The Bible Timeline The Story of Salvation Session 1

Introduction and Session 1

OPENING PRAYER: Come Holy Spirit,

fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love.
Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created.
And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful,
grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His
consolations, through Christ Our Lord, Amen.

The primary purpose of this Bible Study is to provide a simple, Catholic approach to
Scripture that invites people into a personal and thus transforming encounter with Jesus
Christ. The program strives to introduce people to God's "plan of sheer goodness". We can
see God’s plan for our lives in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
CCC.1: “The Life of Man – to Know and Love 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 Saviour. 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.

INTRODUCING THE BIBLE:

Though the Bible is bound under one cover and bears a single title, it is not a single, unified
book. It is, in fact, a collection of some seventy-three different works by different authors, using
very different styles and perspectives, composed over a span of several centuries, and in three
different languages (Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek).
The rich diversity of the Bible is one of its glories because it allows the story of God’s people to
be told from various perspectives. It also presents a challenge to the reader who should be
aware of the different cultural, historical, and literary contexts of each biblical book. But there is
a deeper unity to the Bible that binds together these individual pieces of literature. Through the
many biblical books flows the continuing story of God’s love for Israel and for the church. Each
of the biblical authors, no matter how much separated in time, culture, and literary style,
shares a conviction that God’s presence is felt in human history and that God invites the
human family to respond with faith and integrity.
All of us have experienced different challenges when reading Scripture. The Catechism of the
Catholic Church provide solutions to many of us who feel that we have received a good portion
of catechism, a random pile of separate Bible stories and facts about the Church’s teachings.
The CCC contains a comprehensive explanation of our Catholic Faith, carefully arranged into
4 Pillars. The “pillars” are presented in a narrative form in such a way that each of them gives
life to the story of God as found in the Bible. The CCC’s approach is modelled on the Church

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fathers’ method of handing down the Catholic faith according to the Bible’s account on how
God works with His people.

1. The Creed tells us the “story” of salvation history “in a tightly wound form” (St.Agustine)
2. Sacraments and Liturgy are the gateway on how WE “enter” into the story
3. Life in Christ is where we PLAY OUR PART in the story. How do we live that role?
4. Prayer allows us to grow in faith and develop an intimate relationship to the author of the
story…to be in union with God which is the ultimate goal of the Story.

The Nature of the Bible:

What is this book that it should be studied so intensely and guarded so carefully?
The Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation made its own theological formula that had
become prominent before Vatican II: “the words of God, expressed in the words of men”
(Dei Verbum 13). In speaking about the Bible in this way, the Second Vatican Council sought
to hold together the transcendent nature of Scripture and its human form.
In its declaration on Scripture (Dei Verbum) the Council took over those terms. It affirmed that
God’s self-revelation comes to us through the Bible, that in some mysterious way God entered
into the composition of these writings and inspired them, that the biblical books provide reliable
guidance (inerrancy) for those who walk the way toward salvation with God, and that these
books constitute the norm or rule (canon) by which the life of the Church is to be guided and
measured in all ages. These are the basic pastoral meanings of revelation, inspiration,
inerrancy, and canon.
Although the Bible may look like other books and may be studied profitably as other books are
studied (that is, with the techniques of biblical criticism), the Bible is unique in its origin and its
nature. The different character of the Bible is expressed by means of some rather complicated
terms: revelation, inspiration, inerrancy, and canon.
Revelation is fundamentally God’s self-revelation; it is the communication of the mystery of
God to the world: It pleased God, in his goodness and wisdom, to reveal himself and to make
known the mystery of his will (Dei Verbum 2). The Christian theological tradition affirms that
God’s self-revelation comes to us through creation, history, persons, society, and reason. It is
also customary to refer to the Bible as a privileged place where the divine revelation is
particularly clear. This tradition appears prominently in Dei Verbum 6: By divine Revelation
God wished to manifest and communicate both himself and the eternal decrees of his will
concerning the salvation of mankind. Through the Bible we encounter the mystery of God, not
simply lists of commandments or interesting stories. The personal God makes those
commandments and stories meaningful.
Two other theological terms for talking about the difference of the Bible from other books are
inspiration and inerrancy. Again the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation asserts the
basic point expressed by these terms. On inspiration Dei Verbum 11 states: The divinely
revealed realities which are contained and presented in the text of sacred Scripture have been
written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. For Holy Mother Church relying on the
faith of the apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New
Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the
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inspiration of the Holy Spirit (cf. Jn 20:31; 2 Tm 3:16; 2 Pt 1:19–21; 3:15–16), they have God
as their author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself. 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.
The same paragraph treats inerrancy: Since, therefore, all that the inspired authors affirm
should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, 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. Thus: all Scripture is inspired by
God, and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction and for training in righteousness, so
that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tm 3:16–17)
The Bible’s inerrancy consists primarily in its being a trustworthy guide on the road to
salvation. Thus, it expresses “inerrancy” in a positive way and avoids conceiving it as a
defensive program of protecting the Bible against accusations of scientific or historical error.
The same concepts are in the Catechism of the Catholic Church:
CCC 105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely revealed realities, which are
contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit." "For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the apostolic
age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New Testaments, whole
and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that, written under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, they have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."
CCC 106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books. "To compose the sacred
books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use
of their own faculties and powers 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."
CCC 107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore all that the inspired authors or
sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, 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."

