…Well, the fair and easy joke here is “Catholics read the Bible?” Over the past few generations, Catholics as a whole have done a terrible job of reading scripture. That is changing. As you will read, the long history of “tradition” and revelation has developed into a beautiful understanding of the Word of God, that too few of us undertake.
In terms of Biblical understanding, there is a ton to clean up here right from the start, due to: 1) poor implementation of Vatican II, 2) misinformation and misunderstanding of Biblical history by both Catholics and Protestants alike, and 3) just plain Biblical ignorance.
Before we dive into interpretation, let’s first consider how and when the Bible appeared, and THEN discuss how Catholics read the Bible.
Catholics over the last half century have all but given up on reading the Bible, and it is something that is starting to make a major comeback. Let’s start with how the Bible came about, what Jesus said and did regarding the establishment of tradition, how the Holy Spirit is involved, and how this has led to the wisdom to read the Bible in this spirit.
The core facts:
- The entire Bible was written over the course of about 4,000 years
- The Bible contains books that were written in entirely different genres from historical to allegorical, by many different authors, in different languages, and for different audiences.
- Almost all of the Bible was written after a long oral tradition of each book.
- Jesus never told anybody to write down what he was saying. He never told anyone to write a book. Contrary to the excellent show “The Chosen,” nobody was thinking about that during his ministry.
- After Jesus was crucified, followers thought he was coming back very soon. Yes, it wasn’t too long before the first gospels were written down, but only after some time of purely oral tradition.
- Jesus DID give authority to his apostles to teach and pass down the faith. He also sent the Holy Spirit to inspire and develop this tradition.
- The Church came BEFORE the New Testament was assembled. It was the Catholic Church that gathered the written word, decided what was appropriate, and continues to have the authority from Jesus and the Holy Spirit to share with the world the teachings of Jesus.
- The Old Testament should be read completely in relation to Jesus.
- For 2,000 years, the Catholic Church has had the “Magisterium” (the authority to give an authentic interpretation of scripture), which has led to a beautiful, continual revelation by God.
How (and When) the Bible Came To Be
A good starting point on the Bible’s origins:
We could spend countless hours of discussion on the 4,000 years that it took to come up with the Bible that we know today, but that video above should sum it up for now. The salient point here is that this is an extremely broad compilation of literature written in wildly different styles over different eras, for different audiences, and in different times and places.
How Catholics Read the Bible
Now let’s take a broader view of the entire Bible and try to sum up how we look at the Bible. This will contain some generalizations, but this should give a good framework for the Catholic approach to the Bible:
- The Old Testament is the story of God’s creation of, and relationship with, his chosen people, Israel.
- As the Old Testament develops through time, it is story after story of God’s grace, and then Israel’s failure to live up to giving God “right praise.” Don’t look at these stories, some of which can be quite gruesome, strictly literally. While at times they have historical foundations, that is rarely of consequence compared to the “point” of the stories. There is a style and a method to how these stories were passed down. So consider:
- The Old Testament contains stories that range from extremely allegorical, to myths, to historical, etc. The focus should be to see how God’s relationship with his people develops.
- Now, even though we do multiple interpretative approaches to the different books of the Bible, we always must understand that God is the ultimate author, using man to reveal his word.
- There are two concepts to keep in mind when looking at the Bible as a whole:
- Don’t confuse what is IN the Bible explicitly with what the Bible TEACHES. Things like slavery, murder, adultery, etc. are all throughout the Bible, but these are real elements of the world at that time and today they are just elements of relatable storytelling.
- If you are confronted with a question such as “how do you read the bible?” consider that question the same as “how do you read the library?” Same absurdity.
Let’s go back to Bishop Barron for an example of dealing with one specific book, Genesis, and our approach to interpretation:
The Catholic Bible Overview
The Catholic Bible is the 73-book canon recognized by the Catholic Church, divided into two major sections: The Old Testament and The New Testament. Here is a brief overview of it, start to finish:
The Old Testament
Pentateuch (5): Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy
As Genesis begins, God creates the world out of love and through “the word.” God desires us to love Him and to know Him, but man is unfaithful time and time again. Sin grows, but so does grace. The creation story leads to Adam and Eve, both familiar stories to Christians and non-Christians alike. Genesis contains many of the stories that we know from our childhood. Abraham is the patriarch of God’s new relationship with His people, leading to his son’s son Jacob, who will have his name changed to “Israel.” So, you have Abraham then Isaac then Jacob then Joshua.
