Which Bible Do You Read?

Today I received the New American Bible (Official Catholic Bible) from Amazon.com. I already had a Bible--more than one, in fact. Why yet another version? Ah, that's exactly the reason--there are so many versions. Years ago I heard the advice given that one should read several translations of the Bible in order to get a clearer picture of the meaning. We English speaking folks often forget that the Bible was not written in English. Why does this matter? Well, for one thing, the original writers of the Bible were inspired by God, but it does not follow that this is the case with all translators. Also, there can be many valid translations, of varying literalism and accuracy of meaning.

Then you have meanings that are simply lost in translation, because English does not have an equivalent word or concept with which to translate the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. What we read in English is many times an inadequate approximation that cannot transfer the full flavor of the original into our native tongue. So you have those issues regardless. But then you have the fact of inaccurate revisions and tampering, and people go around quoting things from a Bible that may not really be a valid, reliable translation. And that's not even to mention the taking of a verse out of the context of its entire passage and the Bible as a whole, and without regard to authoritative interpretation. Strong words? Harsh? Maybe--but true nonetheless. This is all a matter of historical record, not a matter of personal opinion. So let's get on with it, shall we?

Long story short, the Catholic Church did all of the work to bring us the Bible as we know it today. Hundreds of books were sorted through and argued over to determine, by the guiding of the Holy Spirit, which were truly inspired by God. Some books were deemed good to read, valuable for their religious teaching and historical information, but nonetheless did not make the cut into the canon, or list of official books. These works (such as the Protoevangelium of James) are called apocryphal, and some of them reflect Church Tradition and so are used by Catholics. But again, they have never been part of the Bible.

These books are not the same as the group of 7 books called the "Apocrypha" by Protestants. As you can read in my other post on this subject, these 7 books (including Sirach and Wisdom) have always been considered canonical by Catholics (who again, I must emphasize, put the Bible into writing and are responsible for the fact that we have it at all). However, non-Christian Jews removed these portions from their holy book (what Christians call the Old Testament), for one reason because those books strongly uphold the belief in Jesus as the Messiah of prophesy. Protestant reformers adopted this version of the Old Testament that these non-Christian Jews used (albeit for different reasons)--an incomplete version.

Now, the New Testament contains all the same books in both Catholic and Protestant versions. Sort of.  *By 367 A.D., St. Athanasius of Alexandria published for the first time the definitive list, including all 27 books that we know today. In 419 the Second Council of Carthage again confirmed the canon, and Pope Boniface promulgated it officially. The New Testament as we know it today was then born. So as we see, Catholics determined the entire Bible. And all went well for a thousand years. But in 1546, the Council of Trent, prompted by a serious outbreak of heresy, had to remind everyone very clearly what was the Bible and what wasn't.

"Like the heretic Marcion before him, Martin Luther had decided that only he and Paul really understood Christ and, like Marcion, he frequently thought that he knew better than Paul. Luther translated the Bible himself, altering it substantially to suit his own views, and published it in parts between 1523 and 1534". (As I have mentioned before, if it were up to Luther and other reformers, the book of James and three others would no longer be part of the New Testament, because their teachings contradicted the new form of Christianity that Luther invented.) After that, various incompatible translations came thick and fast all over northern Europe.  [Johnson--reference below]

Henry VIII (famous for his beheadings) and Elizabeth I, for instance, each commissioned heavily revised Bibles to support their claim to be supreme head of the Chuch in England. Elizabeth asked her commissioners to use more "convenient terms and phrases" for those passages that were not edifying or were of offense to the monarchy's power. Elizabeth's successor James I produced the King James version, which also changed a number of crucial passages in both the Old and New Testaments. What a Biblical can of worms was opened by the Protestant Reformation!

Today, some of these unreliable versions have done a little backtracking, fixing up verses that were changed during the Reformation. The Catholic Church, for her part, continues to update her own translations, but she never strays from the original texts that she has so carefully kept since they were written, because, "...having been written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author"  [Vatican I].

The Catholic Church has consistently kept the deposit of faith and the Church that Jesus founded safe from heresy. All Christians owe the availability of Sacred Scripture to the Catholic Church and should be grateful for it. We have seen what happens when the Bible is edited (that is, changed against the original, God-inspired text) by men who wish it to reflect their own pre-conceived notions of the Christian faith rather than considering the teaching of the Church (and therefore Jesus). This is why the Tradition of the Church (the keeping of both oral and written teachings) is so important and why one cannot receive instruction from the Bible alone.

Sacred Scripture and Sacred Tradition act interdependently to give us the fullness and accuracy of our faith. One's own interpretations, though perhaps well-meaning, run the risk of  false teaching.  Think about this: The result of the break with the Sacred Tradition of the Catholic Church, built upon the authority given to Peter by Jesus himself, has resulted in some 40,000 Protestant denominations, all of whom differ significantly in what they believe yet all claim to be Christian. What Bible do you read (and quote), and on whose authority?




*Some information in this post has been quoted and paraphrased from Why Do Catholics Do That?, by Kevin Orlin Johnson, PH.D.

