Scripture in the Church Scripture in the Church The Synod on the Word of God and the Post-Synodal Exhortation Verbum Domini James Chukwuma Okoye, CSSp A Michael Glazier Book LITURGICAL PRESS Collegeville, Minnesota www.litpress.org A Michael Glazier Book published by Liturgical Press Cover design by David Manahan, OSB. Photo courtesy of ThinkstockPhotos.com. Excerpts from documents of the Second Vatican Council are from Vatican Council II: The Basic Sixteen Documents, by Austin Flannery, OP © 1996 (Costello Publish- ing Company, Inc.). Used with permission. Scripture texts in this work are taken from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Catholic Edition © 1989, 1993, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by per- mission. All rights reserved. © 2011 by Order of Saint Benedict, Collegeville, Minnesota. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, by print, microfilm, microfiche, mechanical recording, photocopying, translation, or by any other means, known or yet unknown, for any purpose except brief quotations in reviews, without the previous written permission of Liturgical Press, Saint John’s Abbey, PO Box 7500, Collegeville, Minnesota 56321-7500. Printed in the United States of America. 123456789 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Okoye, James Chukwuma. Scripture in the church : the synod on the Word of God and the post-synodal exhortation Verbum Domini / James Chukwuma Okoye. p. cm. “A Michael Glazier Book.” Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index. ISBN 978-0-8146-5761-4 — ISBN 978-0-8146-8026-1 (e-book) 1. Bible—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 2. Bible—Use. 3. African Synod (2008 : Rome, Italy) I. Title. BS511.3.O36 2011 220.6088'282—dc22 2011010932 To the students of the Catholic Theological Union, Chicago Contents Foreword ix Introduction xi Chapter 1 Why the Synod on the Word of God? The Synod Process 1 Chapter 2 The Lineamenta and the Instrumentum Laboris 7 Chapter 3 The Word of God on the Five Continents 22 Chapter 4 The Synod in Session and Verbum Domini 38 Chapter 5 Issue I: The Inspiration and Truth of Scripture 48 Chapter 6 Issue II: Interpreting the Word of God 61 Chapter 7 Issue III: Recent Catholic Exegesis, a Brief Survey 69 Chapter 8 Issue IV: Lectio Divina 93 Chapter 9 Issue V: Dark Sayings of Scripture and Fundamentalism 105 Chapter 10 Verbum Domini, Part I: The Word of God 127 Chapter 11 Verbum Domini, Part II: The Word in the Church 147 Chapter 12 Verbum Domini, Part III: The Word to the World 158 Chapter 13 Conclusion 167 Bibliography 180 Index 186 Foreword In the Gospel of Luke, there is a famous passage in which a scholar of the law asks Jesus what he must do to “inherit eternal life.” In response, Jesus asks him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” (Luke 10:25-26). Jesus’ answer conveys two important things: first, to engage the most serious questions in life, a believer turns to the Scriptures; second, not everyone will read the Scriptures the same way. In this book, James Chukwuma Okoye, CSSp, explores questions con- cerning who should read the Scriptures, what is the nature of the biblical word, how to interpret it, how to pray with it, and how to live it. The oc- casion of the synod of bishops that took place throughout the month of October 2008 in Rome to reflect on the significance of the Word in the life and ministry of the church provides the impetus to take up these questions in the wider church. With his clear style and balanced approach, Okoye helps the novice reader of the Bible easily understand the complicated world of biblical exegesis and hermeneutics. Scholars and seasoned readers of the Bible will also find his expositions engaging and helpful. Okoye’s wisdom comes from his many years of teaching and guiding graduate students of theology and ministry at Catholic Theological Union as the Carroll Stuhlmueller Professor of the Old Testament. In addition, he has led his Nigerian Congregation of Spiritan priests and brothers, has served on the International Theological Commission, was peritus in the Synod of Bishops for Africa, and is a missionary who has ministered with people from many different cultures. Okoye’s passion for the Word is sure to draw the reader of this book not only into greater understanding but also into an increased love and commitment to the Word of life. Sr. Barbara E. Reid, OP, PhD Vice President and Academic Dean Catholic Theological Union, Chicago ix Introduction I participated in the preparation of the first Synod of Bishops for Africa (the one held in Rome in April 1994) in the capacity of a peritus (expert) who worked closely with the secretariat of the synod of bishops to prepare the documents and other administrative