The 12 sons of Jacob become the 12 tribes of Israel. They have to move to Egypt, where things are good for a while, and then a change of leadership there leads to the people being enslaved.
Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt. God is faithful to his people, developing them into a nation, as God gives Moses the 10 Commandments. He is teaching his people how to worship Him correctly, or “right praise.”
After Genesis and Exodus, we enter Leviticus which deals with the laws and rites that the people should follow to have “right praise.”
Numbers details some more unfaithfulness by his people as they wander in the desert, but God still provides for his people.
Deuteronomy deals with Moses, just as he is dying as he passes on his wisdom and instructions to his people.
The first 5 books can be summed up as God establishing His relationship with His people, and their struggle, as children of the fallen Adam and Eve, to be faithful.
Historical books (16): Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 Maccabees, 2 Maccabees
Moses has now passed on, and the new leader of the people of Israel emerges- Joshua (this is the same name as “Jesus” actually, as an interesting side note). Joshua leads his people into the promised land and enters into this land when God divides the river Jordan just as when they escaped Egypt. The book of Joshua shows us that we need to have faith in God and that He will lead us where we need to go. It is very much a foreshadowing of Jesus.
Israel now is in the promised land and Judges brings us to a time period where some leaders appear that are needed to defend Israel against its enemies.
Moving down to Samuel, this is where Israel demands that they have a king. God isn’t on board at first but allows it after His warnings. They get Saul, who is fine at first but isn’t faithful in the end. After, God sends his prophet and David emerges as the new king. David is the direct predecessor of Jesus Christ, in his lineage. David is a great king but also sins in a pretty terrible way. However, David does repent of his sins.
Solomon is David’s son and has many great qualities, but also loves too many things in the world. The kingdom separates into northern and southern nations. (Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah.) A series of kings follow Solomon and their tales are explored in Kings.
Chronicles speaks of the decimation of the two kingdoms and Israel is even enslaved and taken away.
Even though His people have been unfaithful, God is listening to His people, and the rest of the Historical books discusses much of God’s people’s trials and tribulations during captivity.
Wisdom books (7): Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, Wisdom, Sirach
God is explaining to His people directly how to be in “right praise”. Job contains the longest of these discussions between a man and God in the Old Testament. The book of Job is most associated with the “problem of evil” in philosophical and theological discussions.
Psalms are beautiful songs about our relationship with God. Most of these songs are in the form of lamentations and are primarily attributed to David as the author.
Proverbs contain the wisdom of God’s people learning how to be faithful. Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs, Wisdom, and Sirach continue this theme.
Prophetic books (18): Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi
“Prophet” means “spokesman” or “mouthpiece” and the Prophetic books involve God speaking to His people through specific messengers.
Much of what the prophets have to say in these books are explicit or implicit discussions on salvation and the Messiah that will come save His people. The Israelites are still enslaved move much of this time and the talk is of a Messiah that will come to their rescue.
When the New Testament begins, the Israelites are thinking the Messiah will be a military leader coming to rescue them literally from their earthly oppressors. However, Jesus turns everything upside down as he informs them He has come to save them from sin instead.
The New Testament
The Gospels (4): Matthew, Mark, Luke, John
The Gospels are the most important part of scripture for Catholics, as it is the first-hand telling of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Setting the scene is Israel which is under Roman rule. Furthermore, the religious leaders of the day have used their interpretation of the Law to create a society where the poor and the sick are pushed away from God. Influences from various cultures have further distanced the people of Israel from their God. The masses are awaiting the Messiah (Christós in Greek) to come and save them from this situation, which they think will come in a militaristic way.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke are called the “Synoptic” Gospels as they tell the story of life, death, and resurrection in a similar way. John was written a bit later (side note: all of the Apostles were martyred except John who lived a long life), and written in a much more mystical style.
The Gospels contain a lot of overlapping material, but each has unique content and is told for different audiences. Matthew is written for the Jewish audience, Mark spoke to the Romans, Luke, as a Greek, was speaking to the Greeks, and John spoke to everyone. Because John’s Gospel came later, he was able to know what was in the other Gospels and could fill in some blanks, and could write a Gospel for the world.
