Scripture and Tradition
Comunicación y Gerencia
Adult Catechism Class
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Outline of class
•Overview of last classes
•Opening Prayer
•Sacred Scripture and
Tradition
•The start = Revelation
•Transmission of Revelation
•Sacred Scripture
•Praying with Sacred
Scripture
•Stump the Priest
•Closing prayer
Opening Prayer
4th Sunday of Advent
… Here I am the servant of the Lord. Let it be done according to your word.
Review
• God the Father
– Created us out of love
– Rebellion
– Calling us home – to be in communion
• God the Son
– Fullness of humanity and divinity
– Sent to restore all things in Himself to the
Father – through the Paschal mystery
Review
• God the Holy Spirit
– God’s love made manifest
– Promise of the Father
– Life of the Church
– Gifts of charisms for the building of the Body
of Christ
• Trinity
– Three persons – one God
– Communion – reflected in how we were made
Sacred Scripture and Tradition
• Co-equal importance
– Cannot have one without the other
– Authority has been given to the apostles and
their successors
– Christ intended this
• St. Peter – the keys / the rock
• The election of one to replace Judas – St. Matthias
• Acts 1:15-26 – implication of apostolic succession
Revelation –
God comes to meet US • Revelation
– CCC 53 “God communicates himself to man
gradually. He prepares him to welcome by
stages the supernatural Revelation that is to
culminate in the person and mission of the
incarnate Word, Jesus Christ.”
– To show as to not take away free will
– To freely choose to believe and to love and so
to serve with all the mind / heart and soul
Revelation - Through time
• The Hebrew Scriptures – (Old Testament)
• Persons
• Events
• Places
– Revelation of God
– God making Himself known
Revelation - Hebrew Scriptures
• Noah –
– Covenant made with him
• Covenant = family bond – not a contract
• Gathering all into one with God
– After the flood – divided into nations
• Abraham – the Father of Faith
– Descendants promised to the people of Israel
• Prophets
– God forms His people
Revelation - Jesus
• Jesus is the fullness of REVELATION
• God has said everything in His WORD
– Hebrews 1:1-2
– St. John of the Cross – feast Dec 14
St. John of the Cross
• In giving us his Son, his only Word (for he
possesses no other), he spoke everything to us
at once in this sole Word - and he has no more
to say. . . because what he spoke before to the
prophets in parts, he has now spoken all at once
by giving us the All Who is His Son. Any person
questioning God or desiring some vision or
revelation would be guilty not only of foolish
behaviour but also of offending him, by not fixing
his eyes entirely upon Christ and by living with
the desire for some other novelty. (CCC 65)
Revelation – Jesus
• There will be no further revelation
– (note CCC 67)
– CCC 73 God has revealed himself fully by
sending his own Son, in whom he has
established his covenant for ever. the Son is
his Father's definitive Word; so there will be
no further Revelation after him.
Transmission of Divine
Revelation • How does God speak to us?
– Many ways …
• Apostolic Tradition
• In the relationship between Tradition and
Sacred Scripture
Apostolic Tradition
• The Church is the Body of Christ
• Christ is the head – we are the members
• Entrusting the Good News to His people
• Empowering the Church through the Holy
Spirit – to tell the Good News to the ends
of the Earth
• Authority given to the Church
• Sacred Scripture comes from the Apostles
Apostolic Tradition
• Apostolic preaching
– INSPIRED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT
• Apostolic Succession
– The laying on of hands – the anointing – CCC79 The Father's self-communication made through his
Word in the Holy Spirit, remains present and active in the
Church: "God, who spoke in the past, continues to converse with
the Spouse of his beloved Son. and the Holy Spirit, through
whom the living voice of the Gospel rings out in the Church - and
through her in the world - leads believers to the full truth, and
makes the Word of Christ dwell in them in all its richness."
