Can people know God without the Bible?

Many traditions hold that general revelation gives some knowledge of God's existence and power through creation and conscience, though most also hold that this is insufficient for salvation, which requires the special revelation centered on Christ.

What was the Barth-Brunner debate?

In 1934 Emil Brunner argued for a limited natural revelation and a human 'point of contact' for grace; Karl Barth responded with an emphatic 'Nein!', denying any knowledge of God apart from Christ, a key dispute in modern theology.

General and Special Revelation

This topic distinguishes general revelation, God's self-disclosure available to all people, from special revelation, God's particular self-disclosure supremely in Christ.

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Definition

The doctrine distinguishing universally available revelation from God's particular self-disclosure in salvation history and Christ.

Scope

This topic examines general revelation through nature, conscience, and history, and the question of how much of God can be known by it; special revelation in God's saving acts, in Christ, and in scripture; the relationship and possible conflict between the two; and the various models of revelation (propositional, historical, experiential, dialectical, and as transformative awareness). It includes the Barth-Brunner debate over natural knowledge of God. The presentation is descriptive, comparing the positions.

Core questions

What can be known of God from nature, conscience, and history?
What is distinctive about special revelation in Christ and scripture?
How are general and special revelation related?
Through what models is revelation best understood?

Key theories

Models of revelation: Avery Dulles's account of revelation under five models, doctrine, history, inner experience, dialectical presence, and new awareness, each illuminating a dimension of how God discloses himself.
Rejection of natural revelation: Karl Barth's insistence that there is no genuine knowledge of God apart from God's self-revelation in Christ, denying an independent general revelation as a point of contact, against Emil Brunner.

History

The distinction draws on Paul's claim (Romans 1) that God is known through creation, developed by the Fathers and by Aquinas, who held that reason attains some truths about God while others require revelation. The Reformers affirmed general revelation while stressing its insufficiency for salvation. The 1934 Barth-Brunner exchange crystallized the modern dispute, and Vatican II's Dei Verbum framed revelation as God's personal self-communication culminating in Christ.

Debates

Natural knowledge of God: Whether general revelation yields genuine, if limited, knowledge of God available to all (Thomist, Reformed) or whether sin so distorts human perception that only special revelation discloses God (Barth).
Revelation as content or event: Whether revelation primarily communicates propositional truths (doctrine) or is a personal, dynamic self-disclosure of God in events and encounter, a tension among the models.

Key figures

Thomas Aquinas
Karl Barth
Emil Brunner
Avery Dulles

Seminal works

dulles1992
barth1936
deiverbum1965

Frequently asked questions

Can people know God without the Bible?: Many traditions hold that general revelation gives some knowledge of God's existence and power through creation and conscience, though most also hold that this is insufficient for salvation, which requires the special revelation centered on Christ.
What was the Barth-Brunner debate?: In 1934 Emil Brunner argued for a limited natural revelation and a human 'point of contact' for grace; Karl Barth responded with an emphatic 'Nein!', denying any knowledge of God apart from Christ, a key dispute in modern theology.