“Gospel” means “Good News” from the Greek euangelion. The following is a general overview of what is in the Gospels, but by no means all-inclusive in terms of what is them:
The Angel Gabriel comes to Mary to tell her she is going to give birth to a special child. In the wording, it is clear this is to be the Messiah. He also tells her that her cousin Elizabeth is pregnant, and this is to be John the Baptist.
Jesus is born of the Virgin Mary in the town of Bethlehem. An army of angels in the heavens appears, and both Magi from faraway lands and shepherds nearby are alerted in different ways to the birth of this special child. (These two groups being a part of the story shows the Messiah is for everyone).
Fast forward and now Jesus appears to John the Baptist. John immediately refers to Jesus as the Lamb of God, a reference to the story of Passover from the Old Testament. The skies open at this point, and God says He is pleased, a reference to the beginning of Genesis when He made the world.
Jesus then goes off to the desert for 40 days to be tempted by Satan. (This is what our Lenten season is about.) Once he is done battling Satan, he emerges again and starts to call His Apostles (a person that is “sent,” think in English of “Post” office). The Apostles grow to 12 (as in tribes of Israel).
Now Jesus is going to talk to the people and slowly reveal His mission. He speaks with the authority of God, and that infuriates the religious leaders. He talks to all people, especially the poor and sick. (The “poor” are those mentioned in the Gospels the most.) He gives people a guide to “right praise” with the Sermon on the Mount.
He heals the sick, the blind, the lame, etc… at that time, anyone that was sick was forbidden to go into the Temple, thus they were separated from God. He even rose the dead several times in three different stories in various Gospels symbolizing the healing of sin in different states. A good explanation of how Jesus affected the people around Him:
Jesus teaches directly at times, but often in parables, that impart wisdom still being revealed to this day.
During His short ministry, He appoints Peter to lead His Church. He becomes the first Pope of the Catholic Church, a line of succession that exists to this day, directly from Jesus himself. He also gives His authority to the Apostles for them to pass down to convert the world.
In two very important stories from the Gospels, the multiplication of the loaves and fishes to feed the crowds, and the story of the prodigal son. Jesus teaches us how Divine Grace works – it is given by God and when it is received, it can only be maintained if given away. And when it is given away it returns to the giver in an even greater amount.
When Jesus starts to explain the Holy Eucharist (his body and blood), He is very explicit in his language and has to repeat himself for His message. He states: you have consumed His “body.” Many of His followers leave and He repeats himself again and even tests Peter on this. Peter faithfully answers that they won’t leave, that He has the key to eternal life. *This is a critical part of scripture which will be discussed in depth later.
Before He enters into the steps leading up to his crucifixion, He gathers His Apostles and gives new meaning to the wine and bread, and creates the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
As His ministry grows, so do His detractors. It comes in all forms symbolizing the sins of this world. His friends betray and deny him, and the religious leaders rebuke him and lead him to His death sentence. He is to die on the cross, which came about because of the sins of all of us.
In three days, in fulfillment of the scriptures, He rises from the dead. The Resurrection is critical to the story of Jesus. Without the resurrection, Christianity falls apart. He appears not only to His closest Apostles, disciples, and His mother, but to many others, that will bear witness to this, and many will be killed for it. This is the only way that Christianity would have spread – through ultimate faith in Jesus due to the resurrection. There were prophets galore at that time, but none came back from the dead, and thus their message faded away. Those that saw the resurrected Jesus were so deep in faith, that most died for this belief while spreading the good news.
Finally, the Holy Spirit, as had been promised by Jesus, appears to His disciples in what we call the Pentecost. From here they are given the ability to preach His message to the world.
Acts of the Apostles
Before Jesus leaves His Apostles, He tells them it is better for them now that He goes, as He can send His “Advocate”- the Holy Spirit. Written by St. Luke (who also wrote the Gospel bearing his name), “Acts” tells the story of how now that the Apostles have the Holy Spirit, they go about spreading the good news about Jesus.
The Holy Spirit comes upon Jesus’ Apostles and some other close disciples at the start of Acts, in an event called the Pentecost. All that receive the Holy Spirit are inspired with a new way of thinking, which, at the time, they called “The Way”.
