C
Crumpy
Guest
Chapter Two of the Book by Pope Benedict that I cited above, titled “The Sign of the Woman” subtitiled “An Introductory Essay on the Encyclical Redemptoris Mater.” And, therein, “Section 1. Methological Aspects, Part 1 Reading the Bible as a Whole.”I am wondering Crumpy if you would be so kind as to give us the context from where prooftexted your excerpts?
He quotes Dei Verbum, paragraph 12 (from the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council).
Detail:
Paragraph 1. points out the conviction that Scripture is ONE book, with a single author, possessing both a human and a divine aspect…"…it is God speaking in human words…"
"Theological exegesis transcends the historical (critical method) approach. "
“The moment does not exist in isolation, after all. It is part of a whole and I do not really understand” the part without the whole.
“In this sense, the methodological form that comes into play here is ultimately quite simple: Scripture interprets Scripture. Scripture interprets itself.”
[some discussion ending as follows about how theological exegesis transcends historical analysis, because it is concerned with how the text is true NOW.] "Belief that this is the case constitutes the core of biblical exegesis. The Pope [John Paul II in Redemptoris Mater] converses with the Bible in this belief. He accepts its words, as they are revealed in the eintirety of their meaning, as truth, as information about how things really are with God and with man. On this understanding, the Bible truly concerns us. Without any artificial updating * it needs only itself in order to be truly ‘up to date.’ " page 40-41
Pope Benedict is dismissing the diluting influence of historical-critical analysis along with other come-hither scientific analysis, to emphasize going directly the authentic words of the Bible, so as not to obscure the outpouring the Holy Spirit.
This is not a declaration of Sola Scriptura, as I pointed out in the previous post. It is not fundamentalism. God really does speak to us in Scripture, as we have come to understand His voice via the Word itself along with magisterium, tradition, and history.
Benedict is so intelligent and discerning, as to be model for us Catholics. I can’t wait until the Fall Synod on the use of the Bible in the Church, and what he will promulgate about it thereafter.*
