Bible and/or Catechism?

[t68ware]

I have an issue that is eating at me and I hope to get some clarification. I was Protestant for over 40 years, where I believed sola Scriptura, and all answers to the faith were found in the Bible, nothing else. I have found in the Catholic Church, or at least I perceive this, when a question about the faith is asked or a question is brought up about spiritual matters, the first answer I see or hear is “What does the Catechism say?” That bothers me, for it seems the Catechism is being put on equal par with the Bible,and to me, that should never happen. Why are so many Catholics refering to the Catechism first and not the Bible?

 

[Scoobyshme]

t68, there is no real dichotomy between the two. There is absolutely nothing in the Bible or Catechism that contradict one another (when properly interpreted).

We believe firmly in the “Word of God.” But the “Word of God” is not a book (Bible). It is a Person, Jesus Christ. The Word has been transmitted to man in two basic modes: Orally (Sacred Tradition - see 2 Tim 3:15) and written (Scripture). And both need an authentic and authoritative interpreter (the Magisterium of the Church).

You might enjoy a good audio series on how we should read the Bible, as Catholics, by Fr. John Corapi. He’s incredibly intelligent and entertaining. But most of all, he tells the truth, straight up. No sugar-coating, no whitewashing.

You can download the six talks here:

alabamacatholicresources…n%20Itself.mp3

alabamacatholicresources…Revelation.mp3

alabamacatholicresources…rpretation.mp3

alabamacatholicresources…0Testament.mp3

alabamacatholicresources…0Testament.mp3

alabamacatholicresources…e%20Church.mp3

God bless!

 

[MarkThompson]

I have an issue that is eating at me and I hope to get some clarification. I was Protestant for over 40 years, where I believed sola Scriptura, and all answers to the faith were found in the Bible, nothing else. I have found in the Catholic Church, or at least I perceive this, when a question about the faith is asked or a question is brought up about spiritual matters, the first answer I see or hear is “What does the Catechism say?” That bothers me, for it seems the Catechism is being put on equal par with the Bible,and to me, that should never happen. Why are so many Catholics refering to the Catechism first and not the Bible?

The Catechism is a document intended to explain things, answer questions, apply Biblical teachings to modern issues like the death penalty, reconcile inconsistent-seeming passages and set forth the Church’s authoritative interpretations, and generally act as a “user’s manual.” The Bible, on the other hand, is full of parables, poetry, long stories about Hebrew wars, and so forth. In a way, it’s like if someone asked you, “What does the whale represent in Moby Dick?” – would you be more inclined to say “Let me look it up on Wikipedia / in a book on literary symbols,” or “Well, let me pull my copy of Moby Dick out and see”? I think the former, if you just wanted a quick answer to an immediate question; and the latter, if it’s something you feel like devoting days of study to.

 

[ConstantineTG]

I have an issue that is eating at me and I hope to get some clarification. I was Protestant for over 40 years, where I believed sola Scriptura, and all answers to the faith were found in the Bible, nothing else. I have found in the Catholic Church, or at least I perceive this, when a question about the faith is asked or a question is brought up about spiritual matters, the first answer I see or hear is “What does the Catechism say?” That bothers me, for it seems the Catechism is being put on equal par with the Bible,and to me, that should never happen. Why are so many Catholics refering to the Catechism first and not the Bible?

The Catechism is the teaching tool of the Church. Its not an infallible document itself nor is it meant to be the official source of Church doctrine and teachings. But what it does is present all these doctrines, teachings and scriptures in a way that it teaches the reader what the Church is saying about it. Its not an independent document, but a complement to everything else. If you look at the Catechism, there are plenty of footnotes. A great number of these footnotes points to scripture, others will point to teachings by Church Fathers, and others to Church documents that came out of the various councils.

 

[Corki]

I have an issue that is eating at me and I hope to get some clarification. I was Protestant for over 40 years, where I believed sola Scriptura, and all answers to the faith were found in the Bible, nothing else. I have found in the Catholic Church, or at least I perceive this, when a question about the faith is asked or a question is brought up about spiritual matters, the first answer I see or hear is “What does the Catechism say?” That bothers me, for it seems the Catechism is being put on equal par with the Bible,and to me, that should never happen. Why are so many Catholics refering to the Catechism first and not the Bible?

I think that it’s a matter of order rather than priority. The Catechism contains a ton of Biblical references as well as teachings from the Doctors of the Church and the Early Church Fathers. It is arranged topically. If you go there first, you get the Scripture PLUS a whole lot more. If you start with the Bible, it’s not arranged topically and you have to do a lot of research to see how the Scripture passages are reflected in teachings about the faith.

It’s kind of like using a phone book rather than just dialing all the numbers in a given area code. You will eventually get to the right person but one way is a lot more efficient.

 

[laszlo]

The reason for the Catechism (and other Church’ documents) are twofold:

1./ the source of Revelation in the New Testament is the teaching and deeds of Jesus Christ. However not everything what he said and done was written down, so the Holy Tradition as oral preservation of His teaching expands the Holy Scriptures. The most evident need for this oral Tradition is the Canon of the Bible. The Bible in itself do not defines the extent itself; we know only from the Holy Tradition.Also part of the oral tradition only the Immaculate Conception, and the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin

2./ Tempora mutantur and we mutamur in illis. The Bible (and the accompanied oral tradition) is about supernatural things, we can not comprehend them by rational mind, the mysteries are above our understanding. We need official explanation, and for this reason Jesus Christ established the living Magisterium, to explain and apply the supernatural content to each generation. The main media of the Magisterium is the Catechism and the Canon Law.

 

[hansen55]

That is not quite 100% correct. In America and the western world this may be true because we have the means to contain people for their entire lives. However, in less advanced cultures (for the most part, nomadic and some village cultures) they are unable to contain a person as we can. So, if the person continues to murder or whatnot, the society can put that person do death morally since they are not able to stop the harm any other way.​

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