Engaging the Doctrine of Revelation: The Mediation of the Gospel through Church and Scripture

by Matthew Levering

Shows that divine revelation has been truthfully mediated through the church, the gospel, and Scripture so that we can receive it in its fullness today.

Genres: Theology

385 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 11, 2014

About the author

Matthew Levering (PhD, Boston College) is professor of religious studies at the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio. He is the author or editor of numerous books, including Ezra & Nehemiah in the Brazos Theological Commentary on the Bible. He is also coauthor of Holy People, Holy Land and Knowing the Love of Christ.

Reviews

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have more than one friend who grew up in an evangelical or mainline Protestant background who has converted to Roman Catholicism. For many, this has been a thoughtful decision carefully taken. One of the reasons some take this step is the focus of Protestants on personal interpretation of the scripture, the belief that each believer is capable of understanding the scriptures unmediated by the church, pastors, church doctrine and tradition, among other things. They see diverse interpretations in many cases and Christians justifying almost anything on the basis of their reading of scripture and unchallengeable because they claim “the Bible tells us so.”

Others in the stream of the churches of the Reformation appeal to Sola Scriptura, the authority of the Bible alone, and the distortions or even contradictions they observe in the traditions of the church. They join Martin Luther in appealing to the scriptures alone, saying “Here I stand.”

Matthew Levering, who currently teaches theology at the University of Saint Mary of the Lake in Mundelein, Illinois was educated in a Protestant seminary (Duke) yet embraces and articulates a Catholic theology of the relation of scripture and church in how God has revealed the Christian message. What I found most helpful was his thoughtful engagement with a range of Protestant, Catholic, and Orthodox theologians in an exploration that argues both the inspiration and authority of the biblical text and while also contending for the crucial role of the church in clarifying and mediating our understanding of the Word of God we find in the scriptures. We encounter N.T. Wright, Scot McKnight, and Alexander Schememann, as well as von Balthasar and Ratzinger in the pages of this book.

Levering begins by discussing the nature of the Church as a missional community founded by the Son and the Spirit, countering the individualism of the post-Reformation church. He moves on to explore the importance of the Church’s liturgy as the context in which the Gospel message of scripture is proclaimed. The hierarchy of the priesthood has been an important in maintaining a unity in our understanding of revealed truth. The Church’s councils and creeds are especially illustrative of this importance. Church councils such as Nicaea clarified the shared understanding of scripture on such important issues as the Trinity and the nature of Christ as fully God and fully human, resolving the contested interpretations of scripture around these issues.

Levering takes on the role of tradition in the transmission of Gospel revelation through the generations and argues against those who see these traditions sometimes in conflict with themselves, believing in the continued work of the Spirit to guide the Church. He contends, along with John Henry Newman, for the development of doctrinal understanding through the history of the church and, against many post-modern approaches, for the possibility of propositional truth, that God reveals God’s self in cognitively understandable terms.

His last chapters articulate a high view of scripture’s overall trustworthiness, arguing against those who would differentiate between errant and inerrant portions. He concludes with a surprising chapter supporting the contribution of Greek philosophy to the Christian understanding of God.

There was much here I appreciated. I too find troubling personal biblical interpretation gone amuck. I think it is undeniable that the Church has played a crucial role in articulating our gospel faith, drawing on the scriptures. Similarly, there is a recognition of the work of the Spirit of God at work in continuing to develop our understand of the testimony of the scriptures.

At the same time, I think there is much more to be engaged in a discussion of tradition and the magisterium. What is to be done when traditions are distorted and the hierarchy is not filled with the Spirit and is advancing what can only be construed as the traditions of humans, particularly at the expense of the Word of God? Is the Church to simply wait for however many centuries it takes for the Lord of the church to right things?

I also wish Levering would have talked more about the appropriate use of the scriptures by individuals. Certainly since Vatican II the study of the Bible by the laity has been encouraged. And countless generations of Christians have advanced in their spiritual lives through personal reading and study of the Bible. It seems to me that a place for mutual engagement between Protestants and Catholics would be to explore the relation between our individual and communal reading of scripture and to what degree should we subject our personal readings to the understanding of scripture in the wider community.

Levering’s book is a thoughtful contribution to this basic question of how the Church hears and understands God’s word revealed to us in the scriptures. It is Catholic without being anti-Protestant. It is both a book of clarity and conviction and yet an irenic engagement with those who don’t identify as Roman Catholics.

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Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free in e-book format from the publisher through Netgalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

[Jonathan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

In engaging with Engaging the Doctrine of Revelation, it's difficult to know quite what to say first. To begin, Matthew Levering is exceptionally brilliant - perhaps, in my estimation, one of the great luminaries of twenty-first-century Roman Catholic academia. In this book, he deftly and quite expertly integrates biblical studies, theology, philosophy, church history, and more; he writes very incisively; he exhibits a highly commendable capacity for clearly expounding the views of others, irrespective of his view's affinity with theirs; and, on the whole, Levering writes with a charity that matches his erudition - a difficult feat - and avoids polemicism.

As an Evangelical clergyman, I can unequivocally say that any Protestant treatment of these issues from 2015 onward that neglects serious engagement with Levering's work is almost ipso facto irresponsible and subpar. This is a benchmark work. He ably expands beyond certain historic Protestant emphases, and yet I think remains in need of supplementation and correction still himself.

Perhaps the thing that leapt out at me most saliently in reading this was that, for a book aimed at discussing the doctrine of divine revelation, the topic of divinely inspired scripture - a central area of focus for that doctrine, perhaps in some ages the center - was deferred until the second-to-last chapter. That alone raises considerable suspicion - proper Protestant misgivings aside, one notes that Dei Verbum (which Levering cites toward the beginning of nearly every chapter) is significantly concerned with explicating precisely this topic, though not exclusively. It is to the detriment of the entire book that most consideration of scripture qua divine revelation is deferred so drastically.

