Dei Verbum

Last post I noted that the Vatican II document,  “Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, ”known and cited as Dei Verbum has been a helpful guide to me as I continue to learn how to approach the Bible.  There is a lot of talk about Dei Verbum, and scholars write about what other commentators say about it, but why not read the document itself?   It's not difficult to read and understand.  The faith is based on scripture and sacred tradition:

But in order to keep the Gospel forever whole and alive within the Church, the Apostles left bishops as their successors, "handing over" to them "the authority to teach in their own place." This sacred tradition, therefore, and Sacred Scripture of both the Old and New Testaments are like a mirror in which the pilgrim Church on earth looks at God, from whom she has received everything, until she is brought finally to see Him as He is, face to face (see 1 John 3:2).

Dei Verbum, chapter 2, section 7 (footnotes and citations omitted).

The document explains the connection between scripture and the sacred tradition (the teaching of the church):

Hence there exists a close connection and communication between sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture. For both of them, flowing from the same divine wellspring, in a certain way merge into a unity and tend toward the same end. For Sacred Scripture is the word of God inasmuch as it is consigned to writing under the inspiration of the divine Spirit, while sacred tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles, and hands it on to their successors in its full purity, so that led by the light of the Spirit of truth, they may in proclaiming it preserve this word of God faithfully, explain it, and make it more widely known. Consequently it is not from Sacred Scripture alone that the Church draws her certainty about everything which has been revealed. Therefore both sacred tradition and Sacred Scripture are to be accepted and venerated with the same sense of loyalty and reverence.

Dei Verbum, Chapter 2 section 9.

In chapter 6, at section 23, the church teaches that scholarly study is  important:

The sacred synod encourages the sons of the Church and Biblical scholars to continue energetically, following the mind of the Church, with the work they have so well begun, with a constant renewal of vigor. 

Dei Verbum, chapter 2, section 9 (citing Pius XII, encyclical "Divino Afflante Spiritu,"  Pontifical Biblical Commission, Instruction on Promoting Biblical Studies, 1943).

 What does this 1943 encyclical, Divino Afflante Spiritu add to the discussion?  In that encyclical Pope Pius XII  set forth what later became known as the Magna Carta of Catholic biblical scholarship.
See John R. Donahue, S. J.,   "Biblical Scholarship 50 Years After Divino Afflante Spiritu," America Magazine, September 18, 1993 which states:

Divino Afflante Spiritu rejects those Catholic conser­vatives who “...pretend that nothing remains to be added by the Catholic exegete of our time to what Christianity has brought to light” (No. 32). Exegesis of the text was to be determined by the literal (or literary) sense, defined as “the literal meaning of the words, intended and expressed by the sacred writer” (No. 26). The letter also approved critical methods urging that exegetes “endeavor to determine the peculiar character and circumstances of the sacred writer, the age in which he lived, the sources written or oral to which he had recourse and the forms of expression he employed” (No. 33). While exegetes were also exhorted “to disclose and expound the spiritual significance intended and ordained by God,” they should “scrupulously refrain from propos­ing as the genuine meaning of Scripture other figurative senses” (No. 27). This reflects Thomas Aquinas’s com­ment that “nothing necessary to faith is contained in the spiritual sense that Scripture does not put forward else­where in the literal sense” (Summa Theologica, 1.1.10). The encyclical exhorted exegetes to be inspired by an “ardent and active love of their subject and be sincerely devoted to Holy Mother Church” (No. 46), encouraged them to tackle unsolved problems and urged that their work be judged “not only with equity and justice, but with charity,” and that “all should abhor that intemperate zeal which imagines that whatever is new should for that very reason be opposed or suspected” (No. 47).

The church here gives the scholar freedom "to determine the peculiar character and circumstances of the sacred writer, the age in which he lived, the sources written or oral to which he had recourse and the forms of expression he employed. ”  Divino Afflante No. 33.    Reading Dei Verbum and Pius XII's encyclical, my guidance from the church here is that I come to the scripture with humility and reverance.  This is the word of God.   I also seek to learn from historical-critical methods which can help me to understand the historical context, the setting and literary form or forms of expression of the biblical text at issue.    After approaching a text with reverence, and after learning from Bible scholars who provide assistance as just described,  what if a particular text remains too difficult for the lay reader to grasp?   That question will be the subject of the next post.  

For me, the teaching of  Dei Verbum is a a spiritual lifeline.    Believers  don't have to be afraid of Bible scholars.  But believers must approach the Bible with reverence and humility, because this is the holy word of God.   That means I am approaching the text with presuppositions based on my faith.   I suppose that James  Kugel would say that's an offering up of your brain for the comfort of faith.  But people who approach the Bible with presuppositions against the faith or indifferent to  the faith need to realize those biases as well, as William Kolbrener says in a previous post in which I have quoted him rebutting Kugel.    From  reading the text of  Dei Verbum, and not from reading books about it, I encountered a subject which surprised me, and that is the idea of faith as a gift.    We take this gift of faith to the study of the Bible.