Category: Scripture

4 min read

Scripture

Bible 101: A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

December 3, 2019 9:49 am December 3, 2019

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One challenge when reading the Old Testament is dealing with the amount of material contained within it. As a person reads along, he encounters narrative or story-like books or portions…

One challenge when reading the Old Testament is dealing with the amount of material contained within it. As a person reads along, he encounters narrative or story-like books or portions of books. The reader also encounters non-narrative passages, like poetry in the Psalms, genealogies, laws and regulations, and prophetic discourses. How do all these fit together? How can one stay oriented while reading through the Old Testament?

One helpful approach is to keep in mind the divisions of the Old Testament. Of course, the Old Testament is already divided into books, but those books are grouped together into four major sections in the Christian tradition and three distinct sections in the Hebrew tradition.

The four sections of the Christian bible are the Pentateuch, the Historical Books, the Prophetic Books, and the Wisdom literature. The Hebrew Bible used in the Jewish religious tradition has a different breakdown: the Torah, the Prophets, and the Writings. The Hebrew category of “Prophets” is then subdivided into the Former Prophets and the Latter Prophets. The Former Prophets include what the Christian tradition refers to as the Historical Books. The use of the category of “Prophets” for both historical and prophetic writing is fitting, however, as explained in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

“[W]hen the Church reads the Old Testament, she searches there for what the Spirit, ‘who has spoken through the prophets,’ wants to tell us about Christ. By ‘prophets’ the faith of the Church here understands all whom the Holy Spirit inspired in living proclamation and in the composition of the sacred books, both of the Old and the New Testaments. Jewish tradition distinguishes first the Law (the five first books or Pentateuch), then the Prophets (our historical and prophetic books) and finally the Writings (especially the wisdom literature, in particular the Psalms)” (CCC, No. 702).

In the Christian Bible, the Old Testament’s first section is usually called the Pentateuch, which means “five volumes” or “five scrolls.” Torah, the Hebrew word for these first five books, means “law,” an apt name for this section because these books include the law that God established to govern Israel, including their worship and rituals. This section begins with creation and includes the stories of Abraham, Jacob and his sons, the Exodus of the people of Israel out of Egypt, and the Covenant made between God and His people at Mount Sinai. It concludes with the final speech of God’s servant Moses in the book of Deuteronomy.

The second section is the Historical books. These books trace the entry of the Hebrew people into the land of Canaan, the land promised to Abraham and his descendants by God. They tell the story of the conquest of the land, the establishment of the monarchy and the lives of Saul, David and Solomon. These books also recount the division of the Davidic Kingdom into Israel (North) and Judah (South) after the death of Solomon. From that point on, the two kingdoms were frequently entangled in wars and disputes with each other and foreign nations. Eventually, both kingdoms were conquered: Israel by the Assyrian empire in 722/721 B.C. and Judah by the Babylonians in 586 B.C.

The Prophetic books run chronologically parallel to the Historical books during the time of the divided kingdom. For example, the book of the prophet Amos is considered the earliest book, and he is dated to the middle of the 8th century B.C., before the fall of the northern kingdom. The prophets give some historical references in their writings, but the focus of the prophetic message is theological. The prophets speak for God and give explanations, exhortations, and sometimes harsh invectives against God’s people because of their infidelity to Him.

The Wisdom literature, or the Writings, is a diverse collection of books. Perhaps the greatest of these books is the Psalms, which functioned like a prayer hymnal for the people of Israel and, now, also for the Church. Other types of Wisdom literature include proverbs and instructions on how to live righteously in the world according to God’s design for human persons. The book of Job, also in this category and written mostly in poetry, is a lengthy exploration of human suffering and its meaning. This group of books is not tied historically to any one person or period of time, but contains the long tradition of wisdom earned by the covenant people through their experiences of suffering, repentance and prayer.

The conclusion of the Old Testament looks toward the fulfillment of God’s promises to His people, especially in the form of the Messiah (Hebrew for “anointed one”) of God. His coming would mark a definitive step for God’s revelation to His people and the salvation of all humankind.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, R.S.M., is Director of Christian Formation in the Diocese of Knoxville.

