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Course 18 · Lesson 6.1

Revelation compared: word, law, awakening and incarnation

12 minute read

Lessons in this course

Course 18 outline

Module 1: Studying Religions Fairly

  1. Describing a religion in its own terms
  2. Insider and outsider views, and the limits of comparison
  3. Pluralism, inclusivism and exclusivism: the basic terms
  4. The comparison grid: God, revelation, authority, humanity and salvation

Module 2: Judaism and Islam

  1. Judaism: Torah, covenant and the shape of Jewish life
  2. How Judaism understands Jesus, Messiah and the Christian claim
  3. Islam: the oneness of God, the Prophet and the Quran
  4. How Islam understands Jesus, the Trinity and the Christian claim

Module 3: Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism

  1. Hinduism: its diversity and central ideas
  2. Buddhism: the Four Noble Truths and the path
  3. Sikhism: the Gurus, the one God and the Guru Granth Sahib
  4. Karma, rebirth and liberation compared with Christian hope

Module 4: Deism, Atheism and Agnosticism

  1. Deism: history and beliefs
  2. Atheism: varieties and arguments
  3. Agnosticism and the question of burden of proof
  4. Meaning, morality and hope in nonreligious positions

Module 5: New Religious Movements

  1. What a new religious movement is, and why the term is debated
  2. Movements with Christian roots and their relation to historic Christianity
  3. Other modern movements and spiritualities

Module 6: Comparing the Great Questions

  1. Revelation compared: word, law, awakening and incarnation
  2. Divine nature compared: one God, the Trinity, the Absolute and no creator
  3. Human nature and the human problem compared
  4. Salvation compared: forgiveness, submission, liberation and awakening
  5. Scripture and authority compared

Module 7: Christian Approaches to Other Religions

  1. Exclusivism, inclusivism and pluralism examined
  2. Catholic and Orthodox approaches to other religions
  3. Protestant approaches to other religions
  4. Witness, dialogue and respect

All courses

Program / Course 18: World Religions / Lesson 6.1

What you will learn

  • Distinguish four patterns of revelation: God’s word, God’s law, awakening and incarnation.
  • State how Judaism, Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism each understand how the ultimate is known.
  • Explain why the kind of revelation shapes the kind of authority and faith in a tradition.
  • Compare Christian claims about revelation with the claims of the other traditions without flattening either.

The big idea

Religions disagree not only about what is true but about how truth is known. In Judaism, God gives a law and speaks through prophets. In Islam, God sends a final book, the Qur’an. In Christianity, God’s fullest self-disclosure is a person, the Word made flesh. In Hinduism, truth is heard in ancient texts and realized in experience. In Buddhism, a teacher awakens and shows the way. Sikhism receives the divine Word through the Gurus. These differences shape what each tradition means by faith, authority and scripture.

Key terms

Revelation
The disclosure of the divine or ultimate to human beings, whether through words, events, a person or experience.
General and special revelation
General revelation is knowledge of God available to all through creation and conscience. Special revelation is God’s particular self-disclosure to a people or person, as in Israel and Christ.
Incarnation
The Christian teaching that the eternal Word became flesh in Jesus, so that revelation is a person and not only a message.
Shruti
In Hindu thought, what is heard: the Vedas, held to be eternal truth perceived by ancient seers.
Awakening (bodhi)
In Buddhism, the direct realization of the truth about suffering and its end, attained by the Buddha and by others who follow the path.
Inspiration
The doctrine that God guided human writers so that the Scriptures convey his word. Traditions understand it differently.
Faith
In Christianity, trust in God and assent to what he has revealed. Other traditions use the term differently, and some give it less emphasis.

Background

The question of revelation comes before the questions of scripture and authority. If God speaks, how? If there is no God who speaks, how does a person come to know what is ultimate? The traditions give different answers, and these answers explain much of the rest of what they teach. A tradition that holds that God dictated a book will treat that book differently from one that holds that God became a person.

This lesson places the answers side by side. It follows the comparison grid from Module 1, and uses the descriptions given in Modules 2 and 3. The aim is accuracy about each, and a clear account of the questions that follow from the differences.

Step-by-step explanation

Step 1: Revelation as covenant and law (Judaism)

In Judaism, God reveals himself in history: in the call of Abraham, the exodus, the giving of the Torah at Sinai and the words of the prophets. The central revelation is the Torah, which Jews understand as God’s instruction to the people he has chosen. It includes narrative as well as commandment. The Oral Torah, in rabbinic belief, was given with it.

