Veracity of Biblical Studies
Biblical Questions
IS THE TYPE OF QUESTIONING WE ARE ABOUT TO EMBARK UPON "ALLOWED" BY CHRISTIANS, ESPECAILLY CATHOLICS?
YES. One of the first attempts of the Catholic Church to adopt these new means of study was the establishment of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1902 by Pope Leo XII in his Apostolic Letter Vigilantiae. This commission was established to look into aspects of biblical questions raised by the public and by scholars. Building on the work of the commission Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical promoting the field of biblical studies called Divino afflante Spiritu in 1943. And then in April of 1964, the pontifical Biblical Commission presented its acceptance of the use of many of the ideas within the field of historical criticism in the document the “Instruction Concerning the Historical Truth of the Gospels.” With the issuance of this document, the Church had finally opened itself to the truly worthwhile field of modern biblical studies and the positive results it could produce within the field of biblical inquiry.
Building upon all the works previously cited “The Instruction of the Bible in the Church” issued in April 1993 by the Pontifical Biblical Commission offered perhaps the most technical affirmation of the different tools that were now at the disposal of the exegete. In section I of this document entitled Methods and Approaches for Interpretation, the Commission outlines the structure of the Historical-Critical Method. Without going into explicit detail, let us briefly state the major approach’s within this discipline followed by a brief description.
(a) Textual Criticism studies the different manuscripts, and papyrus, that are extant through a process of linguistic, semantic and philological study.
(b) Literary criticism seeks to identify the different individual units or blocks of material contained within the larger corpus.
(c) Genre criticism attempts to identify the different literary styles and social milieus used in the texts.
(d) Tradition criticism attempts to determine the traditional development over time of the text.
(e) Redaction criticism studies the different layers of tradition and how they are united into one text.
(f) Historical criticism seeks to understand the historical significance of the text.
In approving these forms of study, the Catholic Church had embarked on a new era of biblical study in the Church’s history. No longer was it scandalous to inquire about questions that had previously been taboo for theologians. Solid scholarship, following an approved methodological directive, was sufficient enough for scholars to truly begin to question not just the tradition of the Church, but the biblical foundations on which they stood. With the Church’s newfound openness to question suppositions and investigate opinions, the Catholic Church rightly thrust itself into the field of historical Jesus research which had hitherto been the domain of Protestant scholars.
*** SEE:
“Instruction Concerning the Historical Truth of the Gospels.” Presented by the Pontifical Biblical Commission on April 21, 1964. http://clawww.lmu.edu/faculty/fjust/Docs/PBC_HistTruthFitzmyer.htm
“The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church.” Presented by the Pontifical Biblical Commission to Pope John Paul.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PBCINTER.HTM
IS THE TYPE OF QUESTIONING WE ARE ABOUT TO EMBARK UPON "ALLOWED" BY CHRISTIANS, ESPECAILLY CATHOLICS?
YES. One of the first attempts of the Catholic Church to adopt these new means of study was the establishment of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in 1902 by Pope Leo XII in his Apostolic Letter Vigilantiae. This commission was established to look into aspects of biblical questions raised by the public and by scholars. Building on the work of the commission Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical promoting the field of biblical studies called Divino afflante Spiritu in 1943. And then in April of 1964, the pontifical Biblical Commission presented its acceptance of the use of many of the ideas within the field of historical criticism in the document the “Instruction Concerning the Historical Truth of the Gospels.” With the issuance of this document, the Church had finally opened itself to the truly worthwhile field of modern biblical studies and the positive results it could produce within the field of biblical inquiry.
Building upon all the works previously cited “The Instruction of the Bible in the Church” issued in April 1993 by the Pontifical Biblical Commission offered perhaps the most technical affirmation of the different tools that were now at the disposal of the exegete. In section I of this document entitled Methods and Approaches for Interpretation, the Commission outlines the structure of the Historical-Critical Method. Without going into explicit detail, let us briefly state the major approach’s within this discipline followed by a brief description.
(a) Textual Criticism studies the different manuscripts, and papyrus, that are extant through a process of linguistic, semantic and philological study.
(b) Literary criticism seeks to identify the different individual units or blocks of material contained within the larger corpus.
(c) Genre criticism attempts to identify the different literary styles and social milieus used in the texts.
(d) Tradition criticism attempts to determine the traditional development over time of the text.
(e) Redaction criticism studies the different layers of tradition and how they are united into one text.
(f) Historical criticism seeks to understand the historical significance of the text.
In approving these forms of study, the Catholic Church had embarked on a new era of biblical study in the Church’s history. No longer was it scandalous to inquire about questions that had previously been taboo for theologians. Solid scholarship, following an approved methodological directive, was sufficient enough for scholars to truly begin to question not just the tradition of the Church, but the biblical foundations on which they stood. With the Church’s newfound openness to question suppositions and investigate opinions, the Catholic Church rightly thrust itself into the field of historical Jesus research which had hitherto been the domain of Protestant scholars.
*** SEE:
“Instruction Concerning the Historical Truth of the Gospels.” Presented by the Pontifical Biblical Commission on April 21, 1964. http://clawww.lmu.edu/faculty/fjust/Docs/PBC_HistTruthFitzmyer.htm
“The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church.” Presented by the Pontifical Biblical Commission to Pope John Paul.
http://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/PBCINTER.HTM
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