UNIT 2 Introduction to Sacred Scripture

WHO’S AUTHOR-ITY IS IT?  The Bible is a written record of God’s Revelation  God is author of this record, and we the people are His instruments.  Although technically, the people who wrote the books of the bible are the literal authors, God is using them to write His words down, and therefore the real author of the bible (can someone say plagiarism?)  The Sacred Scripture teaches that:  God is the author of the Bible, the Holy Spirit inspired the writers of the sacred books and, the Sacred Scriptures teach the truth

I FEEL SO INSPIRED!  Receiving inspiration, such as a moving speech or powerful religious studies lesson provided by Mr. Patterson falls under the category of arousing confidence in oneself  When we say the authors of the Bible were inspired, this is not the case. God is the author of the Bible and simply used human authors to convey Divine Revelation to us

I READ BIBLE GOOD!  God speaks to us through the Bible, but can convey a message in a variety of ways.  Literally vs. Literal Sense  “Literally” means that what happen, actually happened.  Ex. “Mr. Patterson literally typed this out.”  Literal Sense refers to the exegesis in which a teaching is portrayed, but can be in many different literary forms.

LITERARY FORMS IN THE BIBLE  Allegory: comparisons of a story that stand for deeper realities, abstract ideas, moral qualities, or spiritual qualities  Biography: a written account of someone’s life  Creed: a formal statement of religious belief  Etiology: a story that gives the cause of something  Fable: story with a moral, using animals  History: chronological narrative or record of events  Law: rule of conduct or standard of behavior established by authority, society, etc.

CONT.  Prophecy: inspired utterance made by a prophet, which expresses God’s will  Genealogy: a record of one’s ancestors  Hyperbole: a deliberate exaggerated saying to highlight the topic under discussion  Miracle Story: a report of a powerful sign performed by Jesus to show his power  Riddle: a question or statement that teases the mind, requires thought and application  Parable: a story told to convey truth, usually with a surprise ending  Pronouncement: a passage whose purpose is to set up an important saying

THE BIBLE RUBIK'S CUBE  Understanding the Bible can be difficult but can be broken down in three senses  1. Allegorical Sense: this a metaphor or comparison, there is more than one level of meaning.  Ex. Moses freeing the Israelites  Crossing the Red Sea = prefiguring Christ’s victory over sin  Red Sea = freedom of slavery from Egyptians  Baptism = freedom of slavery from Original Sin  Lamb’s blood on sides of entrances to avoid Angel of Death  Lamb = JC, whose death (blood) opens the gates of heaven to avoid Hell (eternal death)

2. THE MORAL SENSE  This is God’s Word leading us to live a good life and how to be just.  Ex. Prophets (pick any one of them)  They consistently tell the people what they are doing wrong and how to live a better life, they tell the people that if they don’t repent that God will punish them. The fact that these punishments are written down serve as a warning to those in the future that misbehave.

3. ANAGOGICAL SENSE  This is when we look at earthly events and other realities in the context of the leading us to heaven.  Our final goal is to get to heaven, and the Bible shows us the way  Anagogical in Latin mean “leading”  Ex. The Church is a symbol of the heavenly Jerusalem. The Church is the Body of Christ, leads us to our eternal destiny.

THE FOUR SENSES OF SCRIPTURE  1. the literal sense teaches history, for example, what the words say in a historical context  2. the allegorical sense teaches what you should believe, that is, what the words mean in the larger context of Salvation History  3. the moral sense teaches what you should do regarding how to live your life  4. the anagogical sense teaches where you are going, building up the virtue of hope while leading us to heaven

APPROACHING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE  Historical Criticism  Uses dating techniques, archaeology, and historical research to determine the historical context of the biblical text  Hollywood has used historical criticism as a way to add fantasy to their films. It provides a sort of allure or misinformation that was capitalized and glorified through film.   Other films/shows include: The Da Vinci Code, Ninth Gate, Supernatural

THE REAL ARK  Historical research tells us that the Ark of the Covenant was a wooden chest, built by the Chosen People after Moses received the Ten Commandments  Ex. 25:10-22 describes the design  Ex. 37:1-9 describes its construction (size in cubits)  The Bible mentions its travels and that it was considered the Holy of Holies  Lastly it describes its destruction by the Babylonians in 586 BCE, and how it was melted down for its gold

SOURCE CRITICISM  This is literary detective work that tells us where the authors of the Bible got their material.  Ex. The books of Kings: Scholars believe that it came from court records that royal scribes wrote down.  Better Ex. Luke’s Gospel: It is noted that Luke used 3 main sources for his Gospel, they are the Gospel of Mark, a collection of writings also used for Matthew’s Gospel, and a list of materials on Luke had

FORM CRITICISM  Involves studying small units of biblical text to determine how each book took shape in the period it was orally transmitted in.  This will let us now the genre or form.  This is extremely important for interpretation of text, since different genres used different methods to inform the reader.

REDACTION CRITICISM  This zeros in how the various editors put together and arranged the books in the Bible.  It tries to determine what theological insight a given author had that influenced him in the organization of this material  Ex. Jesus’ family tree: Luke specifically lists Adam (the ancestor of all people), this helps us know that Luke’s Gospel was written for Gentile Christians. Gentiles were non-Jews, Luke wanted to emphasize that Jesus is the savior for all people

CONT.  However…  In Matthew’s version, he lists Abraham as the first descendent, who is the father of Judaism. Matthew was writing for a Jewish-Christian community and want to show that JC was fulfilling the prophecies made by the Chosen people.