SUMMARY: DIVINO AFFLANTE SPIRITU (By Fortunatus Nnadi ([email protected] com) Inspired by the Holy Spirit, the Sacred Writers composed the bible which. Divino Afflante Spiritu rejects those Catholic conservatives who “ pretend that nothing remains to be added by the Catholic exegete of our time to what. This chapter treats Catholic biblical interpretation since Pius XII’s encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu (). At the heart of the chapter is Vatican II’s teaching in its.
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Peter’s, on the 30th of September, the feast of St.
If the professors of this most important matter in the Seminaries accomplish all this, then let them rest joyfully assured that they have most efficaciously contributed to djvino salvation of souls, to the progress of the Catholic faith, to the honor and glory of God, and that they have performed a work most closely connected with the apostolic office.
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Divino afflante spiritu
Aided by the context and by comparison with similar passages, let them therefore by means of their knowledge of languages search out with all diligence the literal meaning of the words; all these helps indeed are wont aflante be pressed into service in the explanation also of profane writers, so that the mind of the author may be made abundantly clear.
The value of these excavations afrlante enhanced by the discovery from time to time of written documents, which help much towards the knowledge of the languages, letters, events, customs, and forms of worship of most ancient times. Nor is it forbidden by the decree of the Council of Trent to make translations into the vulgar tongue, even directly from the original texts themselves, for the use and benefit of the faithful and for the better understanding of the divine word, as Djvino know to have been already done in a laudable manner in many countries with the approval of the Ecclesiastical authority.
Based on this also, the faithful are admonished to make free and holy use of the sacred books in order that it instructs them to salvation by the faith which is in Christ Jesus. Sign in to annotate. Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article.
It may indeed be useful, especially in preaching, to illustrate, and present the matters of faith and morals by a broader use of the Sacred Text in afflqnte figurative sense, provided this be done with moderation and restraint; it should, however, never be forgotten that this use of the Sacred Scripture is, as it were, extrinsic to it and accidental, and that, especially in these days, it is not free from danger, since the faithful, in particular those who are well-informed in the sciences sacred and profane, spiiritu to know what God has told us in the Sacred Divibo rather than what an ingenious orator or writer may suggest by a clever use afflane the words of Scripture.
In the performance of diivno task let the interpreters bear in mind that their foremost and greatest endeavor should be to discern and define clearly that sense of the biblical words which is called literal. He posits that the explanation of the sacred books can be done with the use of language and literary criticism.
John Chrysostom extolled with the highest praise and repeatedly declared to be found in the Sacred Books.
Divino Afflante Spiritu (September 30, ) | PIUS XII
This pamphlet was answered in a letter of the Biblical Commission dated Aug. It first cites recent discoveries in archeology, ancient history, linguistics, and other technical sciences contributing to a better understanding of the Bible.
I, 18 PG 59, col. For whereas there arose new and serious difficulties and questions, from the wide-spread prejudices of rationalism and more especially from the discovery and investigation of the antiquities of the East, this same Our Predecessor, moved by zeal of the apostolic office, not only that such an excellent source of Catholic revelation might be more securely and abundantly available to the advantage of the Christian flock, but also that he might not suffer it to be in any way tainted, wished and most earnestly desired “to see an increase in the number of the approved and persevering laborers in the cause of Holy Scripture; and more especially that those whom Divine Grace has called to Holy Orders, should day-by-day, as their state demands, display greater diligence and industry in reading, meditating and explaining it.
Divino Afflante Spiritu Quotes by Pope Pius XII
Nevertheless no one, who has a correct idea of biblical inspiration, will be surprised to find, even in the Sacred Writers, as in other ancient authors, certain fixed ways of expounding and narrating, certain definite idioms, especially of a kind peculiar to the Semitic tongues, so-called approximations, and certain hyperbolical modes of expression, nay, at times, even paradoxical, which even help to impress the ideas more deeply on the mind.
Many of them also, by the written word, have promoted and do still promote, far and wide, the study of the Bible; as when they edit the sacred text corrected in accordance with the rules of textual criticism or expound, explain, and translate it into the vernacular; or when they propose it spirith the faithful for their pious reading and meditation; or finally spiriut they cultivate and seek the aid of profane sciences which are affkante for the interpretation of the Scriptures.
In spirituu encyclical letter, the exegetes are instructed to disclose and expound the significance of the Gospel message carefully without proposing other figurative senses as the genuine meaning of the Sacred Scripture. Jerome, the greatest Doctor of the Sacred Scriptures, after having most solemnly inculcated the precepts and examples of the same Doctor, as well as the principles and rules laid down by Leo XIII and by himself, and having recommended other things highly opportune and never to be forgotten in this connection, exhorted afflwnte the children of the Church, especially clerics, to reverence the Holy Scripture, to read it piously and meditate it constantly”; he reminded them “that in these pages is to be sought that afflsnte, by which the spiritual life is nourished unto perfection,” and “that the chief use of Aafflante pertains to the holy and fruitful exercise of the ministry of preaching”; he likewise once again expressed his warm approval of the work of the society called after St.
