Were Catholics literalists?

[jphippie123]

What a broad, sweeping generalization. It is not true. Jesus refers to Abraham and Moses as real people, for example. The Church has been explaining this or that part of the Bible for a very long time. It alone has the ability ti interpret it correctly and in light of Divine revelation.

Peace,
Ed

My wording may have been poor or overly ambiguous. I didn’t mean the Catholic Church doesn’t understand some things literally (of course we do); I meant that the Catholic Church does not take a literalistic approach to the interpretation of Scripture (arguably along the lines of evangelical/fundamental understanding of Scripture). The fact is that the Church’s approach is contextual (using language, culture, the rest of Scripture, revelation, etc.). This, of course, naturally leads to literal understandings of parts of Sacred Scripture, but by no means indicates we have a literalistic approach.
Reviewing my previous comment, I see that I said, “to read it literally will lead on to error and almost inevitably material heresy.” Literalistically would have been a much more appropriate choice of word. Mea culpa