Language of Revelation, its Testimony and Promise as Speech Acts

Abstract

The Christian doctrine of revelation expresses the great joy of knowing that God does not remain hidden, but makes himself known to us through extraordinary events that are marked in life and history. The thesis presented here emphasizes the linguistic character that the revealed mystery of God, according to the Christian and Thomistic conception, acquires in its giving. Moreover, it highlights a unique feature of this revelation: it is a word that becomes action. This particularity is perceptible in Sacred Scripture and, above all, in the redeeming event of Jesus Christ. To give an account of this, recourse has been had to the performative theory of language developed by thinkers such as Austin and Searle, to the biblical applications of this theory made by D. Evans, as well as to the later theological approaches of J. Ladrière. All this is recapitulated under the categories of promise and testimony read from a Christological and Thomistic perspective.