Revelation vs. Theological Speculation

[Elijah John]

Which parts of the New Testament are "revelation"?

Which parts are theological speculation or exposition ?

How do we know the difference?

[marco]

Catholicism attempts to get around this by saying that God gave the Church an infallible teaching authority, the Magisterium, Tradition, the Apostolic Succession, the Deposit of Faith and other foolproof interpretive gifts. I have no idea on what Protestantism relies, other than "prayerful scripture reading guided by the Holy Spirit".

The appeal to Christ's guidance (since he promised not to let the gates of hell prevail against his Church) has not always been successful. As you say we tend to trust "scholars" who grind biblical verses into their own form of sense, just as we read War and Peace or Crime and Punishment not in Russian but in a trusted translation. Thus biblical truth depends on the degree of merit a scholar has achieved in academic pursuits. Muslim "scholars" comb the Koran for truth as well. There is a certain humble arrogance in it all.

[steveb1]

Catholicism attempts to get around this by saying that God gave the Church an infallible teaching authority, the Magisterium, Tradition, the Apostolic Succession, the Deposit of Faith and other foolproof interpretive gifts. I have no idea on what Protestantism relies, other than "prayerful scripture reading guided by the Holy Spirit".

The appeal to Christ's guidance (since he promised not to let the gates of hell prevail against his Church) has not always been successful. As you say we tend to trust "scholars" who grind biblical verses into their own form of sense, just as we read War and Peace or Crime and Punishment not in Russian but in a trusted translation. Thus biblical truth depends on the degree of merit a scholar has achieved in academic pursuits. Muslim "scholars" comb the Koran for truth as well. There is a certain humble arrogance in it all.

Elegantly expressed. Yes, in the case of Jesus studies, scholars tend to find each their own "Jesus" and they are in a sense as divided as are the Protestant denominations. Ah, to have access to time travel to see what, if anything, was going on in biblical times...!