Post
by BrotherAlan » Tue Dec 30, 2014 2:37 am
Dear Dizerner,
First, thank you for your honest questions.
Secondly, before just answering the questions you asked, it is important to, first, lay down some “groundwork” understanding for how Catholic theology and teaching actually “work”.
In Catholic theology, we believe that all authority comes from God, and so, for us to know about God, He needs to reveal Himself to us—which He, thankfully, has. He revealed Himself in many and various ways in the Old Testament through the prophets, and, in these latter days, He has revealed Himself to us through His Only-Begotten Son, Jesus Christ. Now, the teachings of these Old Testament prophets and of Christ Himself (and His Apostles) were delivered through two mediums: their written works, and their oral teachings. Those written works have been composed into that glorious and divine Book known as the Bible, or Sacred Scripture, which the Catholic Church holds very highly.
And, in fact, I will argue the Church holds the Bible more highly than any other Christian community, and this for several reasons: a.) It was the Catholic Church which decided on the canon of the Books of the Scripture—the Catholic Church told the world what the Bible actually is (at least what the New Testament is)!;b.) It was the Catholic Church who, through the works of her monks in monasteries, ensured the survival of the Bible by the painstaking activity of manually copying the Bible (prior to the printing press), and, also, of doing the same for the many commentaries on the Bible by the early Church Fathers; c.) The Catholic monasteries have always encouraged the great traditional practice of including Scripture in the liturgy and in the private practice of “lectio Divina”, which continues in monasteries to this day (that family member I talked about earlier spends anywhere from 4-5 hours a day in prayer in the Church, most of which is chanting or silently praying over various parts of Scripture); d.) The Catholic Church has arguably the strictest interpretation of inerrancy in the world, holding that, since God is the author of each and every word of the Bible, the Bible can not contain ANY ERROR WHATSOEVER (no historical error, no “moral” errors, no scientific errors, nothing!) Of course, the Church also says one must understand the proper intent of the Sacred Author (eg., the Sacred Author may not be intending to teach science and so may use figurative, not scientific, language to convey a real truth); but, whatever the sacred author intended to affirm as true, is true, period! That’s the Catholic teaching e.) Catholic theology and the Church’s Magisterial teachings rely primarily on the Bible as on a fount of data of Divine Revelation.
That said, the Church also holds that some of the teachings of Christ, the Apostles (and even, I suppose, of Old Testament truths) were handed down by word of mouth (and we see indication of this in the New Testament itself, when Paul exhorts his readers to follow his traditions, whether given by letter or by word of mouth). This is called Apostolic Oral Tradition, and it is form of Divine Revelation; but, while we cannot, of course, hear the Apostles’ preach today, we have various other sources that indicate for us what they taught. Such sources include the following (generally given in the order of importance): early Christian Creeds; early Christian Church Councils; early Christian liturgies and feastdays; writings of the Church Fathers (especially when they are unanimous, as they sometimes are, eg., they are unanimous when it comes to affirming that the Bread and Wine at the Last Supper really do become, substantially, the Body and Blood of Christ); writings of other respected teachers in the Church (eg., Doctors, Saints); even the evidence of early Christian art or Church architecture can be seen as a witness to the Faith of the early Church and, thus, evidence of how the early Church prayed in accord with Apostolic teaching. Sometimes it is difficult to ascertain just what was a part of Apostolic Oral Teaching; but, sometimes it is rather clear…and, when that is the case, then the Church affirms that, since that was part of the Apostles’ teachings, that, too, is a part of Divine Revelation. One of the most important pieces of divine revelation that came through Apostolic Tradition is, again, the very canon of Scripture itself. For, as we know, Scripture itself does not give its own canon; and, so, we need to look outside of Scripture, namely to the authentic, Apsotolic Traditions of the Church in order to determine what Books are actually Divinely inspired and so belong in the Bible. By the testimony of such things as Church Councils, early Liturgies, writings of Church Fathers, etc., the Church was able to ascertain, as part of Apostolic Tradition, which Books belonged in the New (and Old) Testament, and which did not. And, so, we have this Apostolic Tradition, as well as the Church’s discernment and judgment on this matter, to even tell us what the Bible is! Without this Apostolic Tradition and Church decisions on this, we could not really have any certitude as to what the Bible is, and so we would be at risk at reading books that were not really divinely inspired, or at not reading Books which actually ARE divinely inspired. (And, actually, there are a handful of Books which Catholics hold as divinely inspired which Protestants do NOT hold as inspired, and so do not include in their Bible. Now, we Catholics would hold that Protestants are not reading the full Scripture, and we would point to the sources of Apostolic Tradition and Church decision on this matter to support that claim; but I am not sure to what a Protestant can appeal as the reason for why he thinks those Books are NOT inspired--- for, this information is not in the Bible itself, and so how does a Protestant know, for example, that the Book of Sirach, or 1 & 2 Maccabees, or Wisdom is NOT inspired? TO what authority does he appeal to tell him that, and why is THAT authority trustworthy?? Seems to me that, at some point, one HAS to go to an AUTHENTIC tradition and appeal to an AUTHENTIC Church authority to decide these matters and so tell us what even the Bible is!? Else, we risk reading something that is not really the full Bible—we might include non-inspired Books, or, as I believe is the case in Protestant Bibles, you may be NOT including Books which actually ARE inspired! So, it’s a real dilemma here, no?)
