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Understanding the Bible: a Catholic Approach to Interpreting Sacred Scripture by Monsignor Lawrence Moran & Ronald J

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Understanding the Bible: a Catholic Approach to Interpreting Sacred Scripture by Monsignor Lawrence Moran & Ronald J UnderstandingUnderstandin theg the Bible: Bible: A CatholicA Catholic Approach Approach to toInterpreting Interpreting Sacred Sacred Scripture Scripture By Monsignor Lawrence Moran & Ronald J. Eldred By Monsignor Lawrence Moran & Ronald J. Eldred In this essay we look at the meaning of Divine Revelation, the meaning of inspiration, and what the Bible is, including who wrote it, and when, where, how, and why it was written, and how the books were selected. Also, we examine the senses of scripture and typology as well as guide- lines for reading and interpreting it. Furthermore, we discuss the different exegetical or hermeneutical tools and translation theories. Moreover, we consider the similarities and differences of Catholic and Protestant ver- sions of the Bible and of the meaning of the apocryphal writings. Catholic Apologetics Understanding the bible Understanding the Bible: A Catholic Approach to Interpreting Sacred Scripture By Monsignor Lawrence Moran & Ronald J. Eldred Table of Contents INTRODUCTION DIVINE REVELATION Purposes of the Bible The meaning of Divine Revelation Why it is reasonable to believe that God revealed Himself SACRED SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION Sacred Scripture (the Bible) Sacred Tradition How to properly read and interpret Holy Scripture HERMENEUTICS AND EXEGESIS Hermeneutics Exegesis INSPIRATION OF THE HOLY SPIRIT The Bible is free from all error The Gospel Truth The Synoptic Problem Why the Bible can be so hard to understand The equal status of the Word and the Eucharist HOW THE GOSPELS WERE WRITTEN The life and teaching of Jesus The oral tradition The written Gospels GUIDELINES FOR READING AND INTERPRETING SACRED SCRIPTURE Be attentive to content and unity of the entire Bible Read the Bible within the living tradition of the Church Be attentive to the Analogy of Faith THE FOUR SENSES OFSCRIPTURE The Literal Sense of Scripture The Spiritual Sense of Scripture The allegorical sense of Scripture Philo of Alexandria 1 Understanding the bible The moral sense of Scripture (tropological) The anagogical sense of Scripture Why the four senses of Scripture are so important to understanding the Bible Typology in Biblical Studies Foreshadowing or Prefiguration of the New Testament in the Old Testament The New Testament prefigurations History of the use of typology The early Church Typology and allegory in the early Church Fathers The Alexandrian School The Antiochene School Examples of spiritual and literal interpretations of Genesis: The Middle Ages The Protestant Reformation The Enlightenment COMPARISON OF CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT BIBLES The Septuagint The Apocrypha Books rejected by Luther St. Jerome and the Latin Vulgate THE CANON OF THE BIBLE The New Testament Canon How the New Testament canon was developed The reliability of the Gospels The Old Testament Canon TRANSLATING THE BIBLE Translation Philosophies Formal Correspondence Translations Dynamic Equivalence Translations: Comparison of Formal Correspondence with Dynamic Equivalence translations: Biblical Paraphrases: The Best Bible Translations The best translations for Catholics GENERAL PRINCIPLES FOR READING THE BIBLE LECTIO DIVINA: PRAYING OVER THE SCRIPTURES BIBLICAL CRITICISM Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Advent of the Higher Criticism 2 Understanding the bible New Testament The Quest for the Historical Jesus Historical-Critical Method Textual Criticism Literary Criticism Source Criticism Form Criticism Biblical Genres and Form Criticism: Major Genres of the Old Testament Major Genres of the New Testament Redaction Criticism Feminist Criticism Postmodernist Biblical Criticism Other methods of Biblical Criticism Summary of the Historical-Critical method INTERPRETATION OF THE PENTATEUCH The Documentary Hypothesis The Yahwist Tradition The Elohist Tradition The Priestly Tradition The Deuteronomic Tradition Criticism of the Documentary Hypothesis The Catholic response PREMISES FOR CATHOLIC BIBLICAL SCHOLARS SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION 3 Understanding the bible Understanding the Bible: A Catholic Approach to Interpreting Sacred Scripture By Monsignor Lawrence Moran & Ronald J. Eldred INTRODUCTION atholics and most Protestants tend to look at interpreting the Bible differently. Contem- porary Roman Catholic, Anglican (Episcopalian), and Lutheran scholars tend to read C much of the Bible in an allegorical sense. By allegory is meant a literary form that tells a story to present a truth or to enforce a moral point of view. Catholics, at least since the time of St Augustine, have interpreted the Bible in two senses: the literal and the spiritual. The meaning of the literal sense is pretty obvious; it means what it says; however, the spiritual sense is broken down further into three additional senses: the analogical sense, which means similarity; the tropo- logical sense, which means moral; and the anagogical sense, by which is meant matters dealing