Let the professors of Spieitu Scripture in the Seminaries give the whole course of biblical studies in such a way, that they may instruct the young aspirants to the Priesthood and to the ministry of the divine word with that knowledge of the Sacred Letters and imbue them with that love for the same, without which it is vain to hope for copious fruits of the apostolate.
He defines the prime task of the biblical interpreter as the discovery of the literal sense of the Word of God, as intended by the inspired human author. Log In Sign Up. Let the ministers of the Sanctuary be convinced that all this, and whatsoever else an apostolical zeal and a sincere love of the divine word may find suitable to this high purpose, will be an efficacious help to the cure of souls.
The second and more important part of the encyclical sets down a scientific program for biblical studies.
Divino afflante Spiritu “Inspired by the Holy Spirit ” is a papal encyclical letter issued by Pope Pius XII on 30 September calling for new translations of the Bible from the original languages, instead of the Latin Vulgate of Jeromewhich was revised multiple times and spiirtu formed the textual basis for all Catholic vernacular translations until then.
Wherefore let him diligently apply himself so as to acquire daily a greater facility in biblical as well as in other oriental languages and to support his interpretation by the aids which all branches of philology supply. This text promoted an account of revelation as a multifaceted reality, and outlined a rounded account of biblical interpretation that endorsed some styles of modern historical critical analysis while insisting that Scripture should be interpreted in the light of a knowledge of what God intended divimo convey through Scripture.
There are, in fine, other books or texts, which contain difficulties brought to light only in quite recent times, since a more profound knowledge of antiquity has given rise to new questions, on the basis of which the point at issue may be more appropriately examined.
An analysis of these six areas demonstrates why, init was clear that the traditional fundamentalist approach to biblical study was insufficient and why a new and scientific approach to Bible study was necessary: Stephen’s, Jerusalem, by the Master General of the Sacred Order of Preachers – from which, to use his own words, “biblical science itself had received no small advantage, while giving promise of more”[11] – so in the last year of his life he provided yet another way, by which these same studies, so warmly commended in the Encyclical Letter Providentissimus Deusmight daily make greater progress and be pursued with the greatest possible security.
Nevertheless no one will be surprised, if all difficulties are not yet solved and overcome; but that even today serious problems greatly exercise the minds of Catholic exegetes. Encyclical Letter Spiritus ParaclitusSept. The bishops, at this juncture, are advised to support by means of finance, associations that spread copies of the Gospel, to recommend the use of translated version of the Sacred Books in homes and to give public conferences on biblical subjects or have capable hands do it on their behalf.
Hence their exegetical explanation should aim especially at the theological doctrine, avoiding useless disputations and omitting all that is calculated rather to gratify curiosity than to promote true learning and solid piety. The encyclical is likewise liberalizing in that it removed the requirement that official Catholic Bible translations be from the Vulgate, stressed the fact that only a few biblical texts had been officially interpreted by the Catholic Church, and encouraged Scripture scholars to make full use of scientific means in studying and interpreting the Holy Bible.
When then such modes of expression are met within the sacred text, which, being meant for men, is couched in human language, justice demands that they be no more taxed with error than when they occur in the ordinary intercourse of daily life.
All this in fine Our immediate Predecessor of happy memory Pius XI brought to perfection, laying down among other things “that no one should be appointed professor of Sacred Scripture in any Seminary, unless, having completed a special course of biblical studies, he had in due form obtained the academic degrees before the Biblical Commission or the Biblical Institute.
On the Catholic Interpretation of the Bible: Divino Afflante Spiritu
Contra Arianos I, 54; PG 26, col. Nor should We fail to mention here how earnestly these same Our Predecessors, when the opportunity occurred, recommended the study or preaching or in fine the pious reading and meditation on the Sacred Scriptures. For what they wished to express is not to be determined by the rules of grammar and philology alone, nor solely by the context; the interpreter must, as it were, go back wholly in spirit to those remote centuries of the East and with the aid of history, archaeology, ethnology, and other sciences, accurately determine what modes of writing, so to speak, the authors of that ancient period would be likely to use, and in fact did use.
Being thoroughly prepared by the knowledge of the ancient languages and by the aids afforded by the art of criticism, let the Catholic exegete undertake the task, of all those imposed on him the greatest, that namely of discovering and expounding the genuine meaning of the Sacred Books.
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