Pope on Understanding Scripture
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Vatican
City, Apr 23, 2009 / 11:00 am (CNA).- On Thursday
morning, Pope Benedict addressed representatives of the Pontifical Biblical
Commission following their plenary assembly and said that a correct
understanding of Scripture does not come from "the individualistic
illusion that biblical texts can be better understood outside the community
of believers" but rather rises from the Tradition of the Church. "Inspiration
and truth in the Bible," the theme of the Pontifical Biblical
Commission’s plenary assembly, is one that touches on a topic that biblical
scholars have vigorously debated during the last century. Much of biblical
scholarship, Catholic and non-Catholic, has developed into an academic
study separated from the living memory of the Church. This
morning the Pope received thirty representatives of the Pontifical Biblical
Commission who just held their full assembly, under the leadership of
Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Benedict
XVI began by underlining the importance of the chosen theme, which
"concerns not only believers, but the Church herself, because the
Church's life and mission necessarily rest upon the Word of God … ." Recalling
that the Constitution 'Dei Verbum' (The Word of God) affirmed that God is
the author of the Bible, and that in Sacred Scripture God speaks to mankind
in a human manner, the Holy Father laid out the three criteria that the
Second Vatican Council prescribed for correctly interpreting Scripture. "For
a correct interpretation of Scripture we must, then, carefully examine what
the hagiographers really sought to say and what God was pleased to reveal
with their words," he explained. First,
"Sacred Scripture is one by virtue of the unity of God's plan, of
which Jesus Christ is the center and the heart." Second,
"Scripture must be read in the context of the living Tradition of the
entire Church. ... In her Tradition the Church carries the living memory of
the Word of God, and it is the Holy Spirit Who provides her with the
interpretation thereof in accordance with its spiritual meaning. "The
third criterion concerns the need to pay attention to the analogy of the
faith; that is, to the cohesion of the individual truths of faith, both
with one another and with the overall plan of Revelation and the fullness
of the divine economy enclosed in that plan." The
task of scholars, the Holy Father said, "is to contribute, following
the above-mentioned principles, to a more profound interpretation and
exposition of the meaning of Sacred Scripture." Pope
Benedict, himself an academic, also warned Catholic biblical scholars that
the study of Sacred Scripture cannot be reduced to a purely academic
exercise but must involve a perception of "the Word of God in these
texts." "The
interpretation of Sacred Scriptures cannot be a merely an individual
academic undertaking, but must always be compared with, inserted into, and
authenticated by the living Tradition of the Church. "This
norm is essential in order to ensure a correct and reciprocal exchange
between exegesis and Church Magisterium,"
the Pope stated. But
the Holy Father went further, offering a corrective reminder to biblical
scholars, saying, "Catholic exegetes do not nourish the
individualistic illusion that biblical texts can be better understood
outside the community of believers. The opposite is true, because these
texts were not given to individual scholars 'to satisfy their curiosity or
to provide them with material for study and research'. The texts inspired
by God were entrusted to the community of believers, to the Church of
Christ, to nourish the faith and to guide the life of charity." The
Pontiff also summarized the Church's understanding of Scripture and
Tradition. "Sacred
Scripture is the Word of God in that it is written down under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Tradition, on the other hand, integrally
transmits the Word of God as entrusted by Christ the Lord and by the Holy
Spirit to the Apostles and their successors so that they, illuminated by
the Spirit of truth, could faithfully conserve, explain and spread it
through their preaching." Benedict
XVI closed his address to the commission by emphasizing the need to
harmonize the Magisterium and academic
scholarship. "Only within the ecclesial context can Sacred Scripture
be understood as the authentic Word of God which is guide, norm and rule
for the life of the Church and the spiritual development of believers. This
means rejecting all interpretations that are subjective or limited to mere
analysis [and hence] incapable of accepting the global meaning which, over
the course of the centuries, has guided the Tradition of the entire people
of God." |