Qabasat

Qabasat

The Why, How, and Validation of Revelation (From the Perspective of Swinburne and Critics of Modern Atheism)

Document Type : Original Article

Author
marziyeh Sadeghi rashti
Associte Professor of Philosophy Department of university of Qom, Qom, Iran.
10.22034/qabasat.2026.2055176.2403
Abstract
In this article, we aim to examine the manifestation, rationale, method, and verification of divine revelation from the perspective of Swinburne, as well as the critiques presented by modern atheism. In addition to explaining the important functions of revelation such as the idea that any testimony indicating that a message has been sent by God to human beings makes the assumption of His existence far more probable and neutralizes arguments against the existence of God—we also discuss the necessity of verbal revelation for humankind. Swinburne believes in verbal divine revelation and considers God’s self-manifestation to humans merely in the form of divine action to be ineffective. Furthermore, we investigate how the divine origin of revelation can be authenticated, and through this inquiry we come to recognize the necessity of miracles. In the discussion on miracles, we analyze whether a miracle merely serves to prove the truthfulness of a prophet’s claim or whether it also demonstrates the existence of God. On the other hand, modern atheism represented by figures such as Richard Dawkins claims that revealed scripture is false. Sam Harris also raises objections such as the purely human nature of sacred texts and the claim that even the interpretation of these texts cannot rescue them from criticism and contradiction.
Keywords
rationale
mechanism
validation
divine speech
Swinburne
Subjects
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