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5 min read

Scripture

Bible 101: A Brief Introduction to the New Testament

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

November 14, 2019 7:17 am November 14, 2019

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As the Old Testament is divided into particular genres (the Pentateuch or Torah, the Historical Books, the Prophets, and the Wisdom books), a similar division of the New Testament can…

As the Old Testament is divided into particular genres (the Pentateuch or Torah, the Historical Books, the Prophets, and the Wisdom books), a similar division of the New Testament can also be helpful. The purpose of such a schematic outline is to orient the reader as he reads each book in this second half of the Bible. Knowing what type of writing one is reading can be extremely useful in understanding the text. For example, the Book of Revelation is a symbolic or allegorical interpretation of history and eschatology, the theology of the last things. It does not carry the same historical valence as the four Gospels, and it is not meant to be read as a literal historical account of the end times.

The New Testament literature can be divided more easily by genre or type of writing than the Old Testament because the contents of each book are more uniform.

Interestingly, as in the Old Testament divisions, one can perceive three categories of texts: the Gospels, the letters or epistles, and the apocalyptic genre. These correspond roughly to the three-fold division of the Old Testament according to the Jewish mindset: the Gospels are the new Law; the letters and epistles are similar to the Wisdom literature in that they contain doctrinal teachings, practical counsel and moral exhortation; and the apocalyptic genre can be compared to the prophets. In fact, some of the symbolic and allegorical imagery in the Book of Revelation, which can seem very strange to the modern reader, is very similar to some passages in the Old Testament prophets.

The Gospels

The texture of each section is different, which becomes almost immediately apparent as one begins to read. The Gospels are historical in nature, but they also contain a theological message. They answer: who is Jesus of Nazareth and what is the meaning of his life, death, and Resurrection? The four Gospels are according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

The Acts of the Apostles is also a historical-theological book and is almost certainly the second volume of a two-volume work that includes the Gospel according to Luke. A look at the introductory verses of those two works makes it clear that they are meant to be read together.

Epistles and Letters

The epistles and letters of the New Testament claim various authors, most notably St. Paul. He is the purported author of 13 letters in the New Testament, not counting the Letter to the Hebrews, which has been traditionally ascribed to him as well. St. Paul’s style is intelligent, direct and zealous. After preaching the Gospel in Israel, Syria, Asia Minor and Greece, he corresponded with the communities to teach and encourage them in the Faith. He was on a mission to bring the salvation won by Jesus Christ to as many as possible and did so through almost constant travels. Hence, his letters allowed him to keep in touch with many communities.

St. Paul also asked that the communities share his letters with one another, which they did.

Other New Testament letters are attributed to St. Peter, St. John, St. James and St. Jude. Like the letters of St. Paul, they include doctrinal content and encouragement on the path of virtue. Some scholars posit that certain letters of the New Testament, like 1 Peter, are actually homilies because of their pastoral tone and scriptural explanations.

Book of Revelation

The Book of Revelation is in a category all its own as far as New Testament writings. The genre is that of apocalyptic literature, and it contains specific elements that, if not understood correctly, can lead to misinterpretation. For example, the use of numbers, colors and physical descriptions of monstrous beasts and cosmological disturbances is a symbolic way of describing and explaining the vicissitudes of history and the end times.

The apocalyptic genre is not meant to be read literally; it purposely describes events of history in mysterious images to offer a theological reading of that same history. The goal is to describe the theological importance of the events. For this reason, many scholars understand the Book of Revelation as a theological interpretation of the persecutions the first Christians were facing. The ultimate triumph of the armies of God over the bestial forces of evil and each person’s decision to worship God or bow down to the beast summarizes the Christian understanding of history: despite the horrific persecutions the Christians suffered, the war against evil has been won in the triumph of Christ, but each person must freely believe and cooperate with God to be saved.

The focus of all the New Testament writings is one: to bring to the world the person of Jesus Christ and the salvation he won for us. The diversity of literary styles and genre corresponds to the needs present in different communities and to the most effective way for the evangelists and other authors to preach the Gospel.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan is a Religious Sister of Mercy of Alma, Michigan. She serves the Diocese of Knoxville, Tennessee, as the director of the Office of Christian Formation. Read more from this series here.