with salvation and the final destination of humankind. Catholics apply the three spiritual senses to the entire Bible and not just the book of Genesis. We will discuss the senses of Scripture below in this essay. Interpreting the Bible in the spiritual sense makes it easier for Catholics to accept various scien- tific theories, such as the theory of evolution. Catholics follow the saying of St. Augustine in the fourth century followed by Cardinal Baronius in 1598 that, “The Bible teaches the way to go to heaven, but not the way the heavens go.” On the other hand, Evangelical and Pentecostal Protes- tants tend to take a more literal interpretation of the Bible, sometimes called fundamentalism, which means they interpret the Book of Genesis and the rest of the Bible strictly in a literal sense. In other words, they interpret the Bible as “the way the heavens go.” Instead of seeing the Bible as containing a spiritual meaning, they see it essentially as a literal scientific or historical explana- tion of the origin of the universe or the history of the world. Although Catholics don’t ordinarily see the Bible as a scientific or historical text, nonetheless, they do interpret the Bible literally when the text is intended to be interpreted that way; however, only the Catholic Church can tell us when the Bible is to be interpreted literally. First we will look at what the Bible is, who wrote it, and when, how, and why it was written. Also, we will examine the senses of Scripture as well as the Catholic principles for interpreting the Bible. Furthermore, we’ll discuss the different exegetical or hermeneutical tools and the meaning of inspiration. Moreover, we’ll consider the similarities and differences of Catholic and Protestant versions of the Bible and of the meaning of the apocryphal writings. We'll also take a brief look at the history of biblical interpretation, but the details are left for another essay. We will save what is in the Bible itself for two other essays on Salvation History where we consider the creation, fall, and redemption of humankind as told in the Bible. 4 Understanding the bible DIVINE REVELATION In our essay found in this website entitled Reasons to Believe: Natural Theology, we provide reasons to believe that what the Catholic Church teaches is true. First we discuss what it means to believe something, especially the truths that God has revealed to us. This involves examining the role of faith, reason, and certitude in our search for truth. Then using human reason, we discuss arguments that make it reasonable to believe that God exists. All other knowledge of religion presupposes that he does. Once establishing that God does exist, using human reason we identify his attributes or perfections. Then based on rational proof of God’s existence and something of his attributes, using human reason we establish that we owe God worship, thanks-giving, and obedience. Furthermore, we prove beyond a reasonable doubt the human soul is immortal and that God established an objective moral order called the natural law. However, because of our fallen human nature, there is a limit to what we can know about God using human reason. We need his revelation. At this point of our discussions we offer arguments that make it reasonable to believe that God established a church and that church is the Catholic Church and that he revealed himself to us. During this discussion we examine the credibility and integrity of the sources of revelation─Scripture and Tradition. However, it is in this and other essays that we offer the details about Divine Revelation. Purposes of the Bible It has been said that the Bible has three uses. The Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible tells us that: 1. The Bible is a source of divine revelation. God has spoken to men in two ways, through Scripture and through Tradition. The Council of Trent stated that “both founts of reve- lation, Scripture and Tradition, are to be esteemed equally." 2. Scriptural passages are always used in the Church's liturgy. Both the praise of God and petitions to God found in liturgical prayer are either given in the words of the Bible or in a manner modeled after Scripture, e.g., the Psalms. Moreover, the reading and instruction that is incorporated in the liturgy is taken largely from Scripture. 5 Understanding the bible 3. Scripture is a religious book to be used also for one's personal spiritual life. Saint Jerome said that “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”. No better book of personal spiritual reading could be found. The meaning of Divine Revelation Revelation means that the Word of God the Father, the Supreme Truth, has spoken to human- kind and has revealed truths, which are not in themselves evident to the human mind. This gives us the choice of either rejecting revelation altogether, or accepting it by faith. This means that we must submit our intellect to truths, which we cannot understand, but which come to us on Divine authority. As we discussed in our Catholic radio series Reasons to Believe: Catholic Apologetics and in our essay Reasons to Believe, Natural Theology, the only adequate answer to why we believe with Divine faith any Divine truth is because God has revealed it, who can neither deceive or be deceived.
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