D
djeter
Guest
Last week I was posting about Mary Healy and the growing recognition that Catholics need to become much more deeply rooted in the Word of God, and that preaching and theology need to be more thoroughly biblical. The world Synod of Bishop on the Word of God, which took place recently, is a sign of what a high priority this is for the Church.
Over the last half century there have been some tremendous advances in biblical scholarship, deepening our knowledge of the world of the Bible — its languages, customs, culture, and historical context. Yet at the same time there have been some missteps and some dead ends. One of them is a widening gap between exegesis and faith, due to the drastically mistaken idea that if we want to interpret the Bible objectively, we have to leave our faith at the door and read it like any ancient document. We need to remind ourselves from time to time of the simple narratives that ground our faith.
David Bentley Hart gives us a simple but elegant introduction here, highlighting some important aspects of the narrative along the way. A second reading selection from his gorgeously illustrated The Story of Christianity. I told you it was cheap – currently out of stock but reordering so you can still get it for only $10. A great family book.
I’ve also linked to a more sophisticated presentation by Avery Cardinal Dulles that I had featured earlier on Paying Attention to the Sky.
You can find both here:
payingattentiontothesky.com/2010/03/03/the-story-of-the-old-and-new-testaments/
dj
Over the last half century there have been some tremendous advances in biblical scholarship, deepening our knowledge of the world of the Bible — its languages, customs, culture, and historical context. Yet at the same time there have been some missteps and some dead ends. One of them is a widening gap between exegesis and faith, due to the drastically mistaken idea that if we want to interpret the Bible objectively, we have to leave our faith at the door and read it like any ancient document. We need to remind ourselves from time to time of the simple narratives that ground our faith.
David Bentley Hart gives us a simple but elegant introduction here, highlighting some important aspects of the narrative along the way. A second reading selection from his gorgeously illustrated The Story of Christianity. I told you it was cheap – currently out of stock but reordering so you can still get it for only $10. A great family book.
I’ve also linked to a more sophisticated presentation by Avery Cardinal Dulles that I had featured earlier on Paying Attention to the Sky.
You can find both here:
payingattentiontothesky.com/2010/03/03/the-story-of-the-old-and-new-testaments/
dj