Studies in Dogmatics: General Revelation

The subject of God’s General Revelation has in our day aroused agitated and even violent discussions, and the time when Reformed theology could take the distinction between general and special revelation for granted appears to be gone forever, says Professor Berkouwer. Does the distinction between general and special revelation, he asks, do justice to the unique and “once-for-all” character of redemptive revelation in Jesus Christ? Does the confession of a general or universal revelation owe its existence to a flight, perhaps unconscious, from the sufficiency and absoluteness of the revelation in Christ? And, as many hold, is Christ to be regarded as but a special illustration of the general revelation of God in the world, a revelation richer and broader than that revelation in Christ? These decisive questions, involving as they do the claims of natural theology and the radical character of the history of religion since the nineteenth century, are given here a trenchant and detailed analysis. The thoroughness with which Professor Berkouwer brings up-to-date the history of discussions affecting this important subject, distinguishing so comprehensively the various interpretations at issue, gives this book a special value to all students of theology.