The council’s statement on inspiration refers to the books of the Bible as “sacred and
canonical.” The word canon (reed or measuring stick) originally meant the rule or
characteristics that decided whether a particular book was judged to be part of sacred
Scripture. It now usually refers to the collection of books that are acknowledged to be
authoritative in the Church and by which the Church’s faith can be measured.
The canon of Old Testament books traditional in Catholicism contains all the books of the
Hebrew Bible (which is the same as the Protestant Old Testament canon) together with seven
others that were part of the Greek and Latin Bible tradition (Judit, Tb, Bar, 1 and 2 Mc,
Sir/Ecclesiasticus, Wisdom). All Christians today share the same canon of twenty-seven New
Testament books. The history of the canon’s development is quite complex. The final definitive
list of biblical books (including the seven additional Old Testament books, called
Deuterocanonical), for the Catholic Church was drawn up only at the Council of Trent in 1546,
though there was little disagreement about the substance of the canon from the early centuries
of the Christian era.
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The Writing of the Bible: The Bible was not written at a single point in history. The
events covered in the Old Testament span nearly two thousand years of history, from the time
of Abraham and the patriarchs (around 1800 BC) to the period of the Maccabean wars (140
BC). If one includes the epic accounts of the creation and pre-patriarchal stories such as Noah
and the flood, then the reach of the biblical story goes back to the beginning of time. But the
actual formulation of the biblical accounts, although making use of earlier stories and
traditions, is confined to a narrower period, probably beginning with the monarchy (around
1000 BC) and concluding in the century before the birth of Christ.
The New Testament books were all written during the latter half of the first century AD,
although some recent scholars assert that the Gospel of John and the Acts of the Apostles
may have been composed in the early part of the second century. The letters of Paul were
probably the earliest New Testament works to be put in writing, dating mainly from the middle
of the first century. The sayings of Jesus and the many stories about his ministry circulated in
the Christian community during these early decades of the church but were probably not put in
writing until shortly after AD 70, with Mark the first Gospel to be written. Matthew, Luke (and
his second volume, the Acts of the Apostles), and John follow, with the compositions of their
Gospels taking place sometime during the last quarter of the first century. The other non-
Pauline letters and writings, including the book of Revelation or the Apocalypse, also date from
this period.

The diverse literary forms and historical value of the Bible

The broad span of biblical history and the fact that the Bible is a collection of various books
signal its rich diversity. The reader of the Bible needs to be attentive not only to the historical
context of a particular passage but to the varieties of literary forms and the specific style and
intent of each biblical author. The prophetic oracles of Isaiah or Jeremiah are very different in
literary style from the legal codes of Leviticus or the narratives of Exodus. The long lists of
wise sayings in Proverbs are dramatically different in tone, style, and theology from the
sweeping liturgical poetry of the Psalms. So, too, do the parables of the Gospels differ greatly
from the letters of Paul or the dramatic apocalyptic scenes in the book of Revelation. The
notes and Reading Guides found in this Study Bible help the reader understand more about
these various literary forms and their implications for interpreting the meaning of a particular
biblical passage.
The presence of various literary forms or means of expression in the Bible also complicates
the issue of the historical value of the Bible. Some Christians, particularly fundamentalist
Christians, fear that admitting the Bible contains poetry, stories, and other literary forms is
somehow an attack on the veracity of the Bible and dilutes its witness to history. They prefer to
regard the story of creation in Genesis, or the episode of Jonah’s sojourn in the belly of a great
fish, as literally true.
Roman Catholic teaching and that of many other Christian Denominations sees no
incompatibility between recognizing the truth of the biblical witness and the fact that it is
expressed in many forms of literary expression characteristic of human communication.
Credible witness to the truth of history is not confined to an “objective” reporting of the facts in
the manner of a police report or a mere “factual” description of what happened. All reporting of
history involves a degree of interpretation, and such means as poetry, hymns, stories, myths,
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and other literary forms can also communicate historical truth about past events and the
perspectives of our ancestors.
Undoubtedly, both the Old and New Testaments contain many accurate historical facts and
descriptions reflecting the times and events of biblical history. But the biblical writers also
wanted to interpret the meaning of that history and present it honestly from their perspectives.
Previous traditions are given new interpretations and adapted to the circumstances of a
different generation. In most instances their intent was not to provide a historical archive for
subsequent generations but to see in the events of this history the presence of God’s grace,
and to communicate that conviction to their readers. The Bible is a witness to the vitality of the
people who lived its events and pondered their meaning in a spirit of faith. Each biblical
passage, therefore, must be evaluated on its own terms in attempting to distinguish between
factual historical data and the theological and historical interpretation provided by the biblical
writer.

