The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic
Church
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The following three answers are all at least partially correct. However,
if you had to pick just one, then you would say that a sacrament is best
described as
a. a reminder of the risen Christ.
b. a symbol of the risen Christ.
c. a work of the risen Christ.
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Starting points are important. A lot of people who have respect for the
Bible have had trouble with the idea that the Pope and the bishops of the
Catholic Church united with him - and nobody else - protect the true
meaning of the Bible. [CCC 100] Catholics do not have trouble with this,
because, like St. Augustine, they have a different starting point. What
starting point do Catholics take? Catholics decide
a. what the Bible means after realizing
that the sacraments are real.
b. whether the sacraments are real in terms
of our idea of the Bible.
c. whether the sacraments are real in terms
of our idea of who Christ is.
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Man can find the true, real meaning of the Bible
a. using his own abilities and knowledge,
and entirely on his own.
b. but only with the help of the sacraments
of the Catholic Church.
c. only very imperfectly, because men
always make mistakes, and disagree.
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The Catholic Church teaches all men that the meaning of the Bible
a. can be separated from the reality of the
sacraments.
b. can not be separated from the reality of
the sacraments.
c. has nothing to do with the reality of
the sacraments.
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Apart from the sacraments of the Catholic Church, the meaning of the
Bible
a. can not be known.
b. can only partially be known.
c. is completely unknowable.
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Genesis Exodus Leviticus Numbers
Deuteronomy || Joshua Judges Ruth 1 Samuel 2 Samuel 1 Kings 2 Kings || 1
Chronicles 2 Chronicles Ezra Nehemiah || Tobit* Judith* Esther 1
Maccabees* 2 Maccabees* Job
Psalms
Proverbs >> Ecclesiastes
<< Song of Songs Wisdom* Sirach* || Isaiah Jeremiah Lamentations
Baruch* Ezekiel Daniel || Hosea Joel Amos Obadiah Jonah Micah Nahum
Habakkuk Zephaniah Haggai Zechariah Malachi
The Old Testament books with a star *
are not any more or less important than the others. The star indicates
that the Catholic Church definitively professes and knows these books to
be part of the sacred writings, the inspired Word of God [cf. CCC 120],
but that they are specifically rejected by the Jewish people, and called
''apocryphal'' (of doubtful inspiration) by Protestants.
Read Ecclesiastes, Eccl 3:1-8. Many scholars agree that
the meaning of this famous poem is
a. ''Both good and evil happen in an
endless cycle beyond your control.''
b. ''Do not worry excessively because there
is time enough for everything.''
c. ''Even if you feel bad now, rest assured
that you will feel better later.''
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''Vanity of vanities'' is the Hebrew way of saying ''the greatest vanity
of all.'' Read Eccl 1:1-11. Many scholars agree that the meaning of this
passage is
a. ''Both good and evil happen in an
endless cycle beyond your control.''
b. ''Do not worry excessively because there
is time enough for everything.''
c. ''Even if you feel bad now, rest assured
that you will feel better later.''
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Read Eccl 3:10-11. Some scholars consider this the heart of
Ecclesiastes's message. What might it mean?
a. Both good and evil happen in an endless
cycle beyond man's control.
b. Man can see that his life has infinite
meaning and value.
c. There is a reason for man's life on
earth, but only God can know it.
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Ecclesiastes proposes wisdom, pleasure, wealth, power, and honest toil as
what give meaning to existence, but he says that he has learned that all
of them are vanity and a striving after the wind. The sun shines just as
much on the wicked as it does on the righteous, and in the end, death
comes equally to all.
Read Eccl 12:1. God definitely has created all and is sustaining all.
Read Eccl 11:9. Some scholars have said that ''judgment'' does not mean
condemnation, but knowledge about the true meaning of existence, which God
alone knows. Now read Eccl 3:12-13. This sentiment is repeated in various
ways several times in Ecclesiastes.
Read Eccl 12:7-8. Despite his underlying faith that God knows what he's
doing, Ecclesiastes says that man can not see beyond death, and so in the
end whatever we do in life looks pointless. We all end up the same -
dead.
In a sense, the Catholic Church also teaches that man can not see beyond
death, but that something new has happened. Man now has a choice of
deaths. The death of Jesus gives man a new ''death'' that he can choose
instead of the death he would otherwise have to die. Man can be baptized
and live in the death of Jesus the crucified and risen Lord, sharing with
all the angels and saints in the eternal banquet of the sacrificed Lamb of
God. >>
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This heavenly banquet, given in the blood of the new and everlasting
covenant, in this life is made really present in the Eucharist. The
Eucharist literally is a bit of heaven on earth, as the Fathers of the
Church often noted. Every Eucharist is the effective sign of the meaning
of life: we are meant to enjoy everlasting happiness in intimate union
with God:
''God, infinitely perfect and blessed in himself, in a plan of sheer
goodness freely created man to make him share in his own blessed life. For
this reason, at every time and in every place, God draws close to man. He
calls man to seek him, to know him, to love him with all his strength. He
calls together all men, scattered and divided by sin, into the unity of
his family, the Church.''
