A) Examine two forms of Revelation.
In religion and theology, revelation is the revealing or disclosing of some form of truth or knowledge through supposed communication with a deity or other supernatural entity or entities. Some religions have religious texts which they view as divinely or supernaturally revealed or inspired. For instance Orthodox Judaism holds that the Torah was received from God on biblical Mount Sinai, and Muslims consider the Qur'an to have been revealed word by word and letter by letter. There are two types of revelation: propositional revelation and non-propositional revelation.
Propositional revelation being revelation through supernatural means (such as special experiences and sacred writings) conveying authoritative truths. For example, the Bible or a church issuing creeds. According to this view, faith involves accepting the words as being from God and therefore true. For example the New Testament is taken literally, there is no interpretation.
The philosopher Barth help a propositional View: God’s revelation is in God’s word (Jesus Christ) found in the Bible and in the Church’s preaching. Humans should accept revelation through faith. Barth argues (1) human nature cannot find God as it has been corrupted by the fall (Eve eating the apple, disobeying God). (2) God chose to be revealed through Jesus so it is the only way of knowing God. (3) Divine revelation is true. If reason goes against revelation then it is wrong. For example, the theory of evolution. Propositional revelation relates to faith by accepting God’s word as true, as it cannot be proven by empirical evidence. It relates to reason because we use our reason to understand the revelation.
Non-propositional being revelation through general or natural means (such as ordinary experiences of nature and human history) using human reason to work out truths. Revelation is not found in words or holy books or leaders. Words are of secondary important. They are not direct words...