Revelation, History, and Truth

Eduardo J. Echeverria is Professor of Philosophy and Systematic Theology, Sacred Heart Major Seminary, Detroit. He earned his doctorate in philosophy from the Free University in Amsterdam and his Licentiate in Sacred Theology (S.T.L.) from the University of St. Thomas Aquinas (Angelicum) in Rome. His publications include Berkouwer and Catholicism: Disputed Questions (2013), Pope Francis: The Legacy of Vatican II (2015), and Divine Election: A Catholic Orientation in Dogmatic and Ecumenical Perspective (2016).

“In this book Eduardo J. Echeverria addresses an issue of pressing urgency in post-Vatican II theology: What is the nature of revelation and how can it be reliably transmitted through propositional statements into different historical and cultural situations? His response, in illuminating dialogue with both Protestant and Catholic theologians, offers a nuanced account of how the inexhaustible Mystery of God in Jesus Christ is ever ancient and ever new. Revelation’s objective content and its ongoing subjective appropriation are gifts of the Spirit in the Church, whose magisterium is charged to discern true development of doctrine and dogma. Thus both continuity and newness are ingredients to Revelation’s authentic reception. Echeverria’s book is at once irenic and insightful: an important contribution to a crucial conversation.”—Father Robert Imbelli, Boston College Emeritus

• Acknowledgments – Introduction: Vatican II’s Hermeneutics of Ressourcement – The Hermeneutics of Vatican II: The Essentialist vs. Historicist Dispute – The Nature of Revelation: Scripture, Tradition, and the Church – Divine Revelation and Foundationalism: Towards a Historically Conscious Foundationalism – Applying Lérinian Hermeneutics: Berkouwer, “Duplex Ordo Cognitionis,” and the Nouvelle Théologie – Conclusion: The Development of Dogma – Index.