Bahá'í Faith , recorded in shorthand script by an
amanuensis The Báb,
Bahá'u'lláh and
`Abdu'l-Bahá, the central figures of the
Bahá'í Faith, received thousands of written enquiries, and wrote thousands of responses, hundreds of which amount to whole and proper books, while many are shorter texts, such as letters. In addition, the Bahá'í Faith has large works which were divinely revealed in a very short time, as in a night, or a few days.
Christianity Many Christians believe in the possibility and even reality of
private revelations, messages from God for individuals, which can come in a variety of ways.
Montanism is an example in
early Christianity and there are alleged cases today also. However, Christians see as of a much higher level the revelation recorded in the
collection of books known as the
Bible. They consider those books to have been written by human authors under the inspiration of the
Holy Spirit. They regard Jesus as the supreme revelation of God, with the Bible being a revelation in the sense of a witness to him. The
Catechism of the Catholic Church states that "the Christian faith is not a 'religion of the book.' Christianity is the religion of the '
Word of God', a word which is 'not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate and living". Geisler and Nix speak of
Biblical inerrancy as meaning that in its original form, the Bible is totally without error and free from all contradiction, including the historical and scientific parts. Coleman speaks of
Biblical infallibility as meaning that the Bible is inerrant on issues of faith and practice but not history or science. The
Catholic Church speaks not about infallibility of Scripture but about its freedom from error, holding "the doctrine of the inerrancy of Scripture". The
Second Vatican Council, citing earlier declarations, stated: "Since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation". It added: "Since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their words." The Reformed Churches believe in the Bible is inerrant in the sense spoken of by Gregory and Nix and "deny that Biblical infallibility and inerrancy are limited to spiritual, religious, or redemptive themes, exclusive of assertions in the fields of history and science". The
Westminster Confession of Faith speaks of "the infallible truth and divine authority" of the Scriptures. In the
New Testament,
Jesus treats the
Old Testament as authoritative and says that it "cannot be broken" .
2 Timothy 3:16 says: "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness". The
Second Epistle of Peter claims that "no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the
Holy Spirit". It also speaks of Paul's letters as containing some things "hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures". This letter does not specify "the other Scriptures", and the term "all Scripture" in 2 Timothy does not indicate the writings that were or would be breathed out by God and useful for teaching, since it does not preclude later works, such as the
Book of Revelation and the
Epistles of John may have been. The Catholic Church recognizes 73 books as inspired and forming the Bible (46 books of the
Old Testament and 27 books of the
New Testament). The most common versions of the Bible that
Protestants have today consist of 66 of these books. None of the 66 or 73 books gives a list of revealed books. The theologian and Christian existentialist philosopher
Paul Johannes Tillich (1886–1965), who sought to correlate culture and faith so that "faith need not be unacceptable to contemporary culture and contemporary culture need not be unacceptable to faith", argued that revelation never runs counter to reason (affirming
Thomas Aquinas, who considered faith to be eminently rational) and that both poles of the subjective human experience are complementary.
Karl Barth argued that God is the object of God's own self-knowledge, and revelation in the Bible means the self-unveiling to humanity of the God who cannot be discovered by humanity simply through its own efforts. For him, the Bible is not
The Revelation; rather, it points to revelation. Human concepts can never be considered as identical to God's revelation, and Scripture is written in human language, expressing human concepts. It cannot be considered identical with God's revelation. However, God does reveal himself through human language and concepts, and thus Christ is truly presented in scripture and the preaching of the church.
Catholic Church The
Catechism of the Catholic Church of the
Catholic Church states: The Catholic Church also asserts that
Jesus Christ is the "fullness and mediator of all Revelations", and that no new divine revelation will come until the
Second Coming. Revelation is seen as the source of an
obligation on the part of those who recognize it, namely an obligation to believe or to submit intellectually to "God who reveals".
Latter Day Saint movement receiving the
golden plates and other artifacts from the
angel Moroni The
Latter Day Saint movement teaches that the movement began with a revelation from God, which began a process of
restoring the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. Latter Day Saints also teach that revelation is the foundation of the church established by
Jesus Christ and that it remains an essential element of his true church today.
Continuous revelation provides individual Latter Day Saints with a
testimony, described by
Richard Bushman as "one of the most potent words in the Mormon lexicon". Latter Day Saints believe in an
open scriptural canon, and in addition to the
Bible and the
Book of Mormon, have books of scripture containing the revelations of modern-day prophets such as the
Doctrine and Covenants and the
Pearl of Great Price. In addition, many Latter Day Saints believe that ancient prophets in other regions of the world received revelations that resulted in additional scriptures that have been lost and may, one day, be forthcoming. Latter Day Saints also believe that the
United States Constitution is a divinely inspired document.
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Members of
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sustain the
President of the Church as
prophet, seer, and revelator, the only person on earth who receives revelation to guide the entire church. They also sustain the two counselors in the
First Presidency, as well as the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as prophets, seers, and revelators. They believe that God has followed a pattern of continued revelation to prophets throughout the history of mankind to establish doctrine and maintain its integrity, as well as to guide the church under changing world conditions. When this pattern of revelation was broken, it was because the receivers of revelation had been rejected and often killed. In the meridian of time, Paul described prophets and apostles in terms of a foundation, with Christ as the cornerstone, which was built to prevent doctrinal shift—"that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doctrine". To maintain that foundation, new apostles were chosen and ordained to replace those lost to death or transgression, as when Matthias was called by revelation to replace Judas (Acts 1:15–26). However, as intensifying persecution led to the imprisonment and martyrdom of the apostles, it eventually became impossible to continue the
apostolic succession. Once the foundation of apostles and prophets was lost, the integrity of Christian doctrine as established by Christ and the apostles began to be compromised by those who continued to develop doctrine despite not being called or authorized to receive revelation for the body of the church. In the absence of revelation, the post-apostolic theologians had no choice but introduced elements of human reasoning, speculation, and personal interpretation of scripture (2 Pet 1:19–20), which over time led to the loss or corruption of various doctrinal truths, as well as to the addition of new man-made doctrines. That naturally led to much disagreement and schism, which over the centuries culminated in the large number of Christian churches on the earth today. Mormons believe that God resumed his pattern of revelation when the world was again ready by calling the Prophet Joseph Smith to restore the fullness of the gospel of Jesus Christ to the earth. Since that time there has been a consistent succession of prophets and apostles, which God has promised will not be broken before the Second Coming of Christ (Dan 2:44). Each member of the LDS Church is also confirmed a member of the church following baptism and given the "gift of the Holy Ghost" by which each member is encouraged to develop a personal relationship with that divine being and receive personal revelation for their own direction and that of their family. The Latter Day Saint concept of revelation includes the belief that revelation from God is available to all those who earnestly seek it with the intent of doing good. It also teaches that everyone is entitled to personal revelation with respect to his or her
stewardship (leadership responsibility). Thus, parents may receive inspiration from God in raising their families, individuals can receive divine inspiration to help them meet personal challenges, church officers may receive revelation for those whom they serve, and so forth. The important consequence of this is that each person may receive confirmation that particular doctrines taught by a prophet are true, as well as gain divine insight in using those truths for their own benefit and eternal progress. In the church, personal revelation is expected and encouraged, and many converts believe that personal revelation from God was instrumental in their conversion.
Joseph F. Smith, the sixth president of the LDS Church, summarized this church's belief concerning revelation by saying, "We believe... in the principle of direct revelation from God to man" (Smith, 362).
Quakers Quakers, known formally as the Religious Society of Friends, are generally united by a belief in each human's ability to experience
the light within or see "that of God in every one." Most Quakers believe in
continuing revelation: God continuously reveals truth directly to individuals.
George Fox said, "Christ has come to teach His people Himself." Friends often focus on feeling the presence of God. As
Isaac Penington wrote in 1670, "It is not enough to hear of Christ, or read of Christ, but this is the thing – to feel him to be my root, my life, and my foundation...." Quakers reject the idea of
priests and believe in the
priesthood of all believers. Some express their concept of God using phrases such as "the inner light", "inward light of Christ", or "Holy Spirit". Quakers first gathered around George Fox in the mid–17th century and belong to a historically
Protestant Christian set of
denominations.
Hinduism Śruti, Sanskrit for "that which is heard", refers to the body of most authoritative, ancient
religious texts comprising the central canon of
Hinduism. Śrutis have been variously described as a revelation through
anubhava (direct experience), or of primordial origins realized by ancient
Rishis. In Hindu tradition, they have been referred to as
apauruṣeya (not created by humans). The
Śruti texts themselves assert that they were skillfully created by
Rishis (sages), after inspired creativity, just as a carpenter builds a chariot.
Islam (Compendium of Histories), ;
Timurid. From
Herat,
Afghanistan.
Muslims believe that
God (
Allah) revealed his final message to all of existence through
Muhammad via the angel
Gabriel. Muhammad is considered to have been the
Seal of the Prophets and the last revelation, the
Qur'an, is believed by Muslims to be the flawless final revelation of God to humanity, valid until the
Last Day. The Qur'an claims to have been revealed word by word and letter by letter. Muslims hold that the message of Islam is the same as the message preached by all the messengers sent by God to humanity since
Adam. Muslims believe that Islam is the oldest of the monotheistic religions because it represents both the original and the final revelation of God to
Abraham,
Moses,
David,
Jesus, and Muhammad. Likewise, Muslims believe that every
prophet received revelation in their lives, as each prophet was sent by God to guide mankind.
Jesus is significant in this aspect as he received revelation in a twofold aspect, as Muslims believe he preached the
Gospel while also having been taught the
Torah. According to Islamic traditions, Muhammad began receiving revelations from the age of 40 that were delivered through the angel Gabriel over the last 23 years of his life. The content of these revelations, known as the Qur'an, was memorized and recorded by his followers and compiled from dozens of
hafiz as well as other various parchments or hides into a single volume shortly after his death. In
Muslim theology, Muhammad is considered equal in importance to all other
prophets of God and to make distinction among the prophets is a
sin, as the Qur'an itself promulgates equality between God's prophets. Many
scholars have made the distinction between revelation and
inspiration, which according to Muslim theology, all righteous people can receive. Inspiration refers to God inspiring a person to commit some action, as opposed to revelation, which only the prophets received. Moses's mother,
Jochebed, being inspired to send the infant Moses in a cradle down the
Nile river is a frequently cited example of inspiration, as is
Hagar searching for water for the infant
Ishmael.
Judaism The term
revelation is used in two senses in Jewish theology; (1) what in rabbinical language is called
Gilluy Shekinah, a manifestation of God by some wondrous act of his which overawes man and impresses him with what he sees, hears, or otherwise perceives of his glorious presence; or (2) a manifestation of his will through oracular words, signs, statutes, or laws. One of the major trends in modern Jewish philosophy was the attempt to develop a theory of Judaism through existentialism. One of the primary players in this field was
Franz Rosenzweig. His major work,
Star of Redemption, expounds a philosophy in which he portrays the relationships between God, humanity and world as they are connected by creation, revelation and redemption. Beliefs that God gave a "Torah of truth" to Moses (and the rest of the people), that Moses was the greatest of the prophets, and that the Law given to Moses will never be changed, are three of the
Thirteen Principles of Faith of Orthodox Judaism according to
Maimonides.
Conservative Rabbi and
philosopher Abraham Joshua Heschel (1907–1972), author of a number of works on prophecy, said that, "Prophetic inspiration must be understood
as an event, not as
a process." In his work
God in Search of Man, he discussed the experience of being a prophet. In his book
Prophetic Inspiration After the Prophets: Maimonides and Others, Heschel references to continued prophetic inspiration in Jewish
rabbinic literature following the destruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem and into medieval and even Modern times. He wrote that: :"To convey what the prophets experienced, the Bible could either use terms of descriptions or terms of indication. Any description of the act of revelation in empirical categories would have produced a caricature. That is why all the Bible does is to state that revelation happened. How it happened is something they could only convey in words that are evocative and suggestive."
Sikhism The
Guru Granth Sahib is considered to be a divine revelation by God to the
Sikh gurus. In various verses of Guru Granth Sahib, the Sikh gurus themselves state that they merely speak what the divine teacher (God) commands them to speak.
Guru Nanak frequently used to tell his ardent follower
Mardana "Oh Mardana, play the
rabaab the Lord's word is descending onto me." In certain passages of Guru Granth Sahib, it is clearly said the authorship is of divine origin and the gurus are merely the channel through which such revelations came. ==Revealed religion==