Jesus told His apostles that they were given the the authority to teach the world what Jesus had taught them. Matthew 28:18-20 “Then Jesus approached and said to them, "All power in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age." From tthew/matthew28.htm

Magisterium: the authority of the Church to teach all that has been revealed about God to the Apostles in both Scripture and Sacred Tradition. Why does the Church have teaching authority? The Roman Catholic Church assumes: that Christ founded His Church as a visible and perfect society;ChristChurch that He intended it to be absolutely universal and imposed upon all men a solemn obligation actually to belong to it, unless inculpable ignorance should excuse them; that He wished this Church to be one, with a visible corporate unity of faith, government, and worship; and that in order to secure this threefold unity, He bestowed on the Apostles and their legitimate successors in the hierarchy -- and on them exclusively -- the plenitude of teaching, governing, and liturgical powers with which He wished this Church to be endowed. From: ignorance Apostles Inculpable means “free of guilt; not subject to blame” t t Plenitude means abundance or completeness.

The Divisions of the Bible The Old Testament and New Testament. Books of the Pentateuch

4 sections of Old Testament/Hebrew Scripture 1. Pentateuch 2. Historical Books 3. Wisdom and Poetry Books 4. Prophets Please Help Wilma Plant

► 4 sections of New Testament/Christian Scriptures 1. Gospels 1. Gospels 2. Acts of the Apostles 2. Acts of the Apostles 3. Letters 3. Letters 4. Revelations 4. Revelations

Each section has different books 5 Books of the Pentateuch 1. Genesis 2. Exodus 1. Genesis 2. Exodus 3. Leviticus 4. Numbers 5. Deuteronomy

mnemonic device ► Give (Genesis) ► Every (Exodus) ► Lad (Leviticus) ► Nine (Numbers) ► Dollars (Deutoronomy)

Divino Afflante Spiritu ► Who wrote it? ► What did it say about how Catholics should read the Bible? ► What does Inspired mean? ► What does Revelation mean? ► What does Inerrancy mean?

Many of the Catholic Church’s teachings about the Bible were summarized in Divino Afflante Spiritu. It was written by Pope Pius XII in 1943.

This document teaches that all historical and scientific statements in the Bible are not necessarily true. The writers of the Bible were human and were responsible for grammar and scientific/historical accuracy.

Three Main Beliefs that Catholics are taught by Divino Afflante Spiritu are… 1. The Bible is inspired. The Bible was written through Inspiration. The Bible has many authors but all were inspired by God to reveal truths about God. 2. The Bible is revelation. The Bible is a primary way in which God reveals God’s self and God’s truth to us. 3. The Bible is Inerrant. There may be scientific and historical inaccuracies in the Bible but there are no errors in what it teaches about the nature of God and human relationship to God. This is called inerrancy.

The writers of the Bible were guided by the Holy Spirit in the truths about faith contained in the Bible. ► Catholics believe the Bible is the inspired word of God but not the literal word of God. ► The Holy Spirit inspired the writers of scripture but the writers told the stories in their own words, their own style and used their own knowledge.

REVELATION ► Who is God? ► What does God want? ► When did God first exist? ► Where does God live? ► How did God save humanity?

Is everything in the Bible true? ► Yes! Everything the bible teaches about God and the relationship between God and humans is considered inerrent. ► Inerreant means “without error” ► No! The bible is not a history or a science book. It does not explain how God created the world nor does it give historically accurate accounts of all events. It is Sacred History that tells of our relationship with God.

Literalist vs. Literal Sense (Figurative) ► Literalist: Interpreting biblical text to mean exactly what it says. ► Example: “At the concert, Beyoncé was on fire! ► ‘ A literalist interpretation would be that Beyonce was covered with flames when what was really meant was that she really put on a great performance. ► Literal Sense: Looking at something and determining meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis. ► Exegesis is the process used by scholars to discover the meaning of the biblical text.

The first book of the Bible is Genesis. Genesis means “beginning”. The first eleven stories of Genesis give us stories of Pre-history. These stories of creation reveal great truths about the world and human connection to God and His creation. They are not scientific explanations of the universe. What the authors did was use stories that the people already knew to convey religious truths Let’s take a look at these stories……….

Genesis In the beginning…. We learn about the goodness of creation, human responsibility, what a covenant is, and how good can come out of evil.

The Bible starts with stories of creation. ► MYTHIC STORIES: Traditional or ancient stories that help to provide a worldview of a people by explaining their creation, customs or ideals. Mythic does not mean they are false. ► They reveal important truths about God, creation, the nature of sin and human beings. ► They convey great religious truths but are not meant to be scientific or actual history.

“And it was good”it 1.Everything was created by God All of creation is “good” Humans are very good because we are made in God’s image Through the story of Creation we learn….

2. Evil entered the world through human action  Choice 1  Choice 2

3. Humans are made “In the image of God” As a result we possess: Freedom Love Knowledge Ability to create

4. Humans “Have dominion” over the Earth Dominion means to have supreme authority or power over something We have authority over the earth We must rule the Earth wisely

5. Humans have Original Sin  What does it mean to be human?  We sometimes make the wrong choices.  We do not always choose God  What are the consequences of sin?  Life is hard  We must struggle to survive  We experience pain

“With great power comes great responsibility.” Uncle Ben

“Am I my brother’s keeper?”

What do we learn from Cain and Able? We learn that God wants each of us to be responsible for each other. We learn that God does not want a cycle of violence.

Noah He answered God’s strange call. Even though the people of the world were sinful, Noah followed the request of God. He lived his life in a Godly fashion. Noah rejected social sin.

Sin has social consequences  When we fail to love we hurt others  When failure to love becomes part of our social system (e.g. racism, genderism) we experience “social sin”

Covenant  We respond by trusting in God  We respond by living in community with others  We respond through love God invites us to share in the goodness of creation

God’s gift to us– The World

The Tower of Babel We learn from this story that humanity is separated by pride not by superficial reasons such as languages, skin tones and gender. +tower+of+babel&FORM=VIRE1#view=d etail&mid=DA4A3C35693CA767DD84DA4A 3C35693CA767DD84www.bing.com/videos/search?q=the +tower+of+babel&FORM=VIRE1#view=d etail&mid=DA4A3C35693CA767DD84DA4A 3C35693CA767DD84

SALVATION HISTORY ► Salvation History is the story of God’s saving action in human history. ► The Bible gives us the “history” of how God created the world, humans turned away from God and God saved humans from sin and its consequences. ► God is revealed to us through the events of Salvation History.

Muhammed is born in 570 AD. This is close to 500 years after the New Testament is written.

The Bible in 50 Words! God made Adam bit Noah arked Abraham split Jacob fooled Joseph ruled Bush talked Moses balked Pharaoh plagued People walked Sea divided Tablets guided Promise landed Saul freaked David peeked Prophets warned Jesus born God walked Love talked Anger crucified Hope died Love rose Spirit flamed Word spread God remained.