Light Eye
10-17-2005, 11:42 AM
Dear Friends,
I was "indoctrinated" in the catholic faith and "knew" from an early age that
much of what I was told didn't jive so I see this as an interesting turn of
events concerning the catholic church. Still a long way to go though...;-)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1811332,00.html
Be Well, Be Love.
David
Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document
instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five
million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that
they should not expect ?total accuracy? from the Bible.
?We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete
historical precision,? they say in The Gift of Scripture.
The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right,
in particular in the US.
Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told
in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin?s theory of evolution in schools, believing
?intelligent design? to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began.
But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times
conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country?s
Catholic bishops insist cannot be ?historical?. At most, they say, they may
contain ?historical traces?.
The document shows how far the Catholic Church has come since the 17th century,
when Galileo was condemned as a heretic for flouting a near-universal belief in
the divine inspiration of the Bible by advocating the Copernican view of the
solar system. Only a century ago, Pope Pius X condemned Modernist Catholic
scholars who adapted historical-critical methods of analysing ancient literature
to the Bible.
In the document, the bishops acknowledge their debt to biblical scholars. They
say the Bible must be approached in the knowledge that it is ?God?s word
expressed in human language? and that proper acknowledgement should be given
both to the word of God and its human dimensions.
They say the Church must offer the gospel in ways ?appropriate to changing
times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries?.
The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but
continue: ?We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular
matters.?
They go on to condemn fundamentalism for its ?intransigent intolerance? and to
warn of ?significant dangers? involved in a fundamentalist approach.
?Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or group
see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even consider
themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others.?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
I was "indoctrinated" in the catholic faith and "knew" from an early age that
much of what I was told didn't jive so I see this as an interesting turn of
events concerning the catholic church. Still a long way to go though...;-)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-1811332,00.html
Be Well, Be Love.
David
Catholic Church no longer swears by truth of the Bible
By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent
THE hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document
instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five
million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that
they should not expect ?total accuracy? from the Bible.
?We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete
historical precision,? they say in The Gift of Scripture.
The document is timely, coming as it does amid the rise of the religious Right,
in particular in the US.
Some Christians want a literal interpretation of the story of creation, as told
in Genesis, taught alongside Darwin?s theory of evolution in schools, believing
?intelligent design? to be an equally plausible theory of how the world began.
But the first 11 chapters of Genesis, in which two different and at times
conflicting stories of creation are told, are among those that this country?s
Catholic bishops insist cannot be ?historical?. At most, they say, they may
contain ?historical traces?.
The document shows how far the Catholic Church has come since the 17th century,
when Galileo was condemned as a heretic for flouting a near-universal belief in
the divine inspiration of the Bible by advocating the Copernican view of the
solar system. Only a century ago, Pope Pius X condemned Modernist Catholic
scholars who adapted historical-critical methods of analysing ancient literature
to the Bible.
In the document, the bishops acknowledge their debt to biblical scholars. They
say the Bible must be approached in the knowledge that it is ?God?s word
expressed in human language? and that proper acknowledgement should be given
both to the word of God and its human dimensions.
They say the Church must offer the gospel in ways ?appropriate to changing
times, intelligible and attractive to our contemporaries?.
The Bible is true in passages relating to human salvation, they say, but
continue: ?We should not expect total accuracy from the Bible in other, secular
matters.?
They go on to condemn fundamentalism for its ?intransigent intolerance? and to
warn of ?significant dangers? involved in a fundamentalist approach.
?Such an approach is dangerous, for example, when people of one nation or group
see in the Bible a mandate for their own superiority, and even consider
themselves permitted by the Bible to use violence against others.?
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]