In a nutshell

The Pope, a master of concise synthesis, summarizes some important points about Scripture, Tradition, and the Church:

In this regard, the already mentioned dogmatic constitution "Dei Verbum" has stressed the legitimacy and necessity of the historical-critical method, reducing it to three essential elements: attention to literary genres; study of the historical context; examination of what is usually called Sitz im Leben. The conciliar document maintains firm at the same time the theological character of exegesis, indicating the strong points of the theological method in the interpretation of the text. This is so because the foundation on which theological understanding of the Bible rests is the unity of Scripture, and this assumption corresponds, as methodological way, to the analogy of the faith, that is, to the understanding of the individual texts from the whole.

The conciliar text adds a further methodological indication. Scripture being only one thing starting from the one People of God, which has been its bearer throughout history, consequently to read Scripture as a unit means to read it from the Church as from its vital place, and to regard the faith of the Church as the real key to interpretation. If exegesis also wishes to be theology, it must acknowledge that the faith of the Church is that form of "sim-patia" without which the Bible remains as a sealed book: Tradition does not close access to Scripture, but rather opens it; on the other hand, the decisive word in the interpretation of Scripture corresponds to the Church, in her institutional organizations. It is the Church, in fact, which has been entrusted with the task of interpreting authentically the Word of God written and transmitted, exercising her authority in the name of Jesus Christ (cfr "Dei Verbum," 10).

That is from an address Benedict XVI gave yesterday to professors, students and staff of the Pontifical Biblical Institute, on the centenary of its foundation.

Some books by Ratzinger/Benedict XVI about or related to Scripture:

• Behold the Pierced One
• Dogma and Preaching
• The God of Jesus Christ: Meditations on the Triune God
• God's Word: Scripture, Tradition, Office
• Gospel, Catechism and Catechesis
• Jesus, The Apostles, and the Early Church
• Jesus of Nazareth (hardcover)
• Jesus of Nazareth (paperback)
• Introduction to Christianity

Comments

[Jackson]

Any idea of when the sequel to this is coming out?

[Jackson]

Jesus of Nazareth, that is.

[David]

There's a fair chance it'll be out in German around Easter 2010. I think we'll have to wait until the Summer lest the publisher holds it back for a Christmas 2010 release.

I reckon a Summer release is more likely.

[Rich Leonardi]

You beat me to the punch, Carl. I was going to turn those two densely packed little paragraphs into a "nutshell" post of my own.