The forty-six Old Testament books can be classified as follows:

• The Law (also called the Torah; the Pentateuch; the Books of Moses): Genesis,
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
The Prophets: Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel,
Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah,
Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi.
• The Writings: Psalms, Proverbs, Job, Song of Songs, Ruth, Lamentations,
Ecclesiastes, Esther, Daniel, Ezra, Nehemiah, 1 & 2 Chronicles.
, Deuterocanonical Books: Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach,
Baruch (plus some additional passages in Daniel and Esther).
Catholic and Protestant versions of the Bible contain the same twenty-seven
New Testament books:
, The Four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
, Acts of the Apostles
• The Pauline Epistles (or Letters): Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians,
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians.
• The Pastoral Epistles (or Letters): 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews.
, The Catholic Epistles (or Letters): James, 1 & 2 Peter, l, 2 & 3 John, Jude (Note: The
term "Catholic" here means that these letters were written to all Christians rather
than to a particular community.)
, The Revelation to John (the Apocalypse)
Make sure you know how to look up a passage of Scripture using its "Scripture
reference" made up of the name of the book followed by the chapter and verse
numbers.

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• 1 Samuel 7 refers to the entire seventh chapter of the book of 1 Samuel

(pronounced "first Samuel" because there also is a 2 Samuel or "second
Samuel").
• Genesis 1:1 refers to the book of Genesis, chapter l, verse 1.
, Numbers 5:2-6 refers to the book of Numbers, chapter 5, verses 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
The Bible Timeline chart is the central feature of The Bible Timeline learning system.
Particularly notice the way the books of the Bible appear on the chart and how the flow
of events and people named in the central horizontal section relates to those books.
The “narrative books” section gives you the names of fourteen books of the Bible that tell the
Story from beginning to end. They are arranged across the top of the chart so you can see
what historical time period(s) they describe.
The 14 Narrative books and the periods of salvation history that each book describes are:
1) Genesis 1 to 11 (1) – Early World
2) Genesis 12 to 50 (1) – Patriarchs
3) Exodus (2) - Egypt and Exodus
4) Numbers (3) - Desert Wanderings
5) Joshua (4) and Judges (5) – Conquest and Judges
6) 1 Samuel (6) 2 Samuel (7), 1 Kings 1 to 11 (8) - Royal Kingdom
7) 1 Kings 12 to 22 (8), 2 Kings (9) – Divided Kingdom
8) 2 Kings 17, 25 (9) - Exile
9) Ezra (10) and Nehemiah (11) - Return
10) 1 Maccabees (12) - Maccabean Revolt
11) Luke (13) - Messianic Fulfilment
12) Acts (14) – The Church

Fifty-nine “supplemental books” make up the rest of the Bible.

Other books written are: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon – these are
categorized as “wisdom literature”. Many of these books were written by one of the two
primary kings during the Royal Kingdom period (David and Solomon).

