Catholic Explanation Of Scripture

The introduction deals with the ideas of authority and perspective, and how they function properly in the process of Biblical interpretation. A key idea is that reading is a dialogue between the text and the reader. Both sides have a role to play. If we acknowledge this, then we must also acknowledge that the perspective of the reader has some significance in how the Bible is interpreted and exercises authority. This dialogical reading transcends the categories of ‘objective’ and ‘subjective’, and

One fact that must remain in consideration by any student of textual criticism is that there were many other religious and philosophical writings produced simultaneously with the Scriptures of the New Testament era. Robert J. Sargent states, “As the Bible was being written down, numerous other religious

Even early church writers contested the validity of what Luther referred to as an “epistle of straw”, even denigrating it as a leftover from Judaic writers. Even recent commentary writer Sophie Laws referred to “the epistle of James is an oddity. It lacks almost all of what might be thought to be the distinctive marks of Christian faith and practice.” The Luther casts further doubt on the authenticity of this epistle.

Other than considering the matter of genres, the differences of culture and language should also be part of the element we should think of when we discover the truth of the Bible. Different cultures will cause different understanding of the Bible. Placher uses the example of Thucydides that “keeping as closely as possible to the general sense of the words that were actually used” was “called for by each situation (Placher 12).” in this example, situation can be realized as someone’s own view imposed to the text, according to the culture or experience he goes through. Placher argues that if a biblical author writes in a attitude of culture which is different from the readers’ attitude, then he or she writes as the products of such a culture. Like what the author says, “to treat them as having an attitude to history different from what they do is not to interpret them with maximum accuracy, but to get them wrong (Placher 16). ” Moreover, the confusion of reading the Bible, which is originated in a culture different from ours, happens when there are different social conditions that give different meanings. The author gives an example of the slavery in ancient Israel and the slavery in the American South. He says that the slaves in ancient Israel are supposed to be free at the end of seven days, and their identity of slave is not based on race. However, the slavery in American, on the contrary, differs from the one in the Bible. In addition, the author talks about homosexuality. He claims that in ancient Israel, two men cannot love each other, for that is an abomination, and they will be condemned. However, in modern society, even if people do not follow the Bible, that is they love each other, they seldom be condemned. In brief, the author claims that understanding the genres, recognizing the attitudes toward the reporting of historical details, and considering the social context in

The third section dissects the formation of the New Testament with more historical context and views of other writings defined as Gnostic writing. Bruce explains the spoken words of the apostles carried as much authority as their written words and gives an in depth explanation how the Gospels and Pauline writings were viewed by the Church Fathers. The rest of the section demonstrates the Church Fathers and their views of what was to be considered scripture and the councils that affirmed the inspired scripture.

I have read various books on Theological Hermeneutics, and one, whose title has slipped my mind, had once suggested the Hermeneutics isn’t only about picking up the Bible, analyzing it, and putting it back down, but also making an application through it. So, in this paper I have followed such a suggestion. First I will mention the background of the book being hermeneutically analyzed. This answers many of the questions needed to contextualize the book into its original socio-cultural setting for better understanding. Secondly, I will do an exegesis, or commentary, on the verses of the book to explain the interpretation that I had gotten out of it. This is done in

Sacred texts and writings are very beneficial for Christian people since they are the word of God and can be deliberated as supportive indication of understanding the principle beliefs of Christianity which include the divinity and humanity of Jesus Christ, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the nature of god and the nature of trinity, revelation and salvation. This essay aim’s at assessing the significant role of the sacred text in providing authentic information in regards to sacred texts.

In the sixth chapter of Thomas C. Foster’s How to Read Literature Like a Professor, Foster examines the Bible and its importance throughout stories, poetry and film. The Bible is one of the most commonly known pieces of literature and is even “nonsectarian” in Foster’s eyes (44). Because stories from the Bible are so well known, the Bible is a tremendously easy for authors to reference when constructing a new composition. Especially “prior to sometime in the middle of the twentieth century” writers were “solidly instructed in religion” and could count on the public being very well acquainted with Biblical stories (47). This widespread knowledge of the Bible lead to greater understandings throughout literature, and the recognized allusions helped

The process of Biblical Criticism is when a theologian analyzes a passage of scripture in terms of the time and place of its writing. This process is useful when

Throughout the course of the semester, we have constantly talked about and expressed the idea of reading the Bible in a historical context. Picking out the pieces that coincide with evidence that has been found with archeological findings, the accuracy of dates, and important people. The critical study of the Bible is to look at the book as a piece of historical text. The use of our “historical lens” allows us to pick out to various pieces that appear to be factual. Using this analysis of looking at the Bible through our “historical glasses”, we can understand the true meaning of the Bible in its original historical setting.

To truly comprehend a biblical passage, it is important to have knowledge of the ‘hermeneutics which enables an understanding of the locus of meaning and the principles of bible interpretation’ . The audience needs to have a clear interpretation of the biblical passage which includes ‘content and unity of the whole of Scripture if the meaning of the sacred texts is to be correctly worked out’ , this supports the argument that all worlds of the text are equally important. ‘Biblical passages are often taken out of context and interpreted to support a particular viewpoint of justify a particular action’ . It is imperative to note that ‘in order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account the conditions of their

In biblical study, Narrative Criticism has been developed against the evolutionary models of historical criticism, which has been mainly focused to reenact the position and thought of the original writer and audience through certain ‘scientific and analysis of biblical material’. This discipline is the study of a narrative text most likely similar to any narrative literature. It is sub discipline of interpretation method under literary criticism, which emphases on ‘the literary form or shape of the text in its final form’ as pointer of what the texts meant. There is general agreement among the various disciplines of literary approach, that they all consider Scripture as a ‘literary document’, rather than a ‘historical’. These various disciplines,

When studying any piece of literature there are many different methods and techniques that can be used. The Bible, in specific, is often referred to as a source of moral code, hope, and answers to social, ethical, and political questions. However, this incredibly influential book can also be read as if it were any other novel. The events, settings, and characters can all be evaluated for what they are, forgetting the notion that they are from a religious text. This approach is called narrative criticism. When regarding to the Bible in this way, we do not need to know any historical information or focus on seeking a deeper theological meaning. Instead, the stories are evaluated in terms of how

Canonical criticism is an interpretative strategy that focuses on reading the final form of the biblical text in relation to its context in the biblical canon, constitutes one of the major critical methodologies that has challenged the predominance of historically based or diachronic biblical exegesis in the latter portion of the twentieth century.

The third school of interpretation is Traditionalism. Traditionalists maintain that the Bible is full of truth, God is revealed within the Bible and that it is inspired by the Holy Spirit. One of the key characteristics of their approach to the Bible is its emphasis on the need to understand the nature of the different types of literature within the bible. However, traditionalists would not accept the fundamentalist’s notion of inerrancy as many would acknowledge that there are mistakes in the Bible. These are seen as a reflection of both the historical context in which they are written and the human fallibility of the authors. As with Liberals, traditionalists believe that some aspects of the Bible need to be reinterpreted for today. Traditionalists place a lot of emphasis on the process of exegesis. However, after establishing the intended meaning of the author the next step in the traditional approach is the question of how it should be applied to Christian today. However, whereas fundamentalists believe that the true meaning of a text should be clear to each reader;