But, anyways, to get back to basics, Catholic theology has, as its sources of revelation, the Divine Scriptures and the Apostolic Tradition (sometimes just called “Tradition”, with a big “T”); and then we have the Magisterium (Teaching Authority) of the Church, which is not really “above” the Bible or Apostolic Tradition as it is more “in service” to the Scriptures and Tradition. That is, the role of the Magsiterium is to tell us a.) WHAT is the Bible and Tradition; and b.) WHAT the Bible and Tradition actually MEAN (interpret it). The main job today of the Magisterium is interpreting the Bible (and, if necessary, Tradition, as well). You can think of the Magisterium as the “magnifying glass” which tells us more clearly what Scripture means when we cannot see it that clearly; or, if the Scriptures are the stars, the Magisterium is the telescope, aiding our unaided eyes to understand more clearly the nature of the Scriptures.
Now, I don’t have time to go into all the Scriptural texts themselves which point us to look at the Scriptures, the Apostolic Traditions, and to the Church for guidance on these, although perhaps I will mention a basic one or two. Obviously, for the Scriptures, we have 2 Tim. 3:16-17 (a verse I have my students at the Catholic high school at which I teach memorize almost every day): “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” For Apostolic Traditions we have, “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” (2 Thess. 2:15) And, for the Church, we have, “You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Mt. 16:18-19) And, “The church of the living God, [is] the pillar and foundation of the truth.” (1 Tim. 3:15) And, “If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector.” (Mt. 18:17) So, in other words, from the Scriptures themselves (and many other verses could be brought forward to prove this point), we see that we are being guided by God to look at a.) the Scriptures; b.) Apostolic Traditions; c.) the teachings/judgments of the Church. And, so it is that the Catholic Church holds that Divine Revelation has been given through the Bible and Apostolic Tradition, being properly interpreted by the Magisterium (Church Authority/Teaching).
So, with that background in mind, you asked, basically, “What if there is a situation in which the Church’s teaching contradicts that of the Bible?” My simply response is, well, that just cannot happen! But, why? Why do I say that? I say that simply because truth cannot contradict truth; and if the Scriptures teach truth-- and they do—and if the Church, set up by Christ to interpret the Bible properly, teaches truth—and she does—well, then, there just cannot be a situation in which the Catholic Church, being the Church founded by Christ and given authority by Him to interpret His Revelation, would ever make a mistake in her interpretation of what is the true meaning of the Holy Scriptures (provided, of course, that this Church teaches in an solemn and infallible manner; for, it is not always the case that when the Church teaches, she teaches in her most solemn, i.e., infallible, manner…but, that’s another story, probably for another time).
I think this goes back to just trust in Jesus, and looking to Him for guidance. Think of it this way. If JESUS were to give you an interpretation of a passage in the Bible, we would all believe it, right? And, we would believe it EVEN IF we did not understand it, or if it went against what we were previously taught or were previously thinking about that passage—right? Well, okay, I think we would all be willing to assent to Jesus’ interpretation of the Scriptures…right? Okay, well, then, can not Jesus have the ability to create an office in His Church, and appoint a man to an office in His Church, and give a grace to that man because He has that office in His Church, to be able to interpret the Bible in a way similar to that of Christ, i.e., without making a mistake? Does not Christ have the power to do this? Well, in the Catholic Church, that is all we believe about the Papacy—we believe that Christ, the true authority and head of the Church, has simply established an office in the Church in which the man who holds that office represents Christ as the visible head of the Church (he is the “vicar of Christ” on earth), and this man is, of course, the Pope. And, regardless of whom the Pope is, Christ is able to give the grace to the office that this man holds in order to, at the very least, PREVENT him from teaching error. And, so, if that man—the Pope—is the vicar of Christ (and the Scriptures DO present to us Peter as the vicar of Christ, and the Pope is Peter’s successor), and if he represents Christ to the faithful on earth, and if he issues an interpretation of Scripture or of an article of faith (and he does so in an authoritative and solemn manner), well, then, he is doing it with the authority of Christ, and so it is as if Christ Himself is speaking through that man (regardless of who that man is—he may be a wicked Pope—although, there have, actually, not been THAT many wicked Popes; certainly MANY, many, many more holy and saintly Popes throughout the ages, esp. since 1540 or so), and so we are wise to simply give assent to that teaching, even if it is contrary to what we have been previously taught, or were thinking, or if we just don’t understand or would not otherwise agree with it (if Christ’s representative had not taught it). For, when that Pope, acting AS the VISIBLE head of the Church, as the rep. of Christ, issues such a decree, then we know that that is the Faith OF THE CHURCH, and so must be true…and, desiring to have the Faith, the TRUE Faith of the CHURCH, we give our assent to it (and figure out how to understand it later!)
I hope that helps…in other words, to answer your questions, if someone were to have a different idea than what the Pope/Magisterium teaches on the proper interpretation of Scripture, then one would simply have to recognize that the Pope/Magisterium have the special role/charism in the Church to teach definitively on faith and morals, as guardians of the authentic truth and meaning of Scripture (they are not “above” Scripture; they present the true meaning of Scripture to us), and, as such, it is our duty, as the faithful, to assent to those teachings, even if that also includes trying to work out some difficulties we might have in understanding how such a teaching is true. The important thing is to recognize that, as can be seen in the Scriptures, there is such a thing as a “Teaching Authority” in Christ’s Church, an Authority (the Pope and bishops) who have the office from Christ to declare what is, and what is not, an authentic part of the Christian Faith…and, our task, as faithful, is to assent to that, recognizing that when we assent to such teachings and interpretations of Scripture, we are assenting to that which is given not merely by these men, but by Christ, Who is represented by these men to us on earth.
That was long-winded and off-the-cuff, but I hope that helps…are there, perhaps, any particular teachings of the Catholic Church which you do not think fit with Scripture (or was this more just a hypothetical, “What if the Church taught something contrary to Scripture?” kind of question).
In Christ, Son of God and Son of Mary,
BrotherAlan
"Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit,
as it was in the beginning, is now, and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen."