I started my Fall theology class today, which is called “Sources and Methods”. It gets into the essence of what theology is and how we go about approaching the subject. Fr. David, our teacher, talked about divine revelation today, so naturally, we looked at Dei Verbum, which is the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation issued by the Second Vatican Council. Fr. David said that the first sentences of Chapter 1 are a fundamental statement worth learning, so as a part of my effort to learn it, I’m going to write it out in my blog.

It has pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the secret purpose of his will (see Eph 1, 9). This brings it about that through Christ, God’s Word made flesh, and in his holy Spirit, human beings can draw near to the Father and become sharers of the divine nature (see Eph 2, 18; 2 Pt 1, 4).

That was from the Tanner translation which Fr. David gave us in a handout. I found the structure of the second sentence a little awkward so I decided to look in the Flannery translation, which is the more widely available (and less expensive) English translation of the Vatican II documents.

It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will (see Eph 1:9), which was that people can draw near to the Father, through Christ, the Word made flesh, in the holy Spirit, and thus become sharers in the divine nature (see Eph 2:18; 2 Pet 1:4).

Although the Flannery translation is easier to read, it doesn’t say quite the same thing. Flannery’s seems to say that God revealed the fact that people can draw near to the Father. The Tanner translation says that God’s revelation brings about the opportunity for people to draw near to the Father. That is, according to Flannery, without God’s revelation, we would not have known we could draw near to the Father, but according to Tanner, we would not have been able to draw near to the Father.

I did a little research in the original Latin, and according to my limited knowledge of the language, the Tanner translation is closer. It’s amazing what you can find if you just do a little digging. Unfortunatley, I only have a photocopy of a few pages of Tanner’s Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils. I will need to someday couch up the $140 required to get the whole thing because I think it would be helpful. Also, I need to learn Latin better, which I may work on after I’ve gotten better at Greek. Oh, and today Fr. David mentioned a good book in French for which there is no good English translation. Of course, I have several books on my shelves in English that I haven’t had time to read yet! I’m glad this life isn’t all we have because if it was, it would be discouraging trying to fit everything in. Of course, if this life was all we had, I don’t think I’d be very interested in Theology.