S
summer1052
Guest
Especially for Boy Wonder =-
I am a reconciled Catholic myself, coming from a church of Christ background, sometimes known as “Campbellites”. So I am quite familiar with the ideas of Sola Scriptura, “speaking where the Bible speaks, and being silent where the Bible is silent”, etc.
I found one book in particular helpful in my journey, that clarified some of these points for me. Perhaps it will clarify the Catholic point of view for you. I highly recommend By What Authority? by Mark Shea.
He explains, and further research on my behalf expanded it, that the Jewish community itself revised its canon circa 100 AD, mostly to resolve apologetical problems with Christians. They removed books either not originally written in Hebrew, or for which the original Hebrew versions were lost. These were the deuterocannonical books. This is why even though Jews today celebrate Hanukkah, there is no “scriptural” reference to it in the (Protestant) Bible. This story is in either First or Second Maccabees, I forget which at the moment. This revised cannon is called the Palestine canon.
Later “reformers” like Luther adopted the Palestine Canon, but it was a Jewish canon, not the one the first Christians knew, and for that matter, and a big deal to me, personally, NOT THE SAME SET OF SCRIPTURES OUR LORD HIMSELF READ.
Luther also wanted to remove the Epistle of James which he said contradicted St. Paul. (Interesting to me, as it A. doesn’t, and B. highlights a Protestant penchant for sometimes focusing on the Pauline Epistles instead of the Gospels. That’s another thread.) The book of James explains lucidly how faith operates in us, extends through us in works for the Body, and is all a gift of grace. Luther could not give a solid enough reason to remove the book, but he disliked it intensely.
Paul quotes a pagan Greek poet, and recommends his wisdom to us. A story of the disputation of the body of Moses is mentioned, which is also apocryphal. This poses difficulties for a Scriptural focus.
While all scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, preaching and learning, it is not self-sufficient. Nor does it ever claim to be itself.
Jesus said “Go, preach.” He didn’t say, “Go, write.” For that matter, he didn’t write anything down himself. Thus the Catholic view has always been, is this scripture in harmony with Apostolic teaching? Not, what does the concordance say? Anti-Biblical and Extra-Biblical teaching are not equivalent.
(Thank you, Mr. Shea for clearing the murk for me! Any mistaken understanding of his explanations by me should not be understood as his error. I can screw up all by myself!
)
Whether by accident or design, with a bit of work, one can argue for or against any moral question by quoting the Bible out of context and apart from Apostolic teaching. Which is why Catholics expect that scripture and Apostolic teaching are always in harmony with each other. If they aren’t, either there is a mistake in our interpretation or a problem with the literature.
Just like computer problems, the issue is usually the loose screw between the chair and the keyboard!
With love,
Summer
I am a reconciled Catholic myself, coming from a church of Christ background, sometimes known as “Campbellites”. So I am quite familiar with the ideas of Sola Scriptura, “speaking where the Bible speaks, and being silent where the Bible is silent”, etc.
I found one book in particular helpful in my journey, that clarified some of these points for me. Perhaps it will clarify the Catholic point of view for you. I highly recommend By What Authority? by Mark Shea.
He explains, and further research on my behalf expanded it, that the Jewish community itself revised its canon circa 100 AD, mostly to resolve apologetical problems with Christians. They removed books either not originally written in Hebrew, or for which the original Hebrew versions were lost. These were the deuterocannonical books. This is why even though Jews today celebrate Hanukkah, there is no “scriptural” reference to it in the (Protestant) Bible. This story is in either First or Second Maccabees, I forget which at the moment. This revised cannon is called the Palestine canon.
Later “reformers” like Luther adopted the Palestine Canon, but it was a Jewish canon, not the one the first Christians knew, and for that matter, and a big deal to me, personally, NOT THE SAME SET OF SCRIPTURES OUR LORD HIMSELF READ.
Luther also wanted to remove the Epistle of James which he said contradicted St. Paul. (Interesting to me, as it A. doesn’t, and B. highlights a Protestant penchant for sometimes focusing on the Pauline Epistles instead of the Gospels. That’s another thread.) The book of James explains lucidly how faith operates in us, extends through us in works for the Body, and is all a gift of grace. Luther could not give a solid enough reason to remove the book, but he disliked it intensely.
Paul quotes a pagan Greek poet, and recommends his wisdom to us. A story of the disputation of the body of Moses is mentioned, which is also apocryphal. This poses difficulties for a Scriptural focus.
While all scripture is God-breathed, useful for teaching, preaching and learning, it is not self-sufficient. Nor does it ever claim to be itself.
Jesus said “Go, preach.” He didn’t say, “Go, write.” For that matter, he didn’t write anything down himself. Thus the Catholic view has always been, is this scripture in harmony with Apostolic teaching? Not, what does the concordance say? Anti-Biblical and Extra-Biblical teaching are not equivalent.
(Thank you, Mr. Shea for clearing the murk for me! Any mistaken understanding of his explanations by me should not be understood as his error. I can screw up all by myself!
)Whether by accident or design, with a bit of work, one can argue for or against any moral question by quoting the Bible out of context and apart from Apostolic teaching. Which is why Catholics expect that scripture and Apostolic teaching are always in harmony with each other. If they aren’t, either there is a mistake in our interpretation or a problem with the literature.
Just like computer problems, the issue is usually the loose screw between the chair and the keyboard!
With love,
Summer