Revelation Through Scripture
Revelation through Scripture
The idea that God’s will can be directly revealed through scripture is an extremely dangerous one. It is an idea that has lead to the deaths of countless people, not just within the Christian religion, but also through Judaism and Islam. Many religious fanatics, in carrying out acts of terror, justify their actions on the basis of scripture, quoting verses from the Bible, the Jewish Scriptures or the Qur’an. (On the basis of biblical claims, the ancient land of Palestine has become a battlefield many times, and is still a running sore of hate and resentment. Websites show Muslim terrorists reciting verses from the Qur’an before beheading their hostages. On the relative authority of Church and Scripture, Europe has been torn apart by wars of religion, that have lead to the deaths of thousands. On the authority of scripture, witches and others have been tortured and burned to death. On the basis of scripture, crusades have been launched.) In the argument between religious and secular thinkers, the authority of the scriptures is a key issue, for if scripture provides a direct revelation of God’s will, it will take priority – for the religious person – over human reason. This has ethical implications. A religious person, acting on the basis of the authority of scripture, may do something that would be deemed wrong on the basis of a secular ethical argument – e.g. utilitarianism or virtue ethics. But the religious conviction is such that, in the name of God, or Allah, things can be done that would be impossible to justify if done on purely human authority. We need to examine this… What does it mean to claim that God is revealed through scriptures?
Can that claim be justified rationally?
What is it that makes scriptures so important for believers?
What is ‘revelation’ anyway? How does it relate to religious experience? Let me take an extreme example. The book of Deuteronomy claims to set out the laws that God
The idea that God’s will can be directly revealed through scripture is an extremely dangerous one. It is an idea that has lead to the deaths of countless people, not just within the Christian religion, but also through Judaism and Islam. Many religious fanatics, in carrying out acts of terror, justify their actions on the basis of scripture, quoting verses from the Bible, the Jewish Scriptures or the Qur’an. (On the basis of biblical claims, the ancient land of Palestine has become a battlefield many times, and is still a running sore of hate and resentment. Websites show Muslim terrorists reciting verses from the Qur’an before beheading their hostages. On the relative authority of Church and Scripture, Europe has been torn apart by wars of religion, that have lead to the deaths of thousands. On the authority of scripture, witches and others have been tortured and burned to death. On the basis of scripture, crusades have been launched.) In the argument between religious and secular thinkers, the authority of the scriptures is a key issue, for if scripture provides a direct revelation of God’s will, it will take priority – for the religious person – over human reason. This has ethical implications. A religious person, acting on the basis of the authority of scripture, may do something that would be deemed wrong on the basis of a secular ethical argument – e.g. utilitarianism or virtue ethics. But the religious conviction is such that, in the name of God, or Allah, things can be done that would be impossible to justify if done on purely human authority. We need to examine this… What does it mean to claim that God is revealed through scriptures?
Can that claim be justified rationally?
What is it that makes scriptures so important for believers?
What is ‘revelation’ anyway? How does it relate to religious experience? Let me take an extreme example. The book of Deuteronomy claims to set out the laws that God