Two Questions:

Does sacred scripture mean whatever we personally think and/or feel it should mean?

OR ...

Do we take everything in scripture as being an absolute, total, historical and literal truth?

And how does that whole "inspiration" thing fit in, anyway?

Catholic Interpretation of

Scriptures

Salvation HistoryDivine RevelationSacred Scripture Inerrant Inspiration

AND …The very important distinction between

“literal” and “literalist”

Some Start-Up Terms …

Keep in mind ... while God is the "author" of scriptures (via the Holy Spirit), it was written

by humans -- using human emotions, language, perspective, etc.

It's like God gave them

the idea ...

... and they wrote it in their own

words.And, last time I checked (with the exception of Jesus, of course!) humans are not God and therefore … humans

aren't perfect!

CHAPTER IIISACRED SCRIPTURE, ITS INSPIRATION AND DIVINE INTERPRETATION

11. Those divinely revealed realities which are contained and presented in Sacred Scripture have

been committed to writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For holy mother Church,

relying on the belief of the Apostles (see John 20:31; 2 Tim. 3:16; 2 Peter 1:19-20, 3:15-16),

holds that the books of both the Old and New Testaments in their entirety, with all their parts,

are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have

God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself. In composing the

sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and

abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to

writing everything and only those things which He wanted.

Therefore, since everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be

asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as

teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred

writings for the sake of salvation. Therefore "all Scripture is divinely inspired and has its use for

teaching the truth and refuting error, for reformation of manners and discipline in right living,

so that the man who belongs to God may be efficient and equipped for good work of every

kind" (2 Tim. 3:16-17, Greek text).

From the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (a.k.a. Dei Verbum)

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html

12. However, since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion,

the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to

communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred

writers really intended, and what God wanted to manifest by means of their

words.

To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among

other things, to "literary forms." For truth is set forth and expressed differently in

texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of

discourse. The interpreter must investigate what meaning the sacred writer

intended to express and actually expressed in particular circumstances by using

contemporary literary forms in accordance with the situation of his own time and

culture. For the correct understanding of what the sacred author wanted to

assert, due attention must be paid to the customary and characteristic styles of

feeling, speaking and narrating which prevailed at the time of the sacred writer,

and to the patterns men normally employed at that period in their everyday

dealings with one another.

Dei Verbum … continuedhttp://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html

But, since Holy Scripture must be read and interpreted in the sacred spirit in which it was written,

no less serious attention must be given to the content and unity of the whole of Scripture if

the meaning of the sacred texts is to be correctly worked out. The living tradition of the whole

Church must be taken into account along with the harmony which exists between elements of

the faith. It is the task of exegetes to work according to these rules toward a better

understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture, so that through

preparatory study the judgment of the Church may mature. For all of what has been said

about the way of interpreting Scripture is subject finally to the judgment of the Church, which

carries out the divine commission and ministry of guarding and interpreting the word of God.

13. In Sacred Scripture, therefore, while the truth and holiness of God always remains intact, the

marvelous "condescension" of eternal wisdom is clearly shown, "that we may learn the gentle

kindness of God, which words cannot express, and how far He has gone in adapting His

language with thoughtful concern for our weak human nature.“ For the words of God,

expressed in human language, have been made like human discourse, just as the word of the

eternal Father, when He took to Himself the flesh of human weakness, was in every way made

like men.

Dei Verbum … the end (of this part!)

http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/documents/vat-ii_const_19651118_dei-verbum_en.html

We need to look at both the human author’s intent, audience, perspective, experience, and purpose …

AND …We need to also look at the divine author’s

intent, audience, perspective, experience, and purpose.

In other words …

Come to SHA!

Dear Editor, You’re an idiot!

I miss camp!

• 814 girls• IB

Program

From the Handout from Chapter 1 about the Deposit of Faith … Scripture, Tradition, and Magisterium are ALL intrinsically related.

Scripture has certain primacy, as truly God’s words,

BUT …This does NOT negate the other two pieces

of Tradition & the Magisterium.

Remember, though .…

It means we need to look carefully at how we interpret the Bible, and take several different factors into account.

This is where the “historical-literary method of Bible criticism” comes into play … examining both the historical context and the writings themselves.

It’s important to realize that “criticism” often means more of the idea of a beneficial critique (careful examination) as opposed to an unkind complaint

(badmouthing slam).

So … what’s that mean?

The Bible is NOT history … science (even parts like evolution) reveal the genius of God

We must read prayerfully and interpret carefully.

The Bible teaches us how to go to Heaven, not how the heavens go. ~ Cardinal

Baronius

Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. ~ St. Jerome

A couple other points .…

What’s the

larger context?

What worldly realities influence

d the writer?

What is the

writer actually trying to

say?

How does it fit with

the larger

whole/rest of the

text?

How does the audience

shape the

writings?

What literary devices

are being used here?

Questions to ask:

Bet you thought I was gonna be sacrilegious and non-teacherly here, right?

The Literal Sense:What the words actually mean

The Spiritual Sense:Viewing events of the Bible as signs

Allegorical Sense ~ prefigures/foreshadows Christ

Moral Sense ~ tells us how to actAnagogical Sense ~ Greek for “leading”; points

to heaven

What's the sense of scripture?

Source Criticism

Historical Criticism

Form Criticism

Redaction Criticism

Textual Criticism

Five Branches of Historical-Literary Criticism

Where’d they get their information?

“Consider the source…”

SOURCE CRITICISM

Historical CriticismLITERAL SENSE ~ what the writer wanted to say, in light of historical context (archeology,

customs, traditions, language, etc.)

Probability that Jesus actually did/said what they reportLINGUISTIC ANALYSIS ~

Aramaic good chanceORIGINALITY/CRITERION OF DISSIMILARITY ~ new, radical good chance; common for Jews

inconclusiveCONVERGENCE ~ not same source but similar info good

chance CONSISTENCY ~ fits with the overall whole of Jesus good

chance

HISTORICAL CRITICISM

Newspaper

Articles

Entertainment

Reviews

News

Sports Columnist

Culture

Gossip

Satire

Cartoons

Fun

Political

News

Local

National

FORM CRITICISM

Need to consider not only the different types of writings (encyclopedia, newspaper, novel, textbook, etc.), but also the different styles within each type

PLUS … oral tradition influences writings as well

For example … Parables are storytime – listen for deeper

messageNarratives are “historical” – listen for

what happened

What's your style?

Not all readings are the same…

Some Overall Types• Gospel• Epistle• History• Apocalypse

……and others

Some Literary Forms (p. 50)• Miracle• Parable• Riddle• Pronouncement• Prayer• Revelation• Legends• Genealogies

The evangelists were not only writers, but also editors.

REDACTION CRITICISM

“Writing”

Arranging

Sorting

Compiling

Each gospel gives a different picture of Jesus, as shaped by the theology, audience, purpose, etc., of the evangelist

Why'd they write like they did?

MatthewJewish/Christian

audienceNew Moses, fulfill

prophecies

Mark suffering church Suffering Servant; bear our crosses

Luke Gentile/ChristianUniversal Messiah,

especially for outsiders

John various Roman churches

Way, Truth, Life, Word of God, etc.

In the days before cut&paste, it was parchment, papyrus, and…

Hand-copied texts, though, were not always perfect. Mistakes were made, people changed things, writing wasn’t clear, different languages and alphabets.

Amazingly enough, however, most differences were minor.

TEXTUAL CRITICISM

Codex Vaticanus (c. 350) ~ oldest NT collection Vulgate (383-384) ~ Jerome, into Latin (“common”);

Church’s official translation from the original languages Protestant Translations

King James (1611) New Revised Standard Version (1990) Revised English Bible (1989) New International Version (1973-1978)

Catholic Translations Douay-Rheims (1582-1609; 1749-1763) ~ translation of the

Vulgate 1943 ~ Pope Pius XII encourages translation from original

languages, not just the Latin Vulgate New American Bible (1952-1970; 1987) ~ used in the liturgy New Jerusalem Bible (1985) ~ from French La Sainte Bible

A Bible's a bible, no matter how small…

So again the question is asked …

what’s in YOUR Bible?