''To accomplish this, when the fullness of time had come, God sent his
Son as Redeemer and Savior. In his Son and through him, he invites men to
become, in the Holy Spirit, his adopted children and thus heirs of his
blessed life.'' [CCC 1]
Every Eucharist is the proof that Ecclesiastes lacked. Life is infinitely
good and has infinite meaning in the blood of the Lamb. On the other hand,
man really is created free. He really can move away from intimate union
with Jesus, farther and farther away from the sacraments of his Catholic
Church. A man can move more and more toward meaninglessness and genuine
death, if that is what he really wants. <<
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Heresies are typically ideas
a. that a fair number of people (at times,
even a large number of people) think are more true and more
reasonable.
b. that are thought up exclusively by
wicked, evil people whose sole intention is to harm the Catholic
Church.
c. which are so obviously ridiculous, that
no one, except perhaps a few crazies, ever takes them seriously.
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Heresies are not thought up exclusively by wicked, evil people whose sole
intention is to harm the Catholic Church. Heresies are typically not so
obviously ridiculous, that no one, except perhaps a few crazies, ever
takes them seriously.
The right answer to the question is pretty amazing, in itself: heresies
are typically ideas that clearly conflict with what the Catholic Church
solemnly teaches, which a fair number of people (at times, even a large
number of people) think are more true and more reasonable than what the
Catholic Church professes.
The heresies that are explicitly condemned by the Catholic Church almost
by definition are popular ideas. This is because life is much too short
for the Pope and bishops to spend time condemning ideas contrary to the
faith that almost everybody agrees are ridiculous to begin with. That
still leaves a great number of ideas contrary to the teachings of the
Catholic Church that at least some substantial number of people during at
least certain periods of history (like the followers of Marcion) have
thought were very reasonable and true. <<
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The books
Proverbs
Ecclesiastes
Song of Songs
Wisdom
Sirach
occur just before or just after the Psalms?
a. Just before.
b. Just after.
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The meaning that the human authors of Sacred Scripture intended to
convey, as discovered by scholarship and as clarified and corrected in the
light provided by the Holy Spirit working in and through the sacraments,
is called the
a. allegorical sense.
b. literal sense.
c. spiritual sense.
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''All other senses of Sacred Scripture are based on the literal.'' [CCC
116, quoting St. Thomas Aquinas.] This means that
a. every passage in Scripture must be taken
literally.
b. the literal sense of a passage can be
ignored.
c. the literal sense of a passage is always
true.
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The literal sense of a passage of Sacred Scripture is, of course, the
meaning that is immediately obvious to you.
a. Yes.
b. No.
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People who study the Bible for a living are now able to find the literal
sense of every single scripture passage.
a. Yes.
b. No.
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All scholars who study the Bible agree on the literal sense of each
scripture passage.
a. Yes.
b. No.
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The Bible is not a newspaper. Remember that the ''literal sense'' of
Sacred Scripture is what the human authors of Sacred Scripture intended to
convey as discovered by scholarship and as clarified and corrected in the
light provided by the Holy Spirit working in and through the
sacraments.
Sometimes the human authors intended to convey a poem, or a song, a
story, or something else besides ''newspaper truth.'' The literal sense of
the Bible is always true. That doesn't mean that the Bible is a
newspaper.
Also, it is very important to remember that NO ONE today may actually
know the literal sense of a particular scripture passage. The 'literal
sense' is not necessarily the meaning that you yourself might get out of
the passage when you read it. You might be completely misunderstanding
what the sacred author is trying to convey.
Turn this around for a minute. Imagine what a person 3000 years ago might
think if you wrote, ''In this electronic book, it is a good idea to use
the mouse.'' First of all, the word 'electronic' would completely baffle
him. Also, he would have a picture of a small, furry mammal in his mind
(the mouse!). Not knowing the context in which you live, he might start to
develop theories about the important role that small, furry mammals played
in the 21st century study of the Old Testament! >>
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Now turn that around and imagine all the things in the world of the
sacred authors that might be totally unfamiliar to you. Just imagine how
far off the track you might get if you did not understand the living
context in which the sacred authors wrote.
Multiply your estimate by about a thousand, and that's how far you might
be from the 'literal sense' of at least some passages in Sacred Scripture.
The 'literal sense' of a passage is not necessarily the meaning that is
'obvious' from your perspective.
The meaning that is 'obvious' to you might in fact be the literal sense,
but on the other hand, what you understand from the passage might be a
million miles off the track. What's worse, you, living thousands of years
later and not knowing the context in which the sacred author wrote, have
absolutely no way to tell the difference.
Some people have turned to scholars to solve all these problems about
establishing the literal sense of passages in Sacred Scripture. This turns
out to help. Over about the last hundred years, scholars have been able to
piece together a better understanding of the literal sense of many
passages.
However, scholarship also does not provide the complete solution. For one
thing, very reputable scholars quite often disagree about the literal
meaning of passages in Sacred Scripture (and keep disagreeing). Also,
scholars freely admit that they still do not have a clear idea of what the
sacred author intended in some scripture passages. >>
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copyright (c) 2001 John
Kelleher. All rights reserved.
www.catholiclearning.com