Verbum Domini: The Church as the Setting for Hermeneutics

This evening I printed off the Holy Father's work titled Verbum Domini and am finding it such enjoyable reading. Our present Holy Father is a man who lives sacred scripture and finds within it the living authority of the Church. The reason we see this so clearly in him is because he has realised and lives by the principle that "the sacred scriptures must be interpreted in light of the same Spirit through whom it was written." The Holy Father displays this ecclesial experience of examining sacred scripture in every area of his life and ministry. So, the reading of sacred scripture should be leading us to an increase of ecclesial awareness and ecclesial communion as we walk by faith.

The Holy Father makes clear the underlying hermeneutical authority of sacred scripture when he writes, "The intrinsic link between the word and faith makes clear that authentic biblical hermeneutics can only be had within the faith of the Church, which has its paradigm in Mary's fiat." Quoting from St Bonaventure, the Holy Father reminds us that without faith there is no key to throw open the sacred text. Therefore it is the life of the Church that is the primary setting for interpreting sacred scripture. The absence of this hermeneutical key is the primary problem in Protestantism where reading scripture on one's own has allowed so many errors to easily slip through the closed doors of the authoritative Church's hermeneutical guide. This is why the only authentic reading of sacred scripture is firmly rooted in the tradition of the Church that is in harmony with the Catholic Church's doctrine.

There is much more that I will be reading over the next few days as I work through this text but I look forward to more blog posts on this document in the near future.