📖Summary

According to the Catholic Church, Dei Verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 18, 1965, during the Second Vatican Council. It is one of the most theologically significant documents of the Council, addressing how God reveals Himself to humanity and how that revelation is transmitted through Scripture and Tradition. The document begins with the affirmation that God, in His goodness and wisdom, chose to reveal Himself and to make known the hidden purpose of His will, by which through Christ, the Word made flesh, mankind might in the Holy Spirit have access to the Father and come to share in the divine nature. Dei Verbum presents revelation not primarily as a set of doctrinal propositions but as God's personal self-communication to humanity, culminating in the person of Jesus Christ, who is both the mediator and the fullness of all revelation. The document teaches that Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition form one sacred deposit of the Word of God, committed to the Church. It clarifies the relationship between Scripture and Tradition, teaching that they flow from the same divine wellspring and that they are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence. The Magisterium, or teaching authority of the Church, is not above the Word of God but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on. Dei Verbum affirms the inspiration and inerrancy of Sacred Scripture, teaching that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully, and without error teach the truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation. It encourages the faithful to read Sacred Scripture frequently and promotes modern methods of biblical scholarship while maintaining the primacy of the theological interpretation of Scripture within the living Tradition of the Church. The document also treats the Old and New Testaments, their relationship, and the importance of Scripture in the life and worship of the Church.

💡Key Points