Dei Verbum: Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation

Dei Verbum. One of the principle documents of the Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum was promulgated by Pope Paul VI on November 18, 1965.

The document Dei Verbum is one of the most authoritative and important documents of the Council. Its purpose is to spell out the Church's understanding of the nature of revelation, that is, the process whereby God communicates with human beings. It touches on questions about Scripture, tradition and the teaching authority of the Church.

Dei Verbum continues the trajectory initiated by Divino Afflante Spiritu, allowing Catholic scripture scholars to read the Bible as arising within particular social and cultural contexts.

The major concern of the document is to proclaim a Catholic understanding of the Bible as the "word of God." This understanding is placed within the larger context of the Church's understanding of revelation itself. Here the document speaks not of revelation about God, but the revelation of God. God communicates his very self to us, making us "sharers in the divine nature." The document places revelation in the context of God's saving will operating in history.