The Renewal of Revelation Theology (1960-1962)

This thesis studies the background to the pastoral renewal of revelation theology represented in the first chapter of the Constitution Dei Verbum. The background to this renewal can be found in the development of, and responses to, the fourth chapter of the preparatory schema De deposito Fidei which dealt specifically with the question of revelation and faith. The debate surrounding this chapter in the two years preceding the Council witnessed an encounter between the manualist tradition and contemporary theological insights into the theology of revelation. As this study shows, it was out of this early encounter that the Council's hopes for a pastoral renewal of revelation theology developed.