Lucas D. Sayre

Theology 200

Professor Rev Odozor, C.S.Sp.

9/6/01

 

 

Words from an Unseen Deity

 

 

            Christians face a dilemma, which although not unique, is reflective of their specific relationship with God. As a monotheistic religion, Christians believe in only one God. Further, they believe that the Bible is the Word of God. However, Christians acknowledge the Bible was written by human hands. These two facts seem to create a profound contradiction in faith.

            Solving the seeming contradiction is a challenge that Christians solve with the concept of dual authorship. This concept is central to the Christian faith. With it, a complex set of terms and issues arise. These will be discussed later in this paper. First, dual authorship itself must be explained. In basic terms, it means that both God and man wrote each book of the Bible. The second Vatican Council explained it in the following way:

To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their powers and faculties so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more.

(Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, ch3, p 105)

The Bible, therefore, is ultimately the Word of God. The same Vatican document continues:

…we must acknowledge that the books of scripture, firmly, faithfully, and without error, teach that truth which God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the sacred scriptures.

 

One of the terms crucial to this construction of dual authorship is inspired writing. It is the process by which God inspired each man to write the books of the bible. While the extent of which is debated, the Christian truth remains that God provided inspiration for the writing of each of the Bible’s books. Some would argue that God simply provided the impulse to write the book and the strength to write the truth. Others argue that God more closely guided each sentence of the writing.

            Biblical scholars aid this debate by differentiating in the information present within the Bible. Three commonly discussed categories are theological, historical, and scientific. The Church’s position regarding Biblical truth among these categories has changed over time, as has that of others. In older times, the position held that the Bible was completely correct in every aspect. Today, however, the position holds that the Bible is correct in every theological aspect.

            One important event helped in this change of position. It was the proclamation by Galileo Galilei that the Earth revolved around the sun rather than the reverse situation. While he was not the first to propose such a thing (that was Copernicus), he did write a logical and scientific argument for the fact. He was adamant and did not back down to critics, including the Church. They opposed Galileo because they claimed that his beliefs were in direct opposition to a passage in the Bible that stated that the Earth stood still and the sun revolved around it. The struggle between the Church and Galileo eventually led to his excommunication.

            In his letter to Grand Duchess Christina of Tuscany in 1615, Galileo expressed his concern (and almost contempt) over some of his critics. On one hand, he defended his explanation of planetary motion against critics, claiming they’re arguments were without scientific merit. On the other hand, he defended his view against the Church by claiming that their interpretation of the Bible was incorrect. He did not claim that the Bible was wrong ver batim. Rather, he states his belief that God inspired the Bible to be written in a fashion that humans could readily understand and yet convey complete theological truth:

…the Holy Ghost did not intend to teach us whether heaven moves or stands still, whether its shape is spherical or like a discus or extended in a plane, nor whether, the earth is located at its center or off to one side, then so much the less was it intended to settle for us any other conclusion of the same kind. (Galileo)

 

            Concluding from all of these points, one would recognize the inherent dichotomy: scientific fact and Biblical teachings regarding science are contradictory. Galileo solved the problem by providing a new perspective on interpreting the Bible. He says that God worked with human to write the Bible “down” to a level earlier societies could understand. The Church today (as seen from Vatican II) holds a different perspective yet. They say that the Bible conveys absolute correct moralistic, theological truths, and that scientific and historical points in the Bible were subject to the flaws that would be associated with the human author. The dilemma is by no means solved however. It is up to each person to strive to overcome the challenge of understanding God’s Word as written in the Bible.