Relationship between
Tradition and Scripture • CCC 80 both of them (scripture and
Tradition), flowing out from the same
divine well-spring, come together in some
fashion to form one thing, and move
towards the same goal.“ Each of them
makes present and fruitful in the Church
the mystery of Christ, who promised to
remain with his own "always, to the close
of the age".
Tradition and Scripture
• Divinely inspired – written accounts
• “Codification”
• Church has authority to say what is
Sacred Scripture – Divinely Inspired – and
what is not.
• Is not “sola scriptura” – needs to have the
authority of codification and interpretation
Sacred Scripture
• The UNIQUE Word of Sacred Scripture
– Only one – taking on flesh – the WORD
– CCC 103 For this reason, the Church has
always venerated the Scriptures as she
venerates the Lord's Body. She never ceases
to present to the faithful the bread of life,
taken from the one table of God's Word and
Christ's Body. (The MASS)
Sacred Scripture
• Treating the Word of God as SACRED
– It is a holy thing
– It is a living word
– It is God speaking to His people
– It is the stories of faith
– It moves beyond time and context
– Dei Verbum – conciliar document
• All theology begins with and ends with the WORD
• Prayer is to be in the context of Sacred Scripture
Sacred Scripture
• Wellspring of faith
• Read with reverence – awe – wonder –
amazement – mystery
• How do we interpret?
– Biggest stumbling block for Catholics
– “I am not sure what it means!!!!”
– “I am afraid of getting it wrong!!!!”
Sacred Scripture
• The latest period of Scholarship
– (note Pope Benedict’s books “Jesus of
Nazareth – pt I and II)
– Literal interpretation
– Literary devices
– Historical Critical interpretation
– Spiritual sense
– Interpretation …
Sacred Scripture
• 1st – in the context of prayer –
– HOLY SPIRIT – COME
– A) the UNITY of the whole Sacred Scripture
• Christ is in the Hebrew Scriptures and the
Christian Scriptures – it is ONE!
– B) read within the Tradition of the Whole
Church
• If there is an interpretation that is contrary to the
teachings of the Church – then the interpretation is
not correct
Sacred Scripture
– C) The analogy of faith
• Coherence of faith “among themselves and within
the whole plan of Revelation.” (ccc 114)
• Basically: if it sounds weird and contradictory – it
probably is
• Understanding our present culture of
scepticism
– doubt everything – prove it to me!
• SS is not simply a historical account …
Sacred Scripture
• It is much MORE!
• The Cannon • The Old Testament: Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2
Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and
Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 and 2 Maccabees,
Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, the Song of Songs,
the Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach (Ecclesiasticus), Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Lamentations, Baruch, Ezekiel, Daniel,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum,
Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zachariah and Malachi.
Sacred Scripture
• The New Testament: the Gospels according to
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the
Apostles, the Letters of St. Paul to the Romans,
1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians,
Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians,
1 and 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, the Letter to
the Hebrews, the Letters of James, 1 and 2
Peter, 1, 2 and 3 John, and Jude, and
Revelation (the Apocalypse).
Sacred Scripture
• What is the difference between the
Catholic Bible and the Protestant Bible?
– Look it up!
– Apocrypha
– Hebrew Scriptures – only difference
– Some translations differ greatly
• Theological arguments in the protestant
reformation
Sacred Scripture - Prayer
• How to pray with Scripture …
• Start with a VERY good prayer …
– Bless us O Lord
– For these Thy gifts
– Which we are about to receive
– Through Christ our Lord
– AMEN
Praying with the Scriptures
• Ignition style
– Placing ourselves in the context of the story
– Reading and re-reading
– Allowing our imagination to be creative
– Be present to the story unfolding
– Making it our own story
• Bible study groups
Praying with the Scriptures
• Opening the scripture up to passages
• Praying the psalms and other canticles
• Liturgy of the Hours
– Can go online
• Lectio Divina
– Refer to the handouts
Stump the Priest
and other things • Questions received – incorporated in the
talks
• Next session
• January 4 The Church and Mary
– (CCC # 748-945 / 495- 511, 963 - 975)
• Closing blessing
