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The Christian belief that Christ is the epitome of God's revelation has led to the notion of the “end of revelation with the last apostle”. This notion has undergone significant historical development. From signifying merely that Christ is the most complete but not the last form of Divine revelation, it has come to imply a literal end of divine communication in the writings of some theologians, leading to the widespread denial of the feasibility or even possibility of Christian prophecy. A more detailed treatment of the “end-notion” leads to important conclusions with regards to prophecy; it is not at all clear when revelation should have “ended”: with Christ, with the last apostle, or with the closure of the biblical canon.

The struggle of the Secretariat for Christian Unity under Cardinal Augustin Bea to promulgate the declaration De Judaeis, the successful climax of which was the publication of the conciliar document Nostra Aetate, has produced extremely rich fruits. The brief and yet balanced pronouncements of the Second Vatican Council not only had a vast positive resonance and have often been referenced by a variety of exegetical and theological publications, but they also have opened the way to a lively dialogue between the Catholic Church and Judaism. This chapter illustrates the change that has taken place in the wake of the Council by reflecting first of all on the first locus theologicus, which is defined by Melchior Cano as “the authority of Sacred Scripture”. It also examines another locus theologicus, which Cano calls “the authority of the Catholic Church”. In addition, it considers a few problems that concern the dogmatic treatment of God. These illustrative reflections demonstrate how the discovery of the relationship between Jews and Christians stimulates new methodological reflections in Christian theology, especially in dogmatic theology.

This chapter analyses the early Salamanca theologian-jurists’ turn to Augustine of Hippo’s analysis of religion, empire, and laws amongst nations in his magnum opus The City of God (De civitate dei). The first section surveys the import of and access to Augustine’s City of God in the late Middle Ages and Renaissance. The second section interprets and assesses Augustine’s place in the early Salamanca School, according special attention to the writings of Francisco de Vitoria, Melchior Cano, and Domingo de Soto. The third section continues Soto’s fruitful project of relectio, rereading The City of God afresh with a focus on Augustine’s commentaries on right (ius) and law (lex) among nations under Rome’s imperial sway. The chapter’s conclusion argues that rereading The City of God in this way deepens our awareness of Augustine’s alliance with the Salamanca School, even as it highlights a certain tension between Augustine’s legal thought and Vitoria’s.