The Question of Revelation Through Sacred Scripture

This paper provides a critical examination of the concept of divine revelation through sacred scripture, focusing primarily on the Christian Bible. It addresses the fundamental question of whether the universe possesses an overall purpose and how various religious traditions, particularly Christianity, claim that God provides a special revelation to interpret religious experiences. The analysis begins by exploring theories that assert the Bible's infallibility and inerrancy, namely the Perfect Wording Theory, which posits that every word is divinely intended, and the Perfect Meaning Theory, which allows for stylistic variation while maintaining the inerrancy of the core message. Subsequently, the paper investigates alternative perspectives that concede the presence of errors in the scripture. The Essential Truth Theory is presented as a view that, while acknowledging minor inaccuracies, upholds the Bible's trustworthiness on essential matters of faith and salvation. The discussion then moves to more interpretive and existential approaches, including the Key Images Theory and the Sacred Encounter Theory, the latter heavily influenced by Rudolf Bultmann's program of "demythologizing." This theory views the Bible not as a repository of historical facts but as a medium for a personal encounter with the divine. Ultimately, the paper concludes by positioning the Bible as a "seedbed of interpretations"—a complex collection of human documents that should be subject to critical inquiry rather than being accepted as a supernaturally infallible text.