Dei Verbum and divine revelation

Abstract

Abstract Frequently cited among Vatican II’s greatest achievements is the new scriptural focus it engendered in all areas of Catholic life and thought, from the liturgy and personal devotion, to a reinvigoration of biblical criticism and theology. Hence this chapter explores the teaching and historical significance of Dei Verbum (Vatican II’s ‘Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation’). While the Constitution was not formally promulgated until the Council’s fourth and final session (8 December 1965), the key turning point in the Council’s first session was the conciliar majority’s rejection of a draft text (a ‘schema’) on Revelation which reflected the neo-scholastic theology and method of the day. The document that eventually replaced it, Dei Verbum, reflected the majority’s desire for ressourcement—a ‘return to the sources’: scriptural, patristic, and liturgical. This chapter also discusses how this ‘reformist orientation’ grounded in ressourcement set the tone for later debates. This discussion also sheds further light on the roots of Vatican II, since it is in the debate over Dei verbum that we see the triumph of the biblical and patristic movements which began to gain momentum earlier in the century. Additionally, the Council made a strong comment on the development of doctrine (Dei Verbum 8), the centrality of Jesus Christ, and the relationship between scripture and tradition. The chapter closes by briefly recounting how Dei Verbum stimulated biblical renewal among the laity, scholarly biblical criticism among Catholics, and, in the words of Joseph Ratzinger, a ‘new view of the phenomenon of tradition’.