What God gives is a way to walk and a relationship. Revelation calls for response in obedience, study and trust. Moses, the greatest prophet, speaks with God face to face (Deuteronomy 34:10), and later prophets bring God’s word to later times. Christians share this part of the story and read it as leading to Christ. Jews hold that the Torah remains God’s instruction.

Step 2: Revelation as a book (Islam)

In Islam, God has sent prophets to every people, and the final revelation is the Qur’an, God’s speech given in Arabic to Muhammad over twenty three years and, Muslims hold, preserved without change. The prophet is a faithful messenger who adds nothing of his own. The Qur’an is therefore the word of God in a direct sense, closer to the Christian idea of the Word than to the Christian idea of the Bible.

Revelation in Islam is mainly guidance: it tells humans what to believe and how to live. Muslims also say that God’s signs are everywhere in nature. The reaction demanded is submission. Christians respond that Islam treats revelation as information, while the gospel treats it as God himself coming among people. Muslims reply that the oneness of God forbids the idea of God taking human form.

Step 3: Revelation as a person (Christianity)

Christianity teaches that God spoke in many ways through the prophets, and in the last days through his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus is the Word made flesh (John 1:14), and to see him is to see the Father (John 14:9). Revelation is therefore centered in a person and in events: his life, death and resurrection. The Scriptures bear witness to him.

The churches differ on how revelation is passed on. Catholic and Orthodox Christians hold that revelation is given in Scripture and living Tradition together, guarded by the Church. Protestants teach that Scripture is the final norm. All hold that public revelation was completed in Christ and the apostles, and that the Church does not receive new doctrines (Jude 1:3).

Step 4: Revelation as sacred sound and experience (Hinduism, Sikhism)

Most Hindus regard the Vedas as shruti, eternal truth heard by seers, and not authored. Later texts, such as the Gita, are remembered tradition. Many Hindus also hold that truth is directly realized in meditation and devotion, and revelation is continuing in saints and teachers. There are many sources, and no single canon governs all.

Sikhs hold that the divine Word was given to Guru Nanak and passed through the ten Gurus into the Guru Granth Sahib. God is known through the Word and by grace, and the Name is to be remembered. Sikhs differ from the Muslim view by not holding that the final revelation was given to a single prophet, and from the Christian view by holding that God does not become man.

Step 5: Revelation as awakening (Buddhism)

Buddhism does not teach that a creator God speaks. The Buddha is a human being who awakened and then taught what he found. His teaching is a truth that is available to anyone who follows the path, and each person is asked to test it. Many Mahayana traditions also honor sutras taken to be the Buddha’s word, and to celestial buddhas. The classical Buddhist emphasis is on seeing for oneself.

This difference is basic. In the Abrahamic traditions, truth is received from above. In Buddhism, truth is discovered, and the teacher is a guide. A Christian may say that the Buddhist reading leaves the question of God untouched. A Buddhist may say that the question of God distracts from ending suffering.

  1. What is the difference between receiving a message and meeting a person?
  2. Why do Muslims call the Qur’an the Word of God, and how does it differ from the Christian use of that phrase?
  3. How does the Jewish emphasis on law shape Jewish life?
  4. Why might a Buddhist be wary of the idea of revelation?
  5. How can general revelation and special revelation both be true?
  6. What would count as a good reason to believe that one claimed revelation is genuine?

Examples

Three books on a table

A Torah scroll, a Qur’an and a Bible lie on a table. A Jew says the Torah is the center of life. A Muslim says that the Qur’an is God’s speech. A Christian says that the Bible bears witness to Christ, who is the Word. All treat the book with reverence, and they mean different things.

Ways of coming to know

A Hindu who sits in meditation, a Sikh who listens to hymns, a Muslim who recites, a Jew who studies and a Christian who prays the Psalms are each seeking God or the truth by their own path. The practices show what each tradition thinks revelation is.

A test case

A woman says she received a new revelation that corrects all earlier religions. A Christian asks whether it agrees with what has already been revealed in Christ (Galatians 1:8), a Muslim asks whether it agrees with the Qur’an, and a Buddhist asks whether it can be tested by practice. Each tradition has its own test.

