination from the Augustinian tradition, thus advancing a dynamical on-going perception of revelation. This way of thinking underlines God's work in every moment of the Church's history. In addition, the vital role of scripture is restated in Dei Verbum in the sense that

"Tradition and scripture together form a single sacred deposit of the word of God, entrusted to the Church."27