A Catholic Introduction to Biblical Interpretation
By John Gresham
The World Beyond the Text (Community of
Interpretation)
Ecclesial Context & Ecclesial Exegesis
Description / Justification / Limitations / Tools / Application
Description of the method:
Ecclesial biblical interpretation is interpretation of the scriptures in and with the church. The scriptures originated in a community of faith, first ancient Israel and then the Christian Church. It is within that community that the biblical writings are collected, transmitted and interpreted. This ecclesial environment provides the context within which the Bible is interpreted and actualized. Catholic exegesis recognizes the Church as the primary community of interpretation:
What characterizes Catholic exegesis is that it deliberately places itself within the living tradition of the church.... (Interpretation of the Bible in the Church)
Ecclesial exegesis is based on faith that the Holy Spirit who first inspired the biblical writings continues to guide the Church in their interpretation:
The Church, as the people of God, is aware that it is helped by the Holy Spirit in its understanding and interpretation of Scripture. (Interpretation of the Bible in the Church)
Ecclesial exegesis is biblical interpretation guided by the Spirit at work in the Church. This guidance of the Spirit in the Church is found in the following sources:
- Creeds and Councils -- Even before there was a New Testament, the early first Christians transmitted their faith in summary form as creeds of faith (for example, see the early creed preserved in I Corinthians 15) The first Christians also gathered in Councils to combat error and clarify the content of Christian doctrine (see Acts 15). As summaries of Christian faith and correctives to doctrinal error, the creeds and the councils of the Church provide basic doctrinal frameworks in which to read and interpret Scripture.
- The living magisterium -- According to Catholic faith, the teaching authority of Peter and the apostles is perpetuated in the life of the church by their successors, the Pope and the bishops who teach the Christian faith by a special charism of Christ and the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Ecclesial exegesis looks to their apostolic teaching for guidance in understanding the scriptures.
- The Fathers of the Church - The Church Fathers play a certain foundational and normative role in the development of the canon and in the development of the trinitarian and christological framework in which the canon is interpreted which gives continuing value to their biblical interpretations. While modern exegetes must exercise great reserve toward the allegorical methods of much patristic exegesis, they must at the same time learn from the Fathers how to read the Bible theologically within the heart of a living tradition, with an authentic Christian spirit. (Interpretation of the Bible in the Church)
- The Doctors of the Church -- Catholic teaching recognizes certain men and women who have been particularly gifted with insight into the faith, an understanding of its mysteries and the ability to share their profound knowledge through their writings and the witness of their lives. These teachers or "Doctors" of the Church offer spiritual and theological guidance to the biblical interpreter.
- Sensus Fidelium -- There is a "lived" knowledge of the Catholic faith shared in varying degrees by all of the faithful. This is the knowledge of the Christian faith gained from participation in the church's sacramental and liturgical life and following the way of Christ in daily life as taught by the Church. Genuine ecclesial exegesis requires the biblical interpreter to read the Bible out of his own experience of belonging to the interpretive community of faith.
Justification for the ecclesial interpretation of scripture
Pope Pius XII warmly encouraged contemporary biblical scholars not to neglect the contribution of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church to the exegetical task. He bases his appeal on the insight they offer into the spiritual realities behind the biblical texts:
The Catholic exegete will find an invaluable help in the assiduous study of those works in which the Holy Fathers, the Doctors of theChurch and the reknowned interpreters of past ageshave explained the sacred books. For although sometimes less instructed in profane learning and in the knowledge of languages that the scripture scholars of our time, nevertheless, by reason of the office assigned to then by God in the Church, they are distinguished by a certain subtle insight into heavenly things and be a marvelous keenness of intellect which enables them to penetrate to the very innermost meaning of the divine word. (Divino Afflante Spiritu 28)
The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church argues from the origins of the biblical writings in communities of faith to the community of faith as the primary context in which those writings are interpreted
Sacred scripture is in dialogue with communities of believers: it has come from their traditions of faith ... It follows that interpretation of scripture takes place in the heart of the Church ... Faith communities formed the living context for the literary activity of the authors of sacred scripture ... In like manner, the interpretation of scripture requires full participation on the part of exegetes in the life and faith of the believing community of their own day.
Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation appeals to the Church as the Interpreter of Scripture based on the common action of the Spirit animating and inspiring scripture, tradition, and the living magisterium of thechurch:
It is clear, therefore, that sacred tradition, Sacred Scripture and the teaching authority of the Church, in accord with God's most wise design, are so linked and joined together that one cannot stand without the others, and that all together and each in its own way under the action of the one Holy Spirit contribute effectively to the salvation of souls. (Dei Verbum 10)
Limitations of the ecclesial interpretation of scripture
One danger in ecclesial interpretation, is to use scripture as a mere collection of proof-texts for later church teaching. Proof-texting culls individual Scripture passages in an atomistic and ahistorical manner that fails to consider the literary and historical contexts of those scriptural passages. This fails to recognize the historical dynamic at work by which church teaching develops over time. The interpreter ought to move from the original historical and literary context of a biblical passage to the later ecclesial context in terms of the trajectory leading from the original context toward subsequent church interpretation and doctrinal development.
- The commentary series entitled Ancient Christian Commentary on the Scriptures provides a verse by verse selective collection of patristic comments on scriptures. New volumes will appear year by year eventually covering the entire Bible. Also helpful for locating patristic commentary on scripture is the scripture index to Faith of the Early Fathers (Jurgens) and the bibliographic series Biblia Patristica
- Many standard anthologies of Church teachings contain scripture and doctrinal indexes which would enable you to begin looking for references to a biblical passage (or a doctrinal topic related to that passage) within magisterial documents. For examples, see the indexes to The Christian Faith in the Doctrinal Documents of the Catholic Church ( Neuner & Dupuis), Sources of Catholic Dogma (English trans.of Denzinger) and Decrees of the Ecumenical Councils (Tanner)
- Likewise, the Scripture index to the Catechism of the Catholic Church can be used to place scriptures within an ecclesial context by seeing how and where those passages are used in this compendium of Catholic teaching.
- The Navarre Bible New Testament (Scepter Publishers) includes comments from Church Fathers, Popes, Vatican II, the Catechism, as well as prominent spiritual writers particularly Blessed (soon to be saint) Josemaria Escriva, Also available: The Navarre Bible: Pentateuch. (Scepter Publishers)
Find examples of the interpretation and use of your biblical passage in later Church teaching. This could be a Patristic commentary or homily on the passage, a reference to the passage in a Church council, papal teaching on the passage, or use of the passage in the Catechism. Identify the doctrinal, theological, spiritual or pastoral application made of this passage. What insight does this passage contribute to later Church teaching? What insight does later Church teaching contribute to the interpretation of this passage?
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