Different perspectives

Catholic

Dei Verbum, the Council’s constitution on revelation, teaches that God reveals himself through deeds and words, that revelation is completed in Christ, and that it is handed on in Scripture and Tradition together under the guidance of the Church’s teaching office. The Church also holds that natural reason can know God, though imperfectly.

Orthodox

Orthodox theology holds that God is known through participation in his life in the Church, in worship, the sacraments and the saints, with Scripture as part of the living Tradition. Revelation is not only information but communion. Orthodox writers also stress that God in his essence remains beyond knowledge.

Protestant

Protestants hold that Scripture is the inspired and final written word of God (sola scriptura), and that Christ is the Word to whom it bears witness. Karl Barth’s three forms of the Word of God, Christ, the Bible and preaching, are widely discussed. Evangelicals stress the reliability of Scripture, and others stress its witness to Christ.

Jewish and Muslim

Jewish tradition holds that revelation at Sinai is the foundation of the covenant, and that it continues in interpretation. Muslim tradition holds that the Qur’an is the final word. Both traditions find in the Christian doctrine of incarnation a difference that cannot be reduced, and both ask that Christians understand what they believe.

Scholarly

Scholars of religion note that revelation language arises most clearly in the Abrahamic traditions and applies less easily to Indian ones. Philosophers debate whether general revelation can ground knowledge of God, and whether a claimed special revelation can be tested.

Why it matters

How a tradition understands revelation determines how it reads its scripture, how it settles disputes and what it means by faith. A Christian who sees the contrast between a book, a law, a person and an awakening can understand why discussions with neighbors of other faiths often cross, with each side giving a different kind of answer to a different kind of question.

Common misunderstandings

Misunderstanding: All religions claim to have a holy book from God.

Correction: Some do, but the books differ in kind. Buddhism does not claim a creator’s book, Hinduism’s texts are held to be heard by seers, and Christianity centers revelation on a person.

Misunderstanding: Muslims think of the Qur’an as the Bible of Islam.

Correction: The Qur’an is closer in function to Christ than to the Bible, in that it is held to be God’s own speech. The Christian Bible is human writing inspired by God.

Misunderstanding: Jews have the Old Testament and nothing more.

Correction: Judaism includes the written Torah and the Oral Torah in the Mishnah and the Talmud, and a continuing tradition of interpretation. The Hebrew Bible is not an Old Testament to Jews.

Misunderstanding: Buddhism has no revelation, so it has no authority.

Correction: Buddhism has authoritative teachings, canons and teachers. It differs in saying that the truth is verified by practice and was discovered, not given by a God.

Knowledge check

How does the Christian idea of revelation differ from the Muslim?

In Islam, revelation is the Qur’an, God’s final word delivered through a prophet who adds nothing. In Christianity, God’s fullest revelation is a person, the Word made flesh, and the Scriptures bear witness to him. Muslims hold that God cannot become human, and Christians confess that he did.

What does shruti mean?

Shruti means what is heard. Most Hindus use it for the Vedas, which are held to be eternal truth perceived by ancient seers and not composed by any human being. Later writings, such as the epics and the Gita, are called smriti, remembered tradition, and have a different level of authority.

How does Buddhist awakening differ from revelation in the Abrahamic religions?

In Abrahamic religions, truth is received from God, who speaks. In Buddhism, the Buddha discovered the truth by his own awakening and taught it as a way each person can verify through practice. There is no creator who gives a message, though many Buddhists revere sutras as the Buddha’s word.

What do Catholic and Orthodox Christians say about Scripture and Tradition?

They hold that revelation is handed on in Scripture and Tradition together, within the life of the Church, and that Scripture is read in that Tradition. Protestants hold that Scripture is the final norm and judge the traditions by it. All three say public revelation was completed in Christ and the apostles.

Think it through

  1. Which pattern of revelation seems most natural to you, and why?
  2. What might a person lose or gain by thinking of revelation as a person and not a book?
  3. How would you explain the Christian idea of incarnation to a Muslim or Jewish friend, respectfully?
  4. Why might a Buddhist prefer testing a teaching by practice to receiving it on authority?

Independent assignment

A revelation table

In your notebook, make a table with six rows (Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism) and columns for the form of revelation, the main text or source, how it is passed on and what response it asks. Fill it in from your earlier notes, in the tradition’s own terms. Then write about 250 words on which two traditions differ most on revelation and why.

Further study