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3 min read

Scripture

When Was the Last Supper?

Msgr. Charles E. Pope

October 16, 2019 7:20 am October 16, 2019

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The issues related to the dating of the Last Supper are complex and difficult to treat fairly in a short answer. However, the basic facts are these. The Synoptic Gospels…

The issues related to the dating of the Last Supper are complex and difficult to treat fairly in a short answer. However, the basic facts are these. The Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) clearly describe the Last Supper as a Passover meal, during which Jesus took up the themes of that meal and indicated that He was going to fulfill them in a new Exodus, leading His people out of sin and into the freedom of the Kingdom.

St. John’s Gospel, however, rather clearly indicates that the Friday in which Christ died was in fact the day of preparation for the Passover, which had not yet occurred. And thus, in a theologically rich observation, Jesus is being killed at the very hour when the lambs for Passover meals were being killed and butchered. According to John, therefore, the Passover that year was not celebrated Thursday night into Friday, but rather Friday night into Saturday. And thus the Last Supper, whatever it was, was not in fact the Passover meal.

So, the question is who is right? The Synoptic Gospels, which say that the Last Supper was a Passover meal, or St. John, who indicates otherwise? Different explanations have been offered for the discrepancy.

Some theologians think that John is theologizing, to connect the death of Jesus to the killing of the Passover lambs.

However, a more likely explanation is that the Jewish people of Jesus’ time did not all agree upon or use the same calendars to mark the days. Most Jews used a lunar calendar, which lagged behind the cycle of the sun some 11 days every year, and required corrections to be built into it every three to four years. Not all Jews agreed exactly when to introduce these corrections. Further, some Jews also used a solar calendar rooted in the Book of Jubilees, and there is strong evidence that Jesus and his followers used this calendar. John’s description of the days may reflect this fact, whereas Matthew, Mark and Luke may be writing to a wider Jewish audience, which calculated the days a bit differently.

Therefore, not every Jewish person living in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ death and resurrection agreed on the exact days that marked the Passover feast. While everyone agreed that the feast took place on or right near the full moon, there might be a variance of a day or two on either side of that full moon as to when exactly to begin and end the feast.

We live with rather accurate clocks today, but not so in the ancient world, and the discrepancies of a day or two are understandable in this context.

What does it all matter? At a personal level for many of us who believe, it probably matters very little. However, it does matter in terms of the Scriptures being a credible historical source. And thus when discrepancies are noted they must be explained at some level. And there are indeed here several possible explanations to account for the noted differences.

Rev. Msgr. Charles E. Pope is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington D.C.

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8 min read

Scripture

Importance of Jesus’ Parables

Dr. Peter Brown

October 3, 2019 10:05 am October 3, 2019

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Parables are perhaps the best-known aspect of the Lord’s teaching in the New Testament, but in this He accommodated himself to patterns of teaching already in use at the time….

Parables are perhaps the best-known aspect of the Lord’s teaching in the New Testament, but in this He accommodated himself to patterns of teaching already in use at the time.

In the Old Testament, God commanded Ezekiel to teach Jewish exiles in this manner (see Ez 17:3-21; 19:1-14). Here the prophet was employing the Hebrew genre mashal. The genre appears in older settings (Jdg 9:7-15), but probably the best known is the mashal of the ewe lamb that the prophet Nathan used to convict David of his murder of Uriah the Hittite (2 Sm 12:1-4).

What is a mashal? A mashal is usually translated as “riddle,” but really it is less a brainteaser than an allegory told with different levels of meaning, with each element corresponding to a real life referent — here, the “rich man” is David, the “poor man” Uriah and the “ewe lamb” Bathsheba.

The Good Shepherd. Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock.com

Parables can be very short, proverbial and aphoristic. Luke 5:36 and 6:39, for instance, are simply pithy, memorable sayings. In fact, in Luke 4:23, what the Revised Standard Version Bible and New American Bible translates as “proverb” is parabole in the Greek.

