\begin{chapter}{General and Special Revelation}
There is a distinction to be made between revelation and biblical inspiration, as there is a distinction between written texts and interpersonal events. However, we can read about revelation in Scripture, so O'Collins proceeds with an overview of revelation in the Bible.

Kant already adressed the sources of human admiration, as `the starry skies above me and the moral law within me'. In the Old Testament, we see mostly signs of the first kind of revelation, for example in the book of Wisdom. However, in the Jewish culture there is an even stronger sense of `historical revelation', the idea that God was more present in the past (during the Exodus) than now. Many natural feasts were adapted and fit into the Jewish culture with historical themes.

Paul argues, giving the example of righteuous gentiles, that God shows something to everyone of us in a natural way (i.e. not through teaching). This is what we may call \emph{general revelation}. This revelation would then entail faith, although Paul doesn't use that word explicitly.

Faith is defended by the past and tells us something about the future: it doesn't help us to prove things unseen, but rather is their proof. Faith provides us with answers to three, universal, types of questions:

\begin{description}
    \item[Metaphysical] Is there anything beyond the visible?
    \item[Semi-scientific] What are our or our universe's roots?
    \item[Ethical] Does it matter how we behave?
\end{description}

In the Christian faith, God is an answer to the first question, Genesis an answer to the second, and Scripture an answer to the third. But the Christian faith also teaches us that `drawing near to God' leads to `rewards given to those who seek God': faith leads to prayer, which is an unnecessary jump from an answer to questions to worship.

Furhermore, the Christian faith presupposes another form of revelation than the one described above, which we may call \emph{special revelation}: it is an active interaction of God with the world.

In earlier times (19\textsuperscript{th} century) revelation was considered to be a revealing of propositional truths by God. This view changed to a view more in line with Scripture, in which God reveals Himself as the Truth to individuals. However, it is stressed that it is always the same God revealing Himself to different persons. In this view, it is also possible to experience revelation as an individual while expressing known revelatory expressions, like the Creed or wellknown prayers. In short: there was a transition from revelation as \emph{knowledge about} God to \emph{knowledge of} God.

The Bible doesn't tell us much about revelation (words concerning God's saving power seem to enjoy priority over revelatory expressions almost everywhere), except for John's Gospel, which takes on a clearly revelatory vocabulary of `signs' and various `I am's. In later writings, it can often be hard to find a distinguishment between salvation and revelation. We may then see the Israelite history of salvation and revelation as God's \emph{self-communication}. Since salvation and revelation imply human experience, we can speak of \emph{experiencing the divine self-communication}.

\end{chapter}

