Vatican II's Dei Verbum

The Catholic faith is based on divine revelation. The Catholic Church knows that she was founded by Jesus Christ, who is both God and man, and that she was commissioned by Him to proclaim the Gospel of Gods love to all mankind. Jesus as the Word of God is the fullness of Gods revelation. He revealed to His disciples the inner nature of God as tri-personal Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He also revealed Gods plan to redeem the human race by His passion, death and resurrection.

In its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum, November 18, 1965) the Second Vatican Council spelled out in some detail what the Church believes and teaches with regard to divine revelation, primarily as it is contained in the Bible. Tradition is also included, but the emphasis in the document is on the written word in the holy Scriptures of the Old Testament (OT) and the New Testament (NT). Dei Verbum, since it is a dogmatic constitution, is one of the most important documents of the Council. It ranks second only to the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) and is printed in the second place in the collection of Vatican II documents.

In what follows I will summarize briefly the prologue and the six chapters of the Constitution and in the process I will make a few observations as a help to understanding the document.