More common, however, are the extended parables that involve several different aspects of comparison — for example, Matthew 7:24-27 and the parable of the two houses, one built on sand and the other on rock. The Lord — unlike his hypocritical opponents — actually puts into effect His own advice, choosing a rock named Peter on whom to build His house the Church (see Mt 16:16-18).

The parables of Jesus in Matthew highlight theological themes found only in the first Gospel. The well-known parable of the wheat and the weeds (see Mt 13:24-30) and the more concise parable of the fishnet (Mt 13:47-50), both serve to underscore the Church as a mixed body consisting of both saints and sinners whom God will providentially leave in place until the time of the great eschatological separation.

Even parables common to more than one Gospel are recorded differently by each of the Evangelists. Some, like the parable of the wicked tenants are understood by friend and foe (see Mt 21:45; Mk 12:12; Lk 20:19). But the misunderstanding motif figures enormously in Mark’s version of the parable of the sower (4:1-20). Most homilists will take the view that the parable concerns our receptivity to the Word of God. But I am afraid this is a case in which the homilists have allowed the more familiar versions of the story in Matthew and Luke to color their reading. In the context of Mark, thus far there has been a great deal of opposition to Jesus and very little receptivity. Even the disciples of Jesus who have followed Him do not understand Him and demonstrate fear and unbelief (Mk 4:12-14; 4:40; 6:50-52; 7:17-18; 8:17-21). They have received the mystery of the Kingdom all right, but apparently not the knowledge and understanding that must come with it (compare Mk 4:11 and Mt 13:11).

Jesus’ Approach

The Gospel of Mark’s ironic introduction to parables begins in 4:10. Jesus is asked why He teaches in parables. What is striking is that He does not respond the way we imagine that He should, with something like, “Parables are my way to use earthly similitudes to convey heavenly realities because such analogies are the only things earthly human beings can understand.” Astonishingly, Jesus himself explains that parables are not to teach anyone anything at all, but rather to confound and confuse and to separate the insiders of Jesus from the outsiders for whom parables will be opaque (see 4:11-12).

The Laborers in the Vineyard. Shutterstock

But if this is the case, why should the disciples of Jesus have needed an explanation of the parable at all? “Do you not understand this parable? Then how will you understand any of the parables?” (Mk 4:13). In the context of Mark, the disciples are little more secure than the enemies of Jesus who are confounded by his message. How often in real life have we seen the irony of supposed Church insiders not getting the message at all?

What is going on here is that our understanding of parables is being challenged. In this instance, it is not really about our response at all, or, more precisely, it is about the fact that in spite of the opposition of enemies of the Kingdom and in spite of the moral and intellectual failings of the Kingdom’s putative friends, the Kingdom will succeed immensely in the end. Even though most of the seeds sown by God seem to be failing, the ones that do take root will bear abundant fruit. In other words, the parable is, first, Jesus’ explanation of why the apparent failure of His ministry is, in fact, part of God’s plan — much as Isaiah’s original mission was to harden hearts for a time (see Is 6:9-13). Second, the apparent failure of the kingdom proclamation will be the seeds of its success. We could even say that not only is the parable of the sower a parable about the kingdom proclamation of Jesus, but it is a parable about parables.

The Prodigal Son

The parable of the sower shows us that we should be a little more careful about naming parables than we usually are. This parable could have been called the parables of the seeds or the parable of the soils, and each name would subtly affect our interpretation. But nowhere is the name we impart to the parable more powerful to affect our construal of it than in the parable of the prodigal son (see Lk 15:11-32).

Unlike the aphoristic parables or even the more extended ones such as the mustard seed (see Mk 4:30-32), this one has a complete story line and most of us know its basic outline. A son sells all his goods and runs away from the family, squandering his precious inheritance in the process. But then, realizing the self-imposed squalor of his condition, he repents, and his overjoyed father runs halfway down the road to meet him. The father gives him a great celebratory banquet, delighting that his lost son has now been found. From the classic spiritual “Amazing Grace” to countless homilies, this parable of repentance has piqued the religious imagination of Christians of all stripes down through the centuries.

