Senses of Scripture
I began the new semester of my “Exploring Catholicism” course using a new edition of the Bible: The Saint Mary’s Press, College Study Bible. One of the features that motivated my choosing it was its excellent “Glossary” of terms.
Among the twenty terms I asked the students to familiarize themselves with (a “baby step” towards overcoming theological and biblical illiteracy) were “hermeneutics,” “typology,” and “senses of scripture.” This last gave the traditional division into “literal,” “allegorical,” “anagogical” etc.
I also introduced them to Karl Barth’s well-known dictum that the preacher should speak with the Bible in one hand and The New York Times in the other (okay: he said the Zurich Free Press — same difference).
Little did I realize that The Times would obligingly cooperate by printing Peter Steinfels’ column on “Differences in Biblical Approaches” (though finding it on-line takes a bit of ingenuity).
Steinfels reviews a new book by the noted scholar James Kugel: How to Read the Bible. The book treats the clash of modern and ancient approaches to understanding the Bible; and, though Kugel shows sympathy to both, he concludes that they are ultimately irreconcilable.
Peter, who is a paradigm of a “both/and” person, gently demurs. He wonders:
How to Read the Bible runs through the entire Hebrew Scriptures,
matching modern scholarship and ancient interpretation. The journey is
fascinating enough to render frustrating the author’s conclusion.
Although he admired both approaches, Professor Kugel writes, they are
“quite irreconcilable.”
Is this conclusion as unavoidable as he
makes it sound? Modern minds still seek deeper meanings and still want
relevant instructions for living. As for the ancient worry about
seamlessness, modern minds, sensitized to multiple perspectives, often
find more coherence in contrasting accounts than perfectly harmonized
ones.
The ancient interpreters’ boldness in rewriting was
motivated and justified, Professor Kugel writes, by a fresh
apprehension of God and the corresponding need to flesh out the
command, found in the Book of Deuteronomy and elsewhere, “to serve the
Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.” Is it so
impossible that modern scholarship, too, could be put to that service?
Understandably unmentioned in the column is Pope Benedict’s book, Jesus of Nazareth. But, of course, the Pope’s intent was precisely to unite the seemingly “irreconcilable” approaches.
Whether or not Benedict fully succeeded is a matter of legitimate debate. But clearly Steinfels’ generous reading of the book in his Commonweal article, “The Face of God,” shows his appreciation for what the Pope attempted … and accomplished.
Much depends on how a method of interpretation is conceived and what its presuppositions are. A method that presupposes that the Tower Babel story must relate an historical incident in the history of Babylon or some other city in Mesopotamia, or that Jonah actually did first spend three days in the belly of a whale and then, perhaps even more improbably, converted Nineveh, is incompatible with any method that could be called historical and critical. In 1903 Marie-Joseph Lagrange O.P. said that one should to take into account literary forms. In 1943 Pius XII agreed. In the meantime Fr. Lagrange, who died in 1938, had spent much of his life under clouds of suspicion spread by the arrogant and the ignorant.
But that is not to say that one cannot find a divine message in those stories. An approach to Scripture which rules out any possibility of divine revelation or a divine message hobbles itself from the outset and will of course never find that the possibility of which it has ruled out.
This looks like a great course, Fr. Imbelli. Your students are fortunate. I wish I could be one of them.
Me, too.
How about starting an online version? ;)
Is there a textbook for this course? I would like to know what the students are expected to read.
i would be student #3
Obviously a lot of educated Catholics feel that they do not know enough about Catholicism, and they want to remedy this situation. This is a good sign–the desire to know more even to the point of taking what seems an elementary college-level course–but also a sad commentary. You have been challenged, Fr. Imbelli. What do you suggest?
“. . . sad commentary . . . ” –Joseph Gannon
Thanks a lot.
David:
Sorry! I meant it was a sad commentary on the lack of Catholic adult educational programs.
Thanks to all who expressed some interest in the course.
I have the luxury of meeting twice a week for two semesters.
I do a lot of scripture, but from a theological point of view.
Each year I also give complementary reading.
This semester I will try Pope Benedict’s Jesus book.
One book that has been well-received in the past is Robert Barron’s, The Strangest Way.
I also try to introduce them to art work and music that shows other modes of theology than the conceptual.
I try to be somewhat “Socratic” in the presentations so as to engage the students more personally.
My final is always a “take-home” that seeks to give them scope to bring the material together in a provisional synthesis.
I would be happy to send the Syllabus to anyone interested.
I would be interested in the Syllabus.
Fr. Imbelli, could you (or someone else) recommend another pertinent book? I have put The Strangest Way in my Barnes & Noble shopping cart, and I need to add something costing at least $11.50 to get free shipping. I already own Jesus of Nazareth, The Saint Mary’s Press College Study Bible, and How to Read the Bible. (My paycheck is deposited directly at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com.)
David–
By all means take Fr. Imbelli’s recommendations over mine, but you might also want to consider “An Introduction to the New Testament” by Fr. Raymond Brown.
It can be read cover to cover, but I use it in the following way: I read the Gospel of Mark, for example, then I read Fr. Brown’s chapter on this Gospel. I quickly realize how little I’ve understood of mark, and I go back and read it again with a new perspective.
I don’t think there is a paperback edition of the book. The hard cover is about $30-35, but it’s one of those books you’ll go back to again and again.
David;
Fr. Brown also has some useful paperbacks. All the ones I have read are good but I would recommend two in particular: The Critical Meaning of the Bible and An Introduction to New Testament Christology.
Each time I teach my introduction to theology course for first year students I try to read something new on the scriptures. Am currently reading Frank Matera’s most recent work on New Testament Theology – I find it very informative. More later in the Book Notes column but I like it a good deal. It is readable and reliable. For background I am having my students read the late Jaroslav Pelikan’s “Whose Bible Is It” (Penguin) for a readable history of how the bible got assembled, canonized, and how it is read in both the Jewish and Christian tradition. We discuss a chapter a week.
i too would be interested in the syllabus
Fr. Imbelli–
As long as it’s not the Syllabus [of Errors], I’d also appreciate a copy.
Thanks.
Fr. Imbelli,
I would very much appreciate a copy of your syllabus.
Thank you!
Thanks to William, Joseph, and Larry for the book suggestions. I had some of them (I am an admirer of Raymond Brown’s work), and I ordered the rest.
Now, if only I read more of what I buy, understood more of what I read, and remembere more of what I understood (or thought I did)!
I meant William, Joseph, and Lawrence. (I think it is presumptuous to call people by nicknames.)