How to read the Bible Timeline Chart (courtesy: Ascension Press, USA):

Central to the story in the Bible is the way God formed a family for Himself by
establishing a series of Covenants with various individuals. These are marked by round
white icons at the top of the chart in a section called “God’s Family Plan.” You will learn more
about these later, but for now: look carefully at each icon and notice the type of family group
named in each (“One Holy Couple,” for example).
As time progresses which the period represents, God’s Family plan GROWS. From “One
Holy Couple” Adam and Eve to “One Holy Family” with Noah, his wife and sons during in the
Early World; to “One Holy Tribe” with Abraham during the time of Patriarchs; to “One Holy
Nation” led by Moses after the Exodus; to “One Holy Kingdom” with David in the Royal

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Kingdom period, and finally to “One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church” in the new covenant
with Jesus Christ.
From a “couple”, during the course of time, God built a worldwide family… a family whose
members are heirs of His Kingdom.

Key people and events in the Bible history are arranged in chronological order across the
timeline. This section is divided into three horizontal bands representing different parts of the
Middle East. The central grey area represents the land of Canaan, where most of the events
take place. When the action moves out of Canaan –to the northern countries like Babylon, for
example, or to the South and Egypt – they appear above or below the grey area.
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Check on the big arrows that point from one horizontal geographical area to another. Also, we
will see that the bloodline crosses between areas. The following are the major movements:
God Calls Abraham out of Ur; event 6; from the Northern countries going to the land of
Canaan.
1. Here the Patriarchs’ period begins. Also during this time, a minor move happened when
Jacob flees going to North and had his sons.
2. Jacob’s Family moves to Egypt; event 14; from Canaan going to South and Egypt. This
happened at the end of Patriarch’s period.
3. Israel moves from Egypt going to Canaan. This happened across the Desert Wanderings
period (no arrow).
4. Israel goes into Exile in Assyria and Judah falls to Babylon; event 44 and 47; we see 4
arrows in the Exile period.
5. The “three returns” to Canaan; 3 arrows in the Return period.
Don’t miss the events in secular history that are ranged across the bottom of the chart as
these influence our understanding of the events right from the Early World to the Church. What
was going on in the development of God’s plan at that time. As we progress with our journey,
we will have a clear understanding that we cannot study the Bible without taking into
consideration these events in secular history. We will discover how they influence the stories
found in the Bible.

Scripture and Tradition: The Catholic Church does not restrict divine revelation to the biblical
text. Against the Protestant Reformation’s slogan of “Scripture alone,” Catholic theologians
insisted on “Scripture and tradition.” The term Tradition recognizes the fact that the living
reality of the Church has the task of preserving the Gospel as well as interpreting and applying
it in new situations. Catholic Christianity is not simply a “religion of the Book.”

CCC 108 Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the book." Christianity is the religion of the
"Word" of God, a word which is "not a written and mute word, but the Word which is incarnate
and living." If the Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the
living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open [our] minds to understand the Scriptures."

While acknowledging the twofold reality of Scripture and Tradition, Catholic theologians have
long debated the precise relation between the two. One way of approaching the problem was
to assume that Scripture and Tradition constitute two separate sources of divine revelation.
The Second Vatican Council rejected this view in the second chapter of its Dogmatic
Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum 10): Sacred Tradition and sacred Scripture
make up a single sacred deposit of the Word of God, which is entrusted to the Church. In other
words, the Word of God (or divine revelation) is the source of both tradition and Scripture.
Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of the Holy
Spirit. Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been entrusted to the
apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. The same paragraph rejects the “Scripture
alone” principle of the Reformation and preserves the Catholic approach of “Scripture and
Tradition”. Thus the Second Vatican Council insisted that Scripture and Tradition flow from the
same divine wellspring and that both must be accepted and honoured. One common source:

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CCC 80 "Sacred Tradition and Sacred Scripture, then, are bound closely together and
communicate one with the other. For both of them, flowing out from the same divine well-
spring, come together in some fashion to form one thing and move towards the same
goal." Each of them makes present and fruitful in the Church the mystery of Christ, who
promised to remain with his own "always, to the close of the age.". . . two distinct modes of
transmission
CCC 81 "Sacred Scripture is the speech of God as it is put down in writing under the breath of
the Holy Spirit." "And [Holy] Tradition transmits in its entirety the Word of God which has been
entrusted to the apostles by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit. It transmits it to the
successors of the apostles so that, enlightened by the Spirit of truth, they may faithfully
preserve, expound, and spread it abroad by their preaching."
CCC 82 As a result the Church, to whom the transmission and interpretation of Revelation is
entrusted, "does not derive her certainty about all revealed truths from the holy Scriptures
alone. Both Scripture and Tradition must be accepted and honoured with equal sentiments of
devotion and reverence."

II. INSPIRATION AND TRUTH OF SACRED SCRIPTURE

Yet this Magisterium is not superior to the