Is the Charism of Biblical Inspiration “Open”? The Answer of the Revelation of John
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12775/BPTh.2023.013Keywords
biblical inspiration, in the Spirit, Holy Spirit, John of Patmos, inspired community, inspired reading of the ScripturesAbstract
The author of this article asks whether the charism of biblical inspiration is “open” and answers this question affirmatively by analyzing the expression egenomēn en pneumati (“I was in the Spirit”) used in Revelation 1:10 and 4:2 as well as the narrative dynamics of Revelation in the context of the presence of the liturgical assembly as the main subject that interprets the book. Revelation looks at its content and the manner in which it has been recorded in terms of the inspiring action of the Holy Spirit (egenomēn en pneumati, “I was under the inspiration of the Spirit”), which leads John of Patmos to formulate new ideas on the basis of texts which are already considered inspired (as manifested by the accumulation of Old Testament allusions). Hence, it can be concluded that the book sees itself as an inspired text and perceives its inspiration as an actualizing one, a continuation of the inspiration that accompanied the creation of the Old Testament Scriptures. As he records his visionary experience, John is aware that this is being done under the influence of the same Spirit who influenced the creation of the Scriptures. By using these texts, he recreates the Word within the logic of a Christocentric dynamic. The same pattern of action of the Spirit as the agent of inspiration is repeated in the life of the community of hearers or readers (i.e., the liturgical assembly gathered for the Sunday liturgy), which, by opening itself to the operation of the Holy Spirit, becomes an inspired community that is led by the Spirit to discover, decipher and practice what He Himself intended to communicate through John, and thus to recreate the Word that has been heard in the community’s own environment, that is, in its “here and now.” What takes place in that manner is an “inspired reading” of the prophecy that has been read and heard. Revelation points to certain elements which are necessary for the charism of biblical inspiration to continue in the community of hearers or readers, including a liturgical reading in the Sunday liturgical assembly that takes into account the unity of Sacred Scripture and leads to Christ (i.e., a Christological reading).
Author Biography
Ks. prof. dr hab. Dariusz Kotecki, Uniwersytet Mikołaja Kopernika w Toruniu
Fot. A. Romański Prof. dr hab. Dariusz Kotecki Surname: Kotecki First name: Dariusz Nationality: Polish Office address: Gagarina 37, 87-100 Toruń, Poland e-mail: dkotecki@umk.pl PRESENT POSITION: - Dean of Faculty of Theology , Nicolaus Copernicus University, Toruń, Poland - Head of Biblical Department, Faculty of Theology, Nicolaus Copernicus University, Torun, Poland - Member of the central board of the Association of Polish Bibles - Editor in Chief “Biblica et Patristica Thoruniensia” EDUCATION: 1992 – M.A. degree (Academy of Catholic Theology, Warsaw) 1996 – Licentiatus in Re Biblica (Pontifical Biblical Institute, Rome) 1999 – Ph.D. degree (Pontifical Gregorian University, Rome) 2007 – habilitation degree (University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Warsaw) 2015 – full professor, title from President of Poland FIELDS OF RESARCH: Biblical studies : Gospel of Mark, Gospel of John, Revelation REFERENCES: Author of 5 books, over 70 scientific articles, co-author of 1 book.
References
Artola, Antonio María. 1994. “L’ispirazione biblica.” In Bibbia e parola di Dio, translated by Teresa D’Allesandro, edited by Antonio María Artola and José Manuel Sánchez Caro, 117–203. Brescia: Paideia.
Aune, David E. 1997. Revelation 1–5. World Biblical Commentary, vol. 52. Dallas, TX: Word Books.
Baraniak, Marek I. 2020. “Początki i koncepcja natchnienia biblijnego w dyskursie religijnym.” Colloquia Litteraria 29, no. 2: 5–24.
Bauckham, Richard. 1993a. The Climax of Prophecy: Studies on the Book of Revelation. Edinburgh: T & T Clark.
Bauckham, Richard. 1993b. The Theology of the Book of Revelation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Beale, Gregory K. 1984. The Use of Daniel in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature and in the Revelation of St. John. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
Beale, Gregory K. 1999. The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text. Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company.
Beale, Gregory K., and Sean M. McDonough. 2007. “Revelation.” In Commentary on the New Testament use of the Old Testament, edited by Gregory K. Beale and Donald A. Carson, 1081–1161. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic.
Benedict XVI. 2010. Verbum Domini. Apostolic Exhortation. Vatican website. September 30, 2010. https://www.vatican.va/content/benedict-xvi/en/apost_exhortations/documents/hf_ben-xvi_exh_20100930_verbum-domini.html.
Biguzzi, Giancarlo. 2002. “Spirito e profezia nell’Apocalisse di Giovanni.” Estudios Bíblicos 60, no. 4: 503–522.
Biguzzi, Giancarlo. 2005. Apocalisse. Nuova versione, introduzione e commento. Milan: Paoline.
Charles, R. H. 1920. A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St. John (2 vols.). Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark.
Collins, Raymond F. 1990. “Inspiration.” In The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, edited by Raymond E. Brown, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, and Roland E. Murphy, 1023–1033. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Contreras Molina, Francisco. 1987. El Espíritu en el libro del Apocalipsis. Koinonia, vol. 28. Salamanca: Secretariado Trinitario.
