Ask Father Pisut

My question is based upon a conversation with a friend. She and her family are non-denominational/Pentacostal. Her son is attending Mt. Marty in Yankton, a Catholic college. A professor of his, in his religion class, has stated that some of the writings of the Old Testament were not necessarily true but teach the lesson in a fictional manner. They took offense to this and I have been asked about this and I unfortunately don’t know what to tell my friend. What is our belief about this and what exactly are those things that are considered fictional?

 Thank you and have a great day/week!

Patti

Patti,

I know nothing about the nature of the Catholic college or the

orientation of the professor you mention and where they fall on the

scale of faithfulness to the Church. However, even if we presume them

to be orthodox Catholics, chances are your friend would probably still

have difficulty with what was taught. This is because Catholics and

Protestants have a fundamentally different understanding of the Bible.

However, because many Catholics don't know their Faith they by default

assume the Protestant understanding of Scripture which has so

influenced our culture. While different Protestant sects may have

different understandings of the Bible I sense from what you tell me

that your non-denominational/Pentecostal friend has more or less a

fundamentalist or literal understanding of the Bible. This is not the

Catholic understanding.

We recognize that there are many different literary types in the

Bible. There are indeed historical accounts in the Bible (Joshua) but

there are also the Psalms as songs as well as poetry, prose and wisdom

literature. Acts and the Epistles of the New Testament are surely

reliable historical accounts. While the Gospels recount Jesus ministry

with some variance we do believe the accounts, including the miracles,

to  be true. Yet, we also see in apocalyptic literature such

as Daniel and Revelation highly symbolic accounts not meant to be

taken literally. Genesis teaches us the truth of God's creation of the

world outside of the question of if it really happened as written. The

book of Job teaches us about being faithful to God in all

circumstances in a highly literary form.

In sorting through all of this we need recourse to authentic Biblical

scholarship rooted in the teaching authority of the Church. For the

Catholic understanding of scripture, as opposed to Protestant, is that

the the Church gave life to the Bible in it's canonized form and the

Bible, as one it's three pillars along with along with the Teaching

Magisterium and Tradition, gives life to the Church. The Church

authoritatively interprets scripture for us and how to approach it.

This is why as Catholics we need to read from a Catholic Bible with

it's accompanying notes. Your friend more likely understands the Bible

as the sole rule of faith and feels free to interpret it on their own

without recourse to any higher authority. While as Catholics we are

free, and indeed encouraged, to read Sacred Scripture we need to

recognize the Bible in it's authentic place in the life of faith in

the context of the Church. Perhaps your friend would be well served to

read a book on the Catholic understanding of the Bible. One such

choice would be "Inside the Bible" by Fr. Kenneth Baker from Ignatius

Press.

Fr. Pisut