The Jewish leaders thought they had the issue of these followers of Jesus solved, but after Pentecost, the Apostles, starting with Peter, have unbound energy, and baptize people by the thousands. The witnesses of the Resurrection and the fervor of the disciples are so strong that followers have no fear of martyrdom, their price for joining “The Way,” and in the face of death, look forward to it joyfully.
Tensions grow tremendously, not only through Jewish lands but throughout Rome, where “Christians” are automatically put to death. Here we meet a young Rabbi named Saul, a very devout Pharisee, who believed that the early Christians were trying to destroy Jewish law. He persecuted them severely, believing he was doing the work of God.
On the way to Damascus, in pursuit of some believers, he was knocked off his horse and blinded and spoken to by Jesus. Jesus’ wording is very important here as He asked Saul, why do you persecute “Me?” He didn’t say “My followers” or anything like that. Jesus, upon ascending to heaven, entered into the Mystical Body of the Church, which we are invited to join. This is a very important moment in church history.
Saul becomes Paul (St. Paul), and becomes the most important missionary in the entire history of the Catholic Church. As a Roman citizen, a Jew, and a highly educated Rabbi, he is able to evangelize throughout the region.
Peter is given a vision that led to an understanding that this message is meant for everyone and not just the Jews. After the vision, he baptizes a Roman Centurion. Paul takes this open evangelization on the road, and the Catholic Church’s mission from then on was to all people.
Acts continues with two themes from here on out 1) Paul’s mission to spread the word to all and 2) Peter’s efforts to set up the foundation of the Church.
Overall, the best summation of Acts is that it is showing how the Catholic Church formed into the basis of what it is today. The travels of Paul will become incredibly important to this end, as his letters to the places he visited become a major part of the next part of the New Testament, the Epistles.
Pauline Epistles (13): Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon
Hebrews (1)
General epistles (7): James, 1 Peter, 2 Peter, 1 John, 2 John, 3 John, Jude
The Epistles or “Letters” are primarily written by Paul, and deal with the formation of the Church and dealing with questions of faith, administration, theology, and teaching the way of Jesus.
Romans is the most theologically robust of the letters attributed to Paul, and it deals with our obsession with worshipping the world instead of God. It is a thorough work that dives deep into the saving grace of God, and how we can work toward “right praise”.
The letters to the Corinthians is fascinating, in that Corinth, at the time, was like a modern-day Las Vegas at its worst. Chapter 13 of the first letter to the Corinthians is one of the most eloquent passages in all of the scriptures.
The Letters to Timothy are one of the earliest examples of how the Church needs new leaders continuously.
James is a wonderfully succinct and practical guide to dealing with people in this world as a Christian.
The Letters of Peter give guidance on how to share the faith with those who approach us asking about the Church.
Revelation
Contrary to popular belief, Revelation is not some depressing, “angry-God” book as portrayed by many bombastic preachers and in modern culture. “Revelation” means an unveiling. It is extremely symbolic and is simply the vision of John pertaining to how God is coming to save us.
An excellent synopsis and review of how Catholics read the Bible:
Next up… Let’s dive into scripture to find out where Catholic practices and beliefs come from.
Next Topic >> How Scripture Formed Catholic Practices
Synopsis
Catholics have not done a good job of reading the Bible for the last few generations. The Bible did not fall from the sky complete. Most of the Old Testament was in place for a while, but the New Testament was created a while after the time of Jesus. The Church developed first, and THEN the Catholic Church organized what is the New Testament. Catholics take a broad view of interpretation, knowing that it takes place over thousands of years and is written in very different styles. Catholics furthermore read the Old Testament knowing that all of it is a setup for the coming of Jesus.
Suggested Reading
“RSV Catholic Bible”
“Word on Fire Bible: The Gospels Paperback” by Bishop Robert Barron
“The Word on Fire Bible (Volume II): Acts, Letters and Revelation” by Bishop Robert Barron
Top Image
The church father Jerome edited the Latin translations of the gospels and psalms for Pope Damasus I between the years 382 and 384. One of the few subjects Van Reymerswale painted was St. Jerome, and he did it multiple times with lots of repeats.