ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the idea of a knowledge of God universally available and what kind of knowledge this could be, thereby to illuminate the claims to revelation of other religions. The idea of natural theology as preliminary and preparatory to revelation is an important element in Roman Catholic theology. Upholders of both natural theology and general revelation subscribe to the idea of a universal knowledge of God. The difference lies in the fact that 'natural theology' is taken to be reliable as far as it goes whereas the knowledge given by 'general revelation' is usually taken to be distorted because of human sinfulness. The chapter discusses a model that helps to ground various theological assertions relating to general revelation by requiring their translation into the terms of a theoretical framework for human cognition. It then argues that the principle of interpretation needed for the correct understanding of the Bible is the incarnate Jesus Christ.