As it stands, the first chapter ("Church") should be relatively unobjectionable to any reader, Protestant, Roman Catholic, or Orthodox. Engaging with St. Thomas Aquinas, Hans Urs von Balthasar, and Christopher J. H. Wright, Levering begins his earnest treatment of divine revelation by exploring the sending ('missio') of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and the way in which the Church is subsequently "constituted by participation in Christ's revelatory mission" (47). Thus, the church is "no mere receptacle," a passive recipient of divine revelation; but the church is itself an agent of revelation to the world.

The second chapter ("Liturgy") is a valuable contribution - Levering engages first with Reformed theologian John Webster, and then attempts to seek correctives in the writings of Alexander Schmemann and Joseph Ratzinger (Pope Benedict XVI). Here, perhaps Levering's best point is in considering the ways in which several scriptural texts clearly originate from within liturgical settings, and thus have that as their proper and primary context; and yet Levering neglects to consider many biblical documents for which an original 'liturgical' context is perhaps a greater stretch (or, at the very least, Levering does not engage these others at the level of specifics).

The third chapter ("Priesthood") is, I have to say, surprisingly weak (relative to what I would have expected) in explicating a notion of a hierarchical 'priesthood' as such being a means of revelation, let alone defending such a notion. He is concerned in large part with criticisms - he cites John Calvin and Thomas Hobbes, and later considers Friedrich Nietzsche - that appear to assail this claim (whatever it is) on the basis of "priestly rivalry," and goes on to combat that; but there are just too many important questions left unasked and unanswered here, and it isn't quite so clear that the question answered was really the question asked in the first place.

The fourth chapter ("Gospel") takes up Scot McKnight's explanation of the early church's "gospel culture," and Levering hints that he intends to explore whether "the conciliar and creedal testimony of the Church," including a "canonical and ecclesial mode of reading," is intrinsic to this "gospel culture." In the process, Levering offers a very detailed reading of St. Thomas Aquinas' commentaries on Romans and Galatians; but the link with this never seems to come 'round again to his stated goals (and one may fairly question whether McKnight's position is really the best foil to use in this chapter - or, for that matter, whether 'gospel' should really be treated with a chapter in its own right rather than subsumed under one, several, or all of the others).

The fifth chapter ("Tradition") is largely good, but Levering's primary foil is Terrence Tilley, a fellow Roman Catholic scholar whose content-devoid position on tradition would be perhaps too radically low even for most faithful Protestants(!). As such, Levering takes far too long to get around to exploring the diverse ways in which the New Testament actually uses tradition language (e.g., 'paradosis'), which requires a far more systematic handling than Levering offers if he really wants to engage in a way that does justice to Protestant concerns as well as Tilley's. (For my part, there are probably at least six sub-classifications of 'tradition(s)' we ought to be utilizing here, before the question of truth or falsity can even enter into the picture.)

The sixth chapter ("Development") draws heavily on John Henry Newman (and why would anyone expect otherwise?), uses John T. Noonan as a foil, and draws somewhat on research done by Lewis Ayres and Khaled Anatolios of doctrinal development in the early church. I think in the course of this, Levering perhaps concedes a bit too much to those who see a low Christology in the second century; but the chapter's other weakness is an insufficient attentiveness to other specific controversial doctrines - Levering focuses on combating Noonan's invocation of slavery and religious freedom - and, even in those he does tackle, doesn't really go into enough detail. The result is that Levering leaves few (if any?) principles for recognizing what would constitute an invalid development of doctrine.

It is finally the seventh chapter ("Inspiration") that finally turns to what it might mean for scripture to be divine revelation. Or, Levering almost turns there. In fact, a great deal of the chapter is largely a sketch of Origen and Augustine's divergent views on the specific issue of whether the factual historicity of putatively historical texts is necessary for affirming biblical inspiration, or if the availability of allegorical readings is sufficient. Only later does Levering begin engaging with Dale Allison (and scores some worthwhile points). But there's precious little real consideration here of what it means, what it implies, to affirm the scripture as divine revelation.

The eighth chapter ("Philosophy") is mainly good, treating the validity of integrating biblical theology with classical philosophy and using Daniel Kirk and Kavin Rowe as foils before turning to a comparison of the ways in which the Wisdom of Solomon and Romans consider the status of pagan philosophers and the utility of philosophy as such. (Levering seems to note, but does not explore the canonical implications of, the explicit tensions between the texts.) Levering concedes far too much to, e.g., Mark Smith, et al., as to the development of Israelite monotheism. And, while I largely concur with where the chapter ends up, he could have benefited by drawing on the relevant work of Paul Gavrilyuk in The Suffering of the Impassible God: The Dialectics of Patristic Thought .

Finally, the conclusion engages somewhat with Leo Tolstoy, Jonathan Edwards, and Richard Dawkins - a perhaps unlikely trio - partly in terms of "ecclesiastical fall narratives." But throughout the pages of the volume, numerous other figures are brought into the conversation on this or that point. An excellent breadth, and certainly plenty of merit here; but I did observe the aforementioned weaknesses along the way. (And, as other reviewers have noticed, Levering could do more to explore the role of the individual reader or believer.)

[Tynan Brooks]

Though a bit scattered (certain chapters are only loosely tied to the theme of revelation) this is a strong and fairly comprehensive presentation of the RC approach to the topic, with much to agree with.