Corsini, Eugenio. 2002. Apocalisse di Gesù secondo Giovanni. Turin: Società Editrice Internazionale.
Fabris, Rinaldo. 1993. Per leggere Paolo. Rome: Edizioni Borla.
Flannery, Frances. 2014. “Dreams and Visions in Early Jewish and Early Christian Apocalypses and Apocalypticism.” In The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature, edited by John J. Collins, 104–120. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Haręzga, Stanisław. 2008. “Rola Pisma świętego w Kościele według 2 Tm 3,14–17.” Verbum Vitae 13, no. 2: 169–177.
Jeske, Richard L. 1985. “Spirit and Community in the Johannine Apocalypse.” New Testament Studies 31, no. 3: 452–466.
Kotecki, Dariusz. 2006. Duch Święty w zgromadzeniu liturgicznym w świetle Apokalipsy św. Jana. Rozprawy i Studia Biblijne, vol. 26. Warsaw: Oficyna Wydawnicza Vocatio.
Kotecki, Dariusz. 2008. “La reinterpretación del Antiguo Testamento en El Nuovo: cristologia teocéntrica en el Apocalipsis de san Juan.” Scripta Theologica 40, no. 4: 509–524.
Kotecki, Dariusz. 2013. Jezus a Bóg Izraela w Apokalipsie św. Jana. Scripta Theologica Thoruniensia, vol. 27. Toruń: Wydawnictwo Naukowe Uniwersytetu Mikołaja Kopernika.
Kotecki, Dariusz. 2021. Zrozumieć Apokalipsę? Szkice egzegetyczno-teologiczne. Biblioteka Szkoły DABAR, vol. 1. Rzeszów: Bonus Liber.
O’Collins, Gerald. 2018. Inspiration: Towards a Christian Interpretation of Biblical Inspiration. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Podeszwa, Paweł. 2011. Paschalna pamięć o Jezusie. Studium egzegetyczno-teologiczne wyrażenia ἡ μαρτυρία Ἰησοῦ w Apokalipsie św. Jana. Studia i Materiały, vol. 142. Poznań: Uniwersytet im. Adama Mickiewicza.
Pontifical Biblical Commission. 2014. The Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture: The Word that Comes from God and Speaks of God for the Salvation of the World. Translated by Thomas Esposito and Stephen Gregg. London: Catholic Truth Society.
Rojas, Ignacio. 2013. Los símbolos del Apocalipsis. Estella: Editorial Verbo Divino.
Second Vatican Council. 1965. “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum.” Vatican website. November 18, 1965. https://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html.
Sikora, Adam Ryszard. 2022. Patmos – wyspa św. Jana. Miejsca na Patmos związane z Apostołem znane z tradycji spisanych i ustnych. Biblioteka Szkoły DABAR, vol. 3. Rzeszów: Bonus Liber.
Stępień, Jan. 1979. Listy do Tesaloniczan i pasterskie. Wstęp. Przekład. Komentarz. Warsaw: Pallottinum.
The Oxford Handbook of Apocalyptic Literature. 2014. Edited by John J. Collins. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Vanni, Ugo. 1982. “L’assemblea eccelsiale ‘soggetto interpretante’ dell’Apocalisse.” Rassegna di Teologia 25, no. 4: 497–513.
Vanni, Ugo. 1988. L’apocalisse. Ermeneutica, esegesi, teologia. Bologna: Edizione Dehoniane Bologna.
Vanni, Ugo. 2018. Apocalisse di Giovanni, vol 2. Edited by Luca Pedroli. Assisi: Cittadella Editrice.
Witczyk, Henryk. 2020. Natchnienie. Prawda. Zbawienie. Poznań: Pallottinum.
Wojciechowska, Kalina, and Mariusz Rosik. 2022. Głosząc przyjście Pana. Komentarz strukturalny do Drugiego Listu św. Piotra. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Naukowe ChAT.
Wojciechowski, Michał. 2012. Apokalipsa Świętego Jana. Objawienie, a nie tajemnica. Wstęp, przekład z oryginału, komentarz. Częstochowa: Edycja Świętego Pawła.
Wróbel, Mirosław S. 2011. “Jezus Janowy jako objawiciel oblicza Ojca.” Verbum Vitae 20, no. 1: 191–203.
Zerwick, Maximilian. 1990. Biblical Greek. Translated by Joseph Smith. Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2023 Dariusz Kotecki
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
CC BY ND 4.0. The Creator/Contributor is the Licensor, who grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work on the fields indicated in the License Agreement.
- The Licensor grants the Licensee a non-exclusive license to use the Work/related rights item specified in § 1 within the following fields: a) recording of Work/related rights item; b) reproduction (multiplication) of Work/related rights item in print and digital technology (e-book, audiobook); c) placing the copies of the multiplied Work/related rights item on the market; d) entering the Work/related rights item to computer memory; e) distribution of the work in electronic version in the open access form on the basis of Creative Commons license (CC BY-ND 3.0) via the digital platform of the Nicolaus Copernicus University Press and file repository of the Nicolaus Copernicus University.
- Usage of the recorded Work by the Licensee within the above fields is not restricted by time, numbers or territory.
- The Licensor grants the license for the Work/related rights item to the Licensee free of charge and for an unspecified period of time.
FULL TEXT License Agreement
Stats
Number of views and downloads: 523
Number of citations: 1
