Conception of the Divine Inspiration of Scripture in the Patristic Era

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of understanding the phenomenon of divine revelation in that era, when the basic principles of its Orthodox (but to a large extent also Catholic and Protestant) interpretation were formed. It deals with "conception" not as a positive teaching, but as a sum of consistent statements, the general grounds of which are to be clarified by problematic formulation of the issue. The Church Fathers' thought on the divine inspiration is being considered in the aspect of their attitude to both the substantive and the formal side of biblical text. The author confirms the conclusions previously made by a number of Russian scholars, that fathers were not supporters of the theory of "dictation" (or extreme verbalism). He also tries to make more clear the meaning of categories of "hearing" and "vision", and of the Chalcedon dogma-analogy in the concept of the revealed text's origins that was predominant in the patristic era.