Cake or Death #568
I found Bruno Latour’s (2005) explanation of scripture rather good recently, and he himself is a Catholic. He describes scripture as a “continual love story, a developing relationship between God and man”.
It seems fitting in some respects, although I do acknowledge that leads us to a conclusion that Catholics wouldn’t like, that our understanding of God develops further onwards and improves.
Incorrect, and shows a lack of understanding of what Christ’s Church teaches and real Catholics know.
Christ’s Catholic Church teaches that doctrine develops, and this means the understanding by the Church develops, without contradiction, as Pope John XXIII so clearly enunciated at Vatican II:
“The greatest concern of the Ecumenical Council is this, that the sacred deposit of Christian doctrine should be guarded and taught more efficaciously…it is necessary that this certain and unchangeable doctrine, to which the obedience of Faith must be given, be studied thoroughly and explained in the way for which our times are calling. One thing is the deposit of Faith which consists of the truth contained in sacred doctrine, another thing is the manner of presentation, always however with the same meaning and the same sense.” [Pope John XXIII in his opening address to the Council Fathers at Vatican II, *Creed and Catechetics, Msgr E Kevane p 60, 221-222]. The Pope here uses the very words of Vatican I, which in turn came from St Vincent of Lerins.
This development of doctrine takes place as Christ foreshadowed when He proclaimed:
“I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you." (John 14:15-18) “The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name, he will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you.” (John 14:26) “But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and declare it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine; for this reason I told you that he will take from what is mine and declare it to you.” (John 16:13-15)
Often a dogma or doctrine is infallibly defined after the need is identified through a dispute over what should be believed (faith – the Trinity) or how we should act (morals – contraception).
In
Mysterium Ecclesiae, (CDF, 1973, #5): “For this reason also it often happens that ancient dogmatic formulas and others closely connected with them remain living and fruitful in the habitual usage of the Church, but with suitable expository and explanatory additions that maintain and clarify their original meaning. In addition, it has sometimes happened that in this habitual usage of the Church certain of these formulas gave way to new expressions which, proposed and approved by the Sacred Magisterium, presented more clearly or more completely the same meaning.” This was seen in John XXIII”s opening address of Vatican II, using the words of St Vincent of Lerins, and Vatican I – “with the same meaning and the same sense.”
In his book,
Sources of Renewal Karol Cardinal Wojtyla (St John Paul II) wrote: “Vatican II, which, while preserving its pastoral character and mindful of the purpose for which it was called, profoundly developed the doctrine of faith and thus provided a basis for its enrichment." (Ibid, p 39).
Athanasius lived in Alexandria, not Rome. Alexandria has always had far stronger loyalties to the East than the West, and lest we forget is the main powerbase of the Coptics.
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