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Within the Church, God’s revelation comes to man in His "deeds and words"(1), in written and unwritten forms. The written manner of this communication to us is the Sacred Scriptures. The words of Scripture, written with "God as their author"(2), truly are His words to man and therefore have a privileged place in the Church. However, since they also have human authors, using human forms of communication, the Scriptures, as any other written work, necessitate a proper interpretation to fully understand them. Suitable explanation demands certain "fundamentals".

In the past century the Catholic Church has developed more fully the proper fundamentals of interpretation for the modern exegete. Three documents: Providentissimus Deus by Pope Leo XIII; Divino Afflante Spiritu by Pope Pius XII; and especially Dei Verbum, a document of the Second Vatican Council, have all contributed greatly to the development of these principles. Also rising to prominence in the past century is another method of interpretation, which likewise claims to rest wholly on certain "fundamentals": Biblical Fundamentalism. While there are some superficial similarities between a true Catholic interpretation and a Fundamentalist one, the Church’s principles of exegesis in the final analysis resist and contradict the principles laid down by Fundamentalism.

Next: ROLE OF SACRED SCRIPTURE IN THE CHURCH

• St. Raphael Kalinowski

• First Reading - Apoc 10:8-11
• Psalm - Ps 119:14, 24, 72, 103, 111, 131
• Gospel - Lk 19:45-48

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