Revelation

Revelation (Lat., revelare, ‘to unveil’). The disclosure or communication of truths which would not otherwise be known, at least in the same way. A distinction is often made between, on the one hand, ‘natural revelation’ or ‘general revelation’, whereby such truths are discerned within the natural order (either by reason or by conviction that absolute value, especially beauty, has invaded a contingent moment or object or circumstance); and on the other hand, special or supernatural revelation, which comes from a source other than that of the human recipient, usually God. The method of supernatural revelation is variously understood, ranging from direct dictation (in which the limitations of a human author are overridden) to concursive activity (in which the source is God, or the Holy Spirit, working with the human author—a view which, in the Jewish and Christian case, recognizes the contingency of the words produced, but raises difficulties for traditional claims of inerrancy in revealed words).

Muslims hold a strong doctrine of revelation, believing that ‘the mother of the book’ (umm al-Kitāb) is with God in heaven. The Qurʾān, therefore, is sent down to prophets as they and their circumstances can bear it—and consummately so through Muḥammad, whose recipient community preserved it without corruption or loss. The major terms for ‘revelation’ are tanzīl and waḥy.

Whereas in W. religions revelation is usually related to particular persons and occasions, in Hinduism the concept is more subtle and diffused. The Veda is believed to have no human author, and in some sense is revealed—the exact sense is not agreed. Śabda (sound) is a source of knowledge with many different aspects. Within the context of sound, anubhūti (direct experience of Brahman) arises from meditation on texts from the Upaniṣads as they are heard—not simply as they are read in silence. But this experience is possible only because the Upaniṣads themselves arise from the Vedas which are the constant (or in some views eternal) revelation of the truth about dharma and Brahman. In Vedānta, the Vedas are no more real than anything else (māyā), but they serve to point beyond themselves to what is real, much as a picture points to that which it endeavours to portray.