Reflection for the Week–August 10

There have been many previously and even more presently that refer to the notion of Divine revelation in a book like the biblical text. In thinking this over, and over, and over for a long time, I’m still not sure what such an appeal means. Is it like – this is a book dropped from heaven? Or, a book written by the pen of God? On another note, it often strikes me that scholars and non-scholars alike stake out this type of claim as if – well, that settles it all – my position is the correct one and if you don’t agree with me then you don’t believe in Divine revelation. I’m perplexed by what seems a sort of generic sleight of hand apologetic that supposedly explains everything according to one’s own preferences and everyone else somehow has it wrong. Not only is this picture arrogant, but the way it’s used by the supposed “religious elite” is a downright scandal. Granted, such an uninformed and damaging perspective can be set aside. Divine revelation is not that. For me, however, the lack of clarity about what it is remains. I’d wager that a “booking” of Divine revelation is rather a murky concept and thus is one major area, among others in Christian circles, that needs more careful work and (re)formulation.