Abstract
O’Collins sets out to construct a coherent theology of revelation, noting both that the topic has been mostly ignored for a generation and that those texts that have taken up the topic have not been entirely satisfying (p. vi). He starts by tackling the distinction between revelation as relational and as propositional, arguing that while revelation is primarily an encounter with God, received in a particular time and place and mediated through creation, it is also, in a secondary sense, propositional. The author then considers the relationship between revelation, tradition and Scripture, with particular emphasis on distinguishing between revelation and inspiration. The book concludes with a chapter on revelation and people of other faiths, or none.
From the perspective of a Protestant readership, O’Collins’s book is interesting as it interacts in illuminating fashion with official Roman Catholic teaching and documents, particularly from the Second Vatican Council. In his attempt to distinguish between God’s self-revelation and the propositional content that it generates, O’Collins identifies important questions concerning what Christians are able to say with confidence about God when revelation is seen in personal and relational terms. The proposal to distinguish between revelation and inspiration is well made and the insistence that reception is considered an integral aspect of the event of revelation is important. While it is now more commonly accepted among Protestant and even evangelical theologians, O’Collins’s description of the relationship between revelation, tradition and Scripture is one of the stronger points of the book. He points out that Scripture and tradition grew out of revelation and are both also occasions for God’s continued self-revelation. While giving the primacy to Scripture over tradition, O’Collins argues sensibly against sola scriptura and for more reciprocity in the relationship. He points out, for example, that Scripture was formed in worshipping communities and that tradition, in the form of the regula fidei, enabled the Church both to recognize and to interpret Scripture.
O’Collins’s terminology is not always clear or helpful. His distinction between revelation as primarily relational and secondarily propositional, for example, implies a dichotomy between the relational and the cognitive. The rub comes when the category of secondary ‘true propositions’ catches up everything within Christian tradition from Scripture, the classic creeds, on to sacred art and music. O’Collins doesn’t distinguish between the cognitive content of, for example, the New Testament affirmation that Jesus is Lord and the Nicaean Creed (pp. 13–15).
Also the sense that revelation contains reception seems to be muted in O’Collins’s distinction between foundational and dependent revelation. Shorter and Levering’s preferences for the category of participation in revelation are aired, but not considered sufficient safeguard to the uniqueness of the apostolic period. This is a shame as the term is more dynamic and emphasizes the continuity of experience of revelation within the Church through the Holy Spirit. It is often the case that O’Collins’s desire for clarity of definition and conceptual categorization clamps down on nuance and an appreciation of the dynamic of divine self-disclosure.
In the epilogue, O’Collins states that his intention was to outline a Trinitarian notion of revelation. While there are references and allusions to the Trinity in the text (p. 176) and some implicit Trinitarian underpinning, as with the discussion of revelation as ‘then, now and to come’, this aspiration remains very much in the background. More explicit Trinitarian reflection on revelation, along with an articulation of inspiration that gave as much attention to narrative as to propositions, would have made this a more satisfying book.