Next in our tour of papal documents is Pope Pius XII’s encyclical Divino Afflante Spiritu, which translates to “Inspired by the Divine Spirit.” It is Pius XII’s teaching on the interpretation of Sacred Scripture, which he published on the feast of St. Jerome, September 30, 1943. At that point in time, there was a growing interest in applying archaeological and linguistic methods to the study of scripture. Pope Leo XIII had given permission to use newer critical methods of studying scripture in 1893 and recent events required more guidance.
The pope begins this letter recalling the efforts of Pope Leo XIII and notes that his primary concern was to defend Scripture from attack, teaching that there is no error in Scripture when rightly read and interpreted. Leo XIII had also established groups and instituted dedicated to scriptural studies. Pope Pius X then founded the Pontifical Biblical Institute to further the mission of scriptural study. Pius XI then established rules regarding who would be allowed to teach scripture in seminaries, hoping to keep priests well-formed in their knowledge of scripture. He also established the monastery of St. Jerome in Rome to be exclusively focused on scriptural study and formation.
At this point, Pope Pius XII points out that 50 years prior, hardly any excavations had been done in Palestine, but that now a great deal of work had taken place. Additionally, more ancient copies of scripture had been found and more research on ancient Christian scripture scholars had been done. So, Pius XII deemed it a fitting time to both encouraged what Leo XIII began and wanted to point “out to all what yet remains to be done, with what spirit the Catholic exegete should undertake, at the present day, so great and noble a work, and to give new incentive and fresh courage to the laborers who toil so strenuously in the vineyard of the Lord.”
The pope commends scholars to more thoroughly study ancient languages like Greek, Hebrew and other “oriental languages” which were used in the early days of the Church to write scripture and Church teaching. St. Jerome himself spent a great deal of time studying languages for the purpose of better understanding scripture. In addition to working towards accurate translation of ancient texts, the pope encourages “a real skill in literary criticism” to be used in understanding what is being said and taught by the Word of God. While scripture is inerrant, there are sometimes errors in translations or in copies – comparison of ancient copies and thorough linguistic study can help to correct these things. This does not negate the value of the traditional Latin version of the bible, which had been used for over 1000 years and is still substantially reliable for preaching and teaching.
Pope Pius XII did not commend these studies for their own sake. The goal of these very meticulous and academic projects was ultimately for the “greatest” task “of discovering and expounding the genuine meaning of the Sacred Books.” This is to search for the literal meaning of the words, but also to read them while taking account of “the explanation and declarations of the teaching authority of the Church.” This if often called The Analogy of Faith. It means that interpreting any one part of Scripture requires us to keep in mind the whole picture of God’s revelation through Scripture and Tradition. Context is a crucial part of authentic scriptural study and taking small portions of scripture by themselves can easily lead to misinterpretations. Indeed, most heresies have come from people making that exact mistake. Like the analogy of faith, it is also important to bear in mind that “the rule of prayer is the rule of faith.” Often, it is only in the context of liturgy and worship that the meaning of a given passage of scripture can be rightly discovered and understood. We’ll pick up on this letter next time. In the meantime, keep reading your bibles!