Wisdom Incarnate, Seat of Wisdom

I wish I had gotten a hold of a Catholic Bible sooner! I have a Bible with Apocrypha, but the Catholic Bible has those books in their original position in the Old Testament, not sequestered into a separate section. This does make a difference in the way these books are perceived, to see with my eyes where they fall in the official order. Today I borrowed one from the Church, and it has wonderful, explanatory footnotes. Now I have more insight into the Church's teachings on Sophia than before. Still, she seems to be yet hidden, so perhaps taking a little piece at a time, a clearer picture will develop.

The notes on Sirach 24:  "In this chapter Wisdom speaks in the first person, describing her origin, her dwelling place in Israel, and the reward she gives her followers. As in Proverbs 8, Wisdom is described as a being who comes from God and is distinct from him. While we do not say with certainty that this description applies to a personal being, it does foreshadow the beautiful doctrine of the Word of God later developed in St. John's Gospel (Jn 1, 1-14). In the liturgy this chapter is applied to the Blessed Virgin because of her constant and intimate association with Christ, the Incarnate Wisdom" (New American Bible).

Our Lady Seat of Wisdom by David Myers

So the Church seems to have left the exact nature of Sophia open, perhaps for future, official clarification. The traditions and dogma pertaining to Mary have set the stage. Let us then consider the titles of Christ and Mary in association with Wisdom; that is, Jesus is known as Wisdom Incarnate, and the Blessed Mother as the Seat of Wisdom. It may seem strange to imagine Jesus as Sophia, but He is, quite naturally, the Incarnation of Wisdom, if we consider my previous discussions on the nature of Wisdom and her integral relationship to the Holy Trinity. The Eternal Wisdom is the inner sanctuary of the Trinity. She is part and parcel of each member, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. In fact, according to the introduction to the Wisdom Books in the Catholic Bible I am using, "The highest wisdom became identified with the spirit of God through which the world was created and preserved (Prv 8, 22-31), and mankind was enlightened."  As my intuition and studies have lead me to believe, Holy Wisdom is intimately linked with the Holy Spirit, and is perhaps in a mystical way one and the same. By the power of this Holy Wisdom Spirit, Jesus became man.

Sophia incarnated as the feminine aspect of God the Son, in the person of Jesus. As God, Jesus contains all of the feminine perfections of God within Him, while in human form being specifically male. If this is so, if Jesus is Sophia Incarnate, why do we need to look to Mary as an embodiment of Wisdom, the purely human one in whom Sophia most completely dwells?

First of all, as we have discussed, the nature of Wisdom in God is hidden, mysterious. We can--and do--see her expressed in Jesus. Yet Jesus is a He, and He does not have a womb. He cannot be Mother in His incarnate form. The metaphor that his Word is spiritual milk can only be understood on the basis of our human experience of the child nourished at the breast of the mother. This nourishment is not only physical. The comfort provided in the arms of the mother feeds the child emotionally and spiritually. To be suckled at the breast is to be provided with food for the whole person, for every kind of wellness. The Holy Spirit is the Divine Comforter who Jesus sends after His Ascension.

Jesus said he would not leave us orphans. In other words, not only are we not left fatherless, but we are not left motherless. He gave us His own mother, Mary, from the cross, and again at Pentecost, as she was once more filled with the power of the Spirit, and with Wisdom. At Pentecost--the beginning of the Church--Jesus was mystically reborn within Mary. The Mother is eternally pregnant with and giving birth to the Son.

 The Icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God (Kiev)

Mary is the Divine Mother. This is the official teaching of the Church. And her Immaculate Conception, Assumption, and Crowning as Queen of Heaven are also dogma. These point unequivocally to her nature as divinized human, by virtue of her Son. We see and know the motherly aspect of God most clearly through the woman who bore and suckled the Son of God, the woman with her womb and breasts, who gives the soft comfort of a mother's arms. Through Mary the hidden quality of Sophia is revealed.

Now let's look at the word, seat. The first dictionary definition given is, "a special chair of one in eminence; also: the status represented by it."  Jesus is Wisdom Incarnate, and Mary's lap then, literally, is the Seat of Wisdom. Another definition of seat is "a place from which authority is exercised." Also, "a bodily part in which some function is centered."  So from here we can extrapolate many modes of meaning.

Wisdom was centered in the womb of Mary physically when she conceived Jesus and continues to be on the spiritual plane of existence. Holy Wisdom centers the essence of her divine being in the person of Mary by virtue of indwelling (ie, "Wisdom has built her house", Proverbs 9). Jesus holds court, or wields His authority, in connection, both physically and mystically, with His Mother. Mary is gebirah, Queen Mother. She is the royal seat upon which her Son, the King, sits. In her title, Seat of Wisdom, Mary is understood as a temple or throne.

God allowed himself to need humanity by humbling himself as a child dependent upon His mother for His life and survival. He did this so that we might abide in Him, and He in us, in an integral relationship of Love (See John's Gospel). The branches give shape to what the vine is; the vine is the base of life, support, and growth for the branches. Neither makes sense without the other, so this biblical metaphor illustrates the reciprocal relationship of God to humanity and humanity to God.

Mary contained Wisdom in her womb, cradled Wisdom in her arms and on her lap, suckled Wisdom at her breast, and continues to be the Seat of Wisdom, that place from which Holy Wisdom is centered and dwells.