SLIDE 5 5
The Catholic Response
(1517–1948)
§ Some reforms of teachings, rituals and structures were undertaken, but scripture reforms were resisted until the 20th century § Catholics asserted that scripture was not the only locus of revelation, but that God continued to guide the Church through its tradition § With regard to the Bible, the Catholic Church ² Retained the Bible in Latin; the first translations into the vernacular were based on the Vulgate rather than the original languages ² This naturally discouraged everyone but clergy and scholars from reading it
13 The Watershed: 1948
(Divino Afflante Spiritu, Pope Pius XII)
In this letter, Pope Pius XII encouraged a fresh approach to the Bible, articulating 5 principles of Catholic biblical interpretation:
² The Bible should be translated into the vernacular from the
² Preference should be given to the “literal sense” of scripture,
that is, the historical context and the meaning of the words in that context
² For that reason, we should also pay attention to the literary form
and genre of biblical texts and their ancient Near Eastern counterparts; the Bible is not sui generis
² The interpretation of the Bible has never been unanimous ² But the Bible is still inspired: it contains the revelation and
self-manifestation of God, but also the human response
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Dei Verbum
Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Vatican II Article 11 “The Bible teaches firmly, faithfully, and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation.”
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