theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

, general revelation, or natural revelation, refers to knowledge about

God In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...

and spiritual matters, discovered through natural means, such as observation of

nature Nature, in the broadest sense, is the physical world or universe. "Nature" can refer to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The study of nature is a large, if not the only, part of science. Although humans are ...

(the

physical universe The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Ac ...

), philosophy, and reasoning. Christian theologians use the term to describe knowledge of God purported to be plainly available to all mankind. General revelation is usually understood to pertain to outward temporal events that are experienced within the world or the physical universe. The definition may be extended to include human conscience or providence or providential history.

Characteristics

General revelation is a form of revelation that gives knowledge through experience or records of

history History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

creation Creation may refer to: Religion *''Creatio ex nihilo'', the concept that matter was created by God out of nothing * Creation myth, a religious story of the origin of the world and how people first came to inhabit it * Creationism, the belief tha ...

, and innate conscience. Christian theologians cite biblical references to support general revelation: Romans 1:20, Psalms 19:1-6, and Matthew 5:45. General revelation shows the works and existence of God in indirect ways. General revelation is experienced through: # ''Physical Universe'' - The laws and nature of the physical universe as it transpires are interpreted as displaying God's attributes of existence, knowledge, wisdom, power, order, greatness, supremacy, righteousness, and goodness. # ''Human Conscience'' - God has instilled the innate ability in all persons to discern the difference between right and wrong, to choose and act on that discernment and judgment according to

free will Free will is the capacity of agents to choose between different possible courses of action unimpeded. Free will is closely linked to the concepts of moral responsibility, praise, culpability, sin, and other judgements which apply only to ac ...

and conscience, and to experience guilt when the act or choice is wrong. One of the

arguments for the existence of God The existence of God (or more generally, the existence of deities) is a subject of debate in theology, philosophy of religion and popular culture. A wide variety of arguments for and against the existence of God or deities can be categorized ...

is based on the moral sense in humans. # ''Providence'' refers to the sustaining power of God. Providence is defined as "divine providence; proceeding from divine direction or superintendence; as the providential contrivance of things; as a providential escape from danger." General revelation is understood as the everyday experience of life, but is solely dependent on interpretation of those experiences as comprehending God's hand in external events or things. General revelation is distinguished from

special revelation __NOTOC__ Special revelation is a Christian theological term that refers to the belief that knowledge of God and of spiritual matters can be discovered through supernatural means, such as miracles or the scriptures—a disclosure of God's tr ...

and

direct revelation Direct revelation is a term used by some Christian churches to express their belief in a communication from God to a person, by words, impression, visions, dreams or actual appearance. Direct revelation is believed to be an open communication b ...

. The former refers to the knowledge of God and spiritual matters which can be discovered through supernatural means, such as

scripture Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They differ from literature by being a compilation or discussion of beliefs, mythologies, ritual pra ...

miracle A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divi ...

s, and the latter refers to direct communication from God to a person. According to

Dumitru Stăniloae Dumitru Stăniloae (; – 4 October 1993) was a Romanian Orthodox Christian priest, theologian and professor. He worked for over 45 years on a comprehensive Romanian translation of the Greek Philokalia, a collection of writings on prayer by th ...

, the Eastern Orthodox Church’s position on general / special revelation is in stark contrast to Protestantism, Protestant and Catholic Church, Catholic theologies that see a clear difference between general and special revelation and tend to argue that the former is not sufficient to salvation. In Orthodox Christianity, he argues, there is no separation between the two and supernatural revelation merely embodies the former in historical persons and actions.

Footnotes

References

* Olaf Pedersen (1992), ''The Book of Nature'', Vatican Observatory Publications , distributed by University of Notre Dame Press.

External links

Scripture and general revelation
by Andrew S. Kulikovsky at the Creation Ministries International website - a discussion of the evangelicalism, evangelical notion of revelation in contrast to the common understanding. {{DEFAULTSORT:General Revelation Revelation Christian terminology

Characteristics

See also

Footnotes

References

External links