8. Contemporary Developments

In the twentieth century, the doctrine of revelation became an important topic in theological discussions. In fact, many of the theological discussions in the last century are more or less related to the interpretations of revelation. For the neo-Reformation theologians, emphasis is placed on the objectivity of Christian faith as God's self-disclosure in the Word of God. Karl Barth, for example, considers that Jesus Christ as the Logos is the foundation for Christian knowledge and language about God. For Rudolf Bultmann, revelation is not only the communication of divine knowledge but also an event in which a Christian is addressed by the truths of faith and is called to respond in obedience. Human existence thus also plays a crucial role in revelation. Dermot Lane maintains that human beings can only understand revelation through their experiences.

"The primary point of contact between God and man in history is human experience. The medium of revelation, therefore, is human experience. The revelation of God to man takes place in human experience. The search for God outside human experience has been rightly described as a search for idols. This particular emphasis on experience is a reaction against abstract and overly intellectualistic approaches in the past to revelation. It also highlights the need for some degree of active awareness and self-consciousness in the recipient who appropriates God's revelation." 28

Karl Rahner's Hearers of the Word presents an interpretation of revelation in the Thomist tradition, yet incorporating ideas from Martin Heidegger's existential philosophy as well as from Immanuel Kant's transcendental method. According to Kant, God is not an empirical object and "all attempts to employ reason in theology in any merely speculative manner are altogether fruitless."29 Rahner thus tried to relate "the universal transcendental features of human openness and response to God"s revelation, on the one hand, to the categorical and particularized revelation embodied in Jesus Christ, on the other."30 Starting with humankind and its constitutive experiences, Rahner insists that God desires everyone to be saved and therefore there is a universal transcendental revelation for all human beings. Nevertheless, this revelation remains purely transcendental and never becomes categorical for those who have by no means encountered the historical revelation embodied in Jesus Christ. In addition, the openness of humanity to being31 is essential in revelation because it makes revelation possible if not actual. In the midst of their openness to being, or their transcendence, human beings may experience God's Word. Accordingly, Rahner regards that, resembling the particular revelation in Jesus Christ, transcendental revelation also has its history. In fact, as Hans K?ng points out, the development of the doctrine of revelation in relation to the category of history is one of the important traits of the Second Vatican Council. In Dei Verbum, one can actually observe the conception that revelation is expressed in both word and event:

"The pattern of this revelation unfolds through deeds and words bound together by an inner dynamism, in such a way that God's works, effected during the course of the history of salvation, show forth and confirm the doctrine and the realities signified by the words, while the words in turn proclaim the works and throw light on the meaning hidden in them."32

However, history is vulnerable to hermeneutical questions because all historical events are based on interpreted experience. For Edward Schillebeeckx, experience is vital for revelation and "we experience in the act of interpreting, without being able to draw a neat distinction between the element of experience and the element of interpretation."33 Therefore, in addition to the objective content of revelation, the subjective dimension of revelation such as the language, texts and life of the Christian community should also be taken into account for theological reflection on revelation. In narrative theology, emphasis is placed on how the faith of the Christian community is appropriated by individuals whose personal identities are reinterpreted and transformed by means of narratives in the community. The hermeneutical nature of revelation has been generally accepted by Roman Catholic theologians nowadays.

Modern science shows that nature is a long dynamic evolutionary process governed by law and chance. Many theologians today hold that this evolutionary worldview should also be integrated with our concept of revelation because the universe is a creation of God and what we find in nature should reveal the wisdom and beauty of the same God who also communicates with us as a person in the incarnated Logos. St. Paul says plainly, "Ever since the creation of the world his invisible nature, namely, his eternal power and deity, has been clearly perceived in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse." (Rom 1:20) In the incarnation of the Logos, we can discern the nature of the divine creation and the meaning of human existence. The Creation is a long evolutionary process in the light of contemporary cosmology and the historical Jesus is "the continuation and fulfillment of a long cosmic evolution"34. Being the heart of creation, Jesus reveals to us the full meaning of creation. As a man, he shares our cosmic evolutionary history that started from the Big Bang, continued in the creation of heavy elements in the stars and supernovae, and evolved from the early life forms to Homo sapiens. As the Logos, Jesus is the self-expression and the self-revelation of God. He is the origin of all beings in the cosmos as well as the ultimate meaning of the evolving conscious cosmos. The goal of evolution may be perceived as the preparation for the revelation in Jesus Christ who would bring the whole creation into union with God. Teilhard de Chardin even refers to this cosmic dimension of Christ as the third nature of Christ35, demonstrating the significance of this theological idea of cosmic revelation that has grown from modern cosmology. In fact, the cosmic character of the Logos is prominent in Paul's Letter to the Colossians, in which Jesus Christ is presented as the creator, the preserver and the saviour for the entire cosmic creation.

"He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities - all things were created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross." (Col 1: 15-20)