matters pertinent to the synod. It was then that I realized how much work went into a synod, how much documentation accumulated, and how much a vital exercise of the col- legiality of bishops a synod really was. The media were then all taken up with why the synod was not being held somewhere in Africa. They called its being held in Rome a slight on Africa, a continent exploding with new adherents to Catholicism. They did not realize that a synod in the Roman Catholic Church was an exercise of the universal church (involving the pope and the college of bishops), even if with particular reference to the pastoral or other issues of a continent, country, or particular church. Theologically, the correct terminology is not the African synod, or the Asian synod, but the Synod of Bishops for Africa (for Asia, for Holland, etc.). Holding a synod in Rome opens up the entire resources of the uni- versal church and its solidarity to the delegates. During the synod itself bishops and other participants have the opportunity of meeting with the pertinent officials of the Roman Curia and receiving advice and/or help with whatever they may need. My participation in that first Synod of Bishops for Africa also opened my eyes to what a rich resource for reflection and practical theology the synod process and documentation were. The library of the secretariat of the synod is chock-full of the documentation of all the past councils and synods of the church, as well as all the relevant documents of the magis- terium. Every intervention made orally and/or in writing in each synod is nicely bound up in volumes and stacked up in the synod library. All the meetings of the preparatory commissions are carefully documented and stored. The various groups and committees of the synod have easy access to whatever they might need. xi xii Scripture in the Church Synod documentation begins with the Lineamenta (Outline Document) which assembles all the teachings of the magisterium and current theologi- cal opinion on the matter at hand, with questions for discussion. It is sent out to all the particular churches the world over. The Instrumentum Laboris (Working Document) feeds in the responses, questions, and perplexities of the various particular churches on the topic chosen. It often happens that what is standard in one particular church is not at all sure tradition in another. Such is the fact of inculturation, one faith in a diversity of forms and expressions. The synod itself begins with a report that outlines the reception of the last synod and the issues of the current one. Then participants may each address the synod for six to eight minutes each. Another report ties up the discussion, and then the participants move into language groups for further discussions and the minting of propositions. The work of a synod is done under great pressure. For example, the propositions are assembled from the various committees in the course of one night. For the first synod for Africa they went to the printer at 3 a.m. to surface as bound books in five languages by 9 a.m. when the synod assembled the same morning! To enable a long view that takes in the entire process, all the documents of the synod are entrusted to the pope, who produces a post-synodal apos- tolic exhortation. He works with a body of twelve bishops elected by the synod itself (and three more appointed by himself). It was not always so. The synod of 1974 could reach no agreement as to a final document, so entrusted all the documentation to Paul VI, who in 1975 brought out the acclaimed Evangelii Nuntiandi. In the post-synodal apostolic exhortation, the pope takes account of all the work of the synod and exhorts the whole church to give close attention to those of its directives and wishes that he upholds. The tendency in recent times has been for the pope to pay close attention to the propositions (those approved by vote in the synod) and actually cite some of them. As head of the college of bishops, the pope also brings to bear his own pastoral priorities and evaluations of the synod. His apostolic exhortation is the official result of the synod to be used for pastoral animation all over the church. Naturally, the pope cannot in one document take up all the significant contributions that emerged in the entire synod process. The official docu- ments (Lineamenta, Instrumentum Laboris, and Message to the People of God), reports (Report before the Discussion, Report after the Discussion), and especially the propositions are usually cited, but rarely or never the individual contributions on the floor of the synod (except for those of the pope himself or maybe of the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople) nor Introduction xiii the reports of the language groups.