Ctc402 Review Of Dei Verbum Draft 2

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Vatican II in its Context: Review of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Liturgy, Dei Verbum

CTC402: Vatican II in its Context Assessment Task 1: Review of a Council document A review of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, Dei Verbum

In so far as it dealt with revelation, the First Vatican Council (1869-70) set out its teaching1 against a religious and cultural background permeated by Enlightenment rationalism, fideism and certain forms of deism. This teaching presented revelation in terms of the communication of divine mysteries, the doctrine of the faith and the deposit of revealed truths; these were embodied to some extent in those inspired and inerrant works of Scripture that the Church considered her own; they were received by the faithful by means of what Newman would have called a ‘notional assent’.2 In his encyclical Providentissimus Deus (1893), Pope Leo XIII cautiously recognised the value of certain linguistic and exegetical studies that had been applied to Scripture by mainly Protestant scholars. However this thawing of attitudes was halted by the Church’s reaction to the Modernist crisis and pronouncements by Popes Pius X (1903-14) and Benedict XV (1914-22) effectively silenced Catholic thinkers such as Marie-Joseph Lagrange who were trying to promote a more scholarly and critical reading of the Scriptures. After a couple of trying decades for Catholic scholars a complete about-face in thinking about revelation and scriptural study was achieved by Pius XII (1939-58) who in his encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu (1942) inaugurated what has been called a ‘Magna Carta’ for biblical progress.3 Given Pope Pius XII’s encouraging remarks about responsible biblical scholarship, it is perhaps surprising to learn that a draft document (‘The 1

cf the decree Dei Filius (1870) cf Newman, The Grammar of Assent, Longmans (1930), Chapter IV; for a fuller discussion see J Hick, Faith and Knowledge, Collins (1974), Ch 1: Faith as propositional belief. 3 R. Brown et al (eds.), The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990), p. 1167 2

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Vatican II in its Context: Review of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Liturgy, Dei Verbum

Sources of Revelation’) on revelation presented to the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) was very negative in its approach to biblical advances. The Council Fathers themselves disliked the draft and rejected its narrow propositional view of revelation, its ‘two source’ theory and its views on the inerrancy of scripture. The final (fifth) draft, accepted by 2344 to 6, endorsed a more balanced and broader view and provided a basis on which further progress in the understanding of revelation could proceed. Dei Verbum has six chapters including sections on revelation itself, its sources, the inspiration and inerrancy of scripture, the Old Testament and the Gospels and Scripture in the life of the Church. Three distinct points can be made about revelation in Dei Verbum. First there is a movement away from revelata (truths disclosed) to revelatio (personal disclosure). God chooses to ‘reveal himself and to make known the mystery of his will’.4 This self-revelation of God takes place in history ‘by deeds and words which are intrinsically bound up with each other’.5 The appropriate mode by which this revelation is received is not so much intellectual assent as a faith by which ‘man freely commits his entire self to God’.6 Secondly Dei Verbum emphasises the christocentric character of revelation. Contrasting with the Vatican I decree Dei Filius dealing with the mystery of God in which there is very little reference to Christ as a source of revelation, Dei Verbum says that Jesus ‘completed and perfected Revelation’ 7 The God revealed in Jesus is also the God who will be shown in his full glory in the Second Coming of Christ. Dermot Lane points out that ‘this fullness of revelation in Christ does not exclude growth and development in our appropriation of the Christ-event … Thus the closure of revelation is in another sense its openness for man in the life of the Christian community.’8 Lastly, contrasting with the anti-Modernist condemnations of the appeal to experience when

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DV, 2, p. 750 DV, 2, p. 751 6 DV, 5, p. 752, my emphasis. 7 DV, 4, p. 752 8 Dermot A Lane, The Experience of God: An invitation to do theology, Veritas 1981: Ch 2 p. 47 5

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Vatican II in its Context: Review of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Liturgy, Dei Verbum

considering revelation, Dei Verbum affirms that it was through experience that Israel came to know the ways of God with men. 9 Concerning the question of the sources of revelation, Dei Verbum suggests that the dichotomy of Scripture and Tradition (the ‘two sources’ idea) is overcome by the realisation that there is but one source of which Tradition and Scripture are different expressions. The document states that these two sources ‘are bound closely together’ and ‘come together in some fashion to form one thing’.10 The Council, in fact, leaves this difficult question unsettled. Echoing Newman11, however, it does refer to the development of doctrine: ‘Thus, as the centuries go by, the Church is always advancing towards the plenitude of divine truth, until eventually the words of God are fulfilled in her.’12 This implies that, while the seed of doctrine is found in Scripture, it is not sufficient on its own to teach Catholic doctrine. Echoing Möhler,13 Dei Verbum states that ‘the Church does not draw her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures alone. Hence, both must be accepted and honoured with equal feelings of devotion and reverence’.14 As a rider to this it adds that the authentic interpretation of Scripture has been entrusted to the Church but immediately qualifies this by saying that ‘the Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God, but its servant.’15 On the question of the inerrancy of Scripture, there is in the text16 an implied qualification, namely that scriptural teaching is without error to the extent that it conforms to the salvific purposes of God.17 It is up to the Church, proceeding a posteriori and using whatever sound critical tools are available, to determine precisely what those purposes are. 9

Cf DV, 14 p. 759. DV, 9 p. 755 11 that is, in his Development of Christian Doctrine 12 DV, 8 p. 754 13 particularly his Unity in the Church or the Principle of Catholicism 14 DV, 9 p. 755 15 DV, 10 p. 756 16 DV, 11 p. 757 ‘Since … all that the inspired authors … affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture, firmly, faithfully and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred Scriptures.’ 17 See The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, op cit. p 1169. 10

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Vatican II in its Context: Review of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Liturgy, Dei Verbum

A. Hastings has remarked that the two short chapters on the two Testaments are ‘most valuable for what they do not say’18, avoiding as they do the censures and warnings that some at the Council were seeking. Dei Verbum concludes by drawing parallels between Scripture and the Eucharist: both are offered from one table as sustenance to the faithful.19 It urges the faithful to read the Bible, quoting St Jerome’s dictum that “Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ”.20 Finally, comparing Dei Verbum with Dei Filius, Paul McPartlan observes that, as against Dei Filius’ rationalist and metaphysical anthropology, the understanding of man implied in Dei Verbum is personalist and not exclusively cerebral.21 The Council stated that the mission of the Church is above all to “reveal the mystery of God, who is the ultimate goal of man.”22 Dei Verbum contributes to this mission by inviting Catholics to see revelation as a relational encounter involving the whole person.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY Austin Flannery OP (Ed), Vatican Council II: The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents, Costello (1975) R Brown et al (Eds), The New Jerome Biblical Commentary, (1990) A Hastings, Modern Catholicism, (1991) A. Lane, Christian Thought, Lion (1984) D A Lane, The Experience of God, Veritas (1981)

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A. Hastings, Modern Catholicism, (1991) p. 76 DV, 21 p. 762 20 see Jerome, Comm. in Isaias, Prol.: PL 24, 17. 21 See Paul McPartlan notes Revelation: Vatican I to Vatican II with reference to DV, 25 p. 764 22 Gaudium et Spes, 41. 19

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Vatican II in its Context: Review of the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Liturgy, Dei Verbum