The Catholic Approach to the

Bible

Deacon Peter Hodsdon

St. James Parish

October 2009 2

Opening Prayer

Christ, Son of God, the Father’s favor

rested on you and he commanded us to

listen to you. Give us the gift of

understanding, so that we may

contemplate your word and experience its

gentle power.

We ask this through Christ our Lord.

Amen.

October 2009 3

What We’ll Cover Tonight

Misconceptions about the Bible

Why Read the Bible?

Timeline of the Bible

Development of the Bible

Literary Forms in the Bible

Different Christian Bibles – which one to use?

October 2009 4

What We’ll Cover Tonight (cont’d)

How to read the Bible – 3 senses

Fundamentalism

Historical Critical Method

Modern tools of interpretation

A thematic tour of the Bible

The Bible in the liturgical year

Sources, aids, study guides

October 2009 5

Misconceptions about the Bible

The Bible is one, large book

The Bible is too difficult to read

The Bible is a source of confusion and

conflict among people

The Bible is too old to be relevant

The Church should tell me what’s worth

reading in the Bible

October 2009 6

Why Read the Bible?

God’s self-revelation

Salvation history

Not information about God so much as an invitation to relationship

Analogies of God:

Father

Bridegroom

Shepherd

Mother eagle

October 2009 7

Biblical Timeline - handout

Oral tradition came first – tribal society

Writing followed – once you had a stable

agrarian, cosmopolitan society

Earliest writings are histories

Exile period firmly established the writing

habit – routine now

Note shift from Hebrew to Greek language

starting with Tobit

October 2009 8

Biblical Timeline - handout

First NT writings are Paul’s letters

Mark is the first gospel, source for Mt, Lk

Letters attributed to Paul (but unlikely

authorship): Colossians, Ephesians, Titus,

Timothy

By 100 AD, biblical revelation is complete

October 2009 9

Development of the Bible

Salvation events

Call of Abraham, slavery in Egypt, Exodus, Promised Land,

Monarchy, Babylonian Exile…

Oral Tradition

Narratives, poems, songs, rituals, myth

Written Tradition – mostly anonymous

Edited Tradition – pulling together sources

Canonical Tradition

Selecting the books that best express the faith of the

people, as shown in liturgy and catechesis

October 2009 10

Stages of Gospel Formation

Public ministry of Jesus (30-33 AD) The raw “Jesus material” as remembered by his

companions

Locked in time and place (Palestine)

Apostolic preaching about Jesus (33-65 AD) Proclamation of Jesus with post-resurrection eyes

Missionary preaching by apostles and students

Written Gospels (65-100 AD) Authors unlikely to have been eye witnesses

Evangelists shape, develop, prune the transmitted Jesus material to suit a purpose

Logical, not chronological, order prevails

October 2009 11

Literary Forms in the Bible

Remember, the Bible is a library of books

History

Court history – kings of Israel (Sam, Kgs, Chron)

Epic history – Exodus

Folk history – Gideon, Samson (Judges)

Poetry

Lyric poetry – Psalms, Song of Songs

Didactic poetry – Job, Proverbs, Sirach, Wisdom

Epic poetry – song of Moses (Ex 15)

October 2009 12

Literary Forms in the Bible

Prophecy Major and “minor” prophets

Mostly condemn injustice and call Israel back to covenant

Why were these prophets included?

Didactic fiction Jonah, Tobit

Parables of Jesus

Myth Go beyond ordinary life

Origins, purpose, meaning, and aspirations of all people

Gospels

October 2009 13

Definition of a Gospel

God-Spiel, “good tidings”, Anglo-Saxon

Euangelion, “to announce good news”, Greek

“Good” – a point of view

“News” – fresh, current, pay attention

Named for an influential person in the

respective community of origin

Apostolic origin – relying on eye witnesses

Inspired by the Holy Spirit

October 2009 14

Different Christian Bibles - handout

Recommendations

New American Bible – used in Catholic liturgy,

study editions available

New Jerusalem Bible – poetic character, prayerful

Good News Bible – American Bible Society,

Catholic version exists

Get several – use some for prayer, some for

study

October 2009 15

Basic Catholic Beliefs about the Bible

The word of God, expressed in human language

(Dei Verbum, 13)

The Bible is inspired by God (DV 11)

The Bible as a sacred text is a canonical standard.

Other texts must not contradict the truth of the Bible.

The Bible is God’s self-revelation. (DV 2)

The Bible is without error in the divine truths

revealed. (DV 11) Factual errors due to human

authors (geography, history) exist.

October 2009 16

Catholic Biblical Scholarship

Early Church – only St. Jerome’s Latin Bible

accepted

1893 – Provenditissimus Deus – Leo XIII

allowed scholars to consider other sources in

Greek and Hebrew

1943 – Divino Afflante Spiritu – Pius XII

required scholars to use original source

material (Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic) – focus

on literal and spiritual senses

October 2009 17

Catholic Biblical Scholarship

1965 – Dei Verbum – definitized what the

Church teaches about Scripture

1993 – The Interpretation of the Bible in the

Church – John Paul II outlines the slow and

steady progress of biblical scholarship –

“make haste slowly”

October 2009 18

Development of the Canon - handout

For the Old Testament, the Jewish Tanak:

Torah (first 5 books of the Bible)

Prophets

Wisdom writings

Used in worship and liturgy

Some dispute over later works

October 2009 19

Development of the Canon - handout

For the New Testament, criteria were:

Apostolic origin

Used in multiple communities

Used in worship and liturgy

Expresses the “faith of the people”

Church tradition drove the canon

October 2009 20

How to read the Bible

Literal sense Human author’s intended meaning

Not to be confused with “literalist” sense

Spiritual sense Read through the eyes of Christ

Allegory: Isaiah’s suffering servant = Christ

Moral: God’s continuing call to conversion

Anagogical: point to the future, hope filled

Fuller sense Deeper meaning, intended by God, but not clearly

expressed by human author

October 2009 21

Faithful Interpretation

Interpret in light of:

The human author’s purpose

Context – consider surrounding material

Historical and cultural background

The literary form

The entire canon of Scripture (cross-reference)

The teaching tradition of the Church

Trust the Holy Spirit!

October 2009 22

Fundamentalism

Literalist – word for word truth

Rejects historical critical method

Treats biblical texts as if dictated by God

Historicizes material never meant to be history: Genesis, Jonah, Job, etc.

Rejects tradition of the Church as equally important as Scripture.

Rejects that the Church preceded the composition of the New Testament.

October 2009 23

Fundamentalism

A recent phenomenon – dating from 1895

A response to concerns for fidelity to the

meaning of Scripture

Fundamentalism is often anti-Catholic church

Intellectually dead – a false certitude –

confusing the divine substance of the Bible

with its human limitations

October 2009 24

Historical Critical Method

Criticism means careful judgment and thoughtful

evaluation, not finding fault

Textual – get as close to the original document as

you can – for example, the Dead Sea Scrolls

Form – reconstruct the oral tradition behind the text

Source – are their multiple authors?

Redaction – how the editors combined sources

Historical – what does archeology and geography

tell us? Other texts from same time period?

October 2009 25

Redaction Criticism – an example

The story of Noah’s Ark

October 2009 26

A Thematic Tour of the Bible

1. The Exodus

2. Origins and Ancestors

3. Life with God in the Promised Land

4. Gospels of Mark and Luke

5. Paul and His Letters

6. The Gospel of John

7. Christian Apocalyptic Expectations

8. The Pre-Exile Prophets

October 2009 27

A Thematic Tour of the Bible

9. Exile and Post-exile Prophets

10. The Restoration after the Exile

11. Hebrew Poetry and Song

12. Wisdom Literature

13. Judaism in the Greek World

14. Christianity in the Greek World

From Steve Mueller, The Seeker’s Guide to Reading the Bible, a Catholic View

October 2009 28

Liturgical Year - handout

October 2009 29

Recommendations for Reading

Pheme Perkins, Reading the New Testament

Raymond E. Brown, The Churches the Apostles Left Behind

Burton Throckmorton, ed., Gospel Parallels

Commentaries of note

William Barclay, The New Daily Study Bible

Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament

Bergant & Karris, The Collegeville Bible Commentary

October 2009 30

Copy of Presentation

Download from www.dcnpeterh.com

Both Powerpoint and PDF versions will be

there

October 2009 31

Closing Prayer

We thank you and bless you, Lord our God. In

times past you spoke in many varied ways through

the prophets, but in this, the final age, you have

spoken through your Son to reveal to all nations the

riches of your grace.

May we who have met to ponder the Scriptures be

filled with the knowledge of your will in all wisdom

and spiritual understanding, and may we bear fruit in

every good work.

We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.