But perhaps the repentance and joyous acceptance of the Father is not the parable’s most important theme. Often left out entirely from reflection is the anger of the elder brother, who thinks he has received nothing for his years of fidelity while his lesser, disobedient sibling is welcomed back to the family on an equal basis. The parable of the prodigal son, in fact, could be more aptly named the parable of the elder brother. Read in its entirety, the parable of the prodigal son seems like an expansive retelling of Matthew’s parable of the two sons (see Mt 21:28-32). In both cases the parables are Jesus’ thinly veiled commentaries on the state of affairs in the Church with the younger brother as a stand-in for the wayward Gentiles — welcomed back to the people of God after centuries of dissolution and rebellion — and the elder brother representing Jewish Christians, upset that their long-held privileged position in the family is being compromised.

But whatever we call it, Luke’s parable of the elder brother is among the most famous in the Jesus tradition. Indeed, as the state of Idaho’s motto is “Famous Potatoes,” Luke’s Gospel’s motto should be “Famous Parables.” It is only Luke who contains the well-known parables of the accursed fig tree (see 13:6-9), the rich man and Lazarus (16:19-31) and real sleepers like the parable of the widow and the unjust judge (18:1-8). By far the most famous of the special Lucan parables is that of the good Samaritan.

The Good Samaritan

The Good Samaritan. Renata Sedmakova / Shutterstock.com

On a surface level, the message of this one is easy to grasp — the true love of neighbor will be shown by the one who actually extends mercy (in this case corporal mercy) — and not necessarily by the professional religious. But a fuller understanding of the good Samaritan must include the degree to which the parable is profoundly subversive of the religious assumptions of Jews living in Palestine for whom a “good Samaritan” was a contradiction in terms and actually rather scandalous.

But whether they scandalize or challenge us, motivate or frighten us, we encounter the heart of Our Lord’s teaching in the parables and thus the mind of the Lord himself. The style of the teaching wasn’t unique, but the Divine Person whom we encounter is!

Dr. Peter Brown earned his doctorate in Scripture from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He serves as academic dean of the Catholic Distance University.

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1 min read

Scripture

Gospel Writers Friends?

Father Reginald Martin

September 30, 2019 7:00 am September 30, 2019

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New Testament texts indicate Matthew, Mark and Luke were contemporaries, and the authors of “The New Jerome Biblical Commentary” provide dates (and other evidence) to verify this. St. Peter refers to “Mark, my son” in his first letter (see 1 Pt 5:13), and tradition identifies Peter as the source of information Mark includes in his Gospel account. Scholars date his account to about A.D. 65.

Tradition identifies Matthew as the tax collector Jesus invites to be an apostle (see Mt 9:9), and scholars believe he relied on Mark’s account when recording his Gospel. The same experts also suggest someone else might have used Matthew’s name and written the account about A.D. 90.

No one seems to question Luke’s authorship of the Gospel account bearing his name, nor do scholars find reason to doubt he was, as he remarks in the Acts of the Apostles, an early companion of St. Paul. Scholars believe his Gospel account was written around A.D. 80-85.

The synoptic Evangelists certainly knew individuals who knew one another intimately, and Mark and Luke may have lived in Rome for a period at the same time. However, we have no information — and no tradition — to suggest they knew one another.

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1 min read

Scripture

Bible’s Organization

Father Ray Ryland

September 24, 2019 7:50 am September 24, 2019

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1 min read

The Bible was divided into chapters and verses to enable readers to find their way in this large volume of material. The Old Testament now consists of 1,074 chapters and…

The Bible was divided into chapters and verses to enable readers to find their way in this large volume of material. The Old Testament now consists of 1,074 chapters and 27,570 verses, and the New Testament 260 chapters and 7,956 verses. Imagine trying to find your way in the Bible without these divisions.

Mordecai Nathan, a Jew, divided the Old Testament into chapters in 1445. He and another scholar named Athias generally are credited with the numbering of verses in the Old Testament.

Stephen Langton, an archbishop of Canterbury, worked out our present chapter divisions around the year 1227. In 1551, an English printer, Robert Stephens, subdivided the New Testament chapters into verses. His version has been further refined in modern versions of the New Testament.

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