Interpretive Resource?

[William777]

Greetings Brethren:

Sometimes I come across snippets of scripture, and I find myself making different interpretations on the passage. Is there some sort of resource to determine the Roman Catholic church’s official position on a passage?

Blessings,

wm

 

[Nelka]

The Catechism.

Maybe post a message on here.

 

[COPLAND_3]

I put together a website called the Aquinas Study Bible which has many commentaries from great Catholic commentators from the Early Church Fathers up unto modern Catholic commentators. The link is found below on my signature. I have started a new project where I am working on the standard Catholic Bible commentary of the Middle Ages called the Glossa Ordinaria. It has never been translated into English with the exception of a few books of the Bible, but I plan on changing that, with the help of some others that are working on it!

 

[Fidelis]

Greetings Brethren:

Sometimes I come across snippets of scripture, and I find myself making different interpretations on the passage. Is there some sort of resource to determine the Roman Catholic church’s official position on a passage?

Blessings,

wm

Believe it or not, there is only a handful of verses of Scripture that the Church has defined must be interpreted in a certain way. From a Catholic perspective, any reasonable and edifying interpretation of Scripture arrived at by using proper means (see CCC 108–119) and doesn’t contradict defined Catholic teaching is usually fine.

In the appendix at the back of the Catechism (full-sized version) there is an index of Scripture citations keyed to Catechism teachings. I find this EXTREMELY helpful in determining the mind of the Church on certain Scripture passages. You can also do a search of Scripture citations in the CCC here.

Hope that helps.

 

[Lancer]

New Testament Commentary is easy…Old Testament is harder to find:

RSV Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament 2nd Edition
Edited By: Scott Hahn, Curtis Mitch
Ignatius Press / 2010 / Paperback @ $17…can be as high as $34]
http://g.christianbook.com/g/product/1/172503.gif

Responding to a listener question on a recent Catholic Answers Live radio program, Fr. Fessio of Ignatius Press stated that** he hoped the Ignatius Catholic Study Bible Old Testament would be completed in a year or two. ** That, of course, is nothing new. We heard that from Dr. Scott Hahn a few months backs on EWTN Bookmark. What was interesting, however, was that it appears that Ignatius may not ultimately publish the complete ICSB in one volume, but rather two.
frstephensmuts.wordpress.com/2012/05/10/ignatius-catholic-study-bible-update-old-testament/

Most importantly…CCC has the “gouge” for personal reading/praying/interpreting Sacred Scripture. So, I recommend get the Catechism…first.
Pax Christi

CATECHISM OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH
SECOND EDITION

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT, INTERPRETER OF SCRIPTURE

109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. **To interpret Scripture correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm, and to what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.**75

110 In order to discover the sacred authors’ intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes of feeling, speaking and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical texts, and in other forms of literary expression."76

111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written."77

The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance with the Spirit who inspired it.78

112 1. Be especially attentive “to the content and unity of the whole Scripture”. Different as the books which compose it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God’s plan, of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover.79
The phrase “heart of Christ” can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion; since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the prophecies must be interpreted.80

113 2. Read the Scripture within “the living Tradition of the whole Church”. According to a saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church’s heart rather than in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God’s Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture (". . . according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church"81).

114 3. Be attentive to the analogy of faith.82 By “analogy of faith” we mean the coherence of the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.

The senses of Scripture

115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between** two senses of Scripture**: the literal and the** spiritual**, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.

116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal."83

117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God’s plan, not only the text of Scripture but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.

1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of Christ’s victory and also of Christian Baptism.84

1. The** moral** sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul says, they were written “for our instruction”.85

1. The **anagogical **sense (Greek: anagoge, “leading”). We can view realities and events in terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.86

118 A medieval couplet summarizes the significance of the four senses:

The Letter speaks of deeds; Allegory to faith;
The Moral how to act; Anagogy our destiny.87
​

119 "It is the task of exegetes to work, according to these rules, towards a better understanding and explanation of the meaning of Sacred Scripture in order that their research may help the Church to form a firmer judgment. For, of course, all that has been said about the manner of interpreting Scripture is ultimately subject to the judgement of the Church which exercises the divinely conferred commission and ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God."88

****But I would not believe in the Gospel, had not the authority of the Catholic Church already moved me.****89 [St. Augustine]

 

[TimothyH]

The best way to learn about any particular verse in scripture is to study scripture as a whole, from In the beginning (Genesis 1:1) to “Come, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:2).

The living word of God has been speaking to mankind for thousands of years. The best way to learn is to make it part of your life through daily reading and ongoing study.

-Tim-

 

[Augustine3]

I put together a website called the Aquinas Study Bible which has many commentaries from great Catholic commentators from the Early Church Fathers up unto modern Catholic commentators. The link is found below on my signature. I have started a new project where I am working on the standard Catholic Bible commentary of the Middle Ages called the Glossa Ordinaria. It has never been translated into English with the exception of a few books of the Bible, but I plan on changing that, with the help of some others that are working on it!

Fantastic website and easy to use, thanks very much for that!!

How on earth do you gather all that information together?
Did it take long?

God bless,

 

[COPLAND_3]

Fantastic website and easy to use, thanks very much for that!!

How on earth do you gather all that information together?
Did it take long?

God bless,

Wow thank you!! Years of research and studying, and most of all a passion for it! This site I created took me some time to get the resources onto the site, but I already had most those sources on my old site. I had plans to increase the resources on it, and still do, but right now I am totally consumed with working on the Glossa Ordinaria. One day I hope to have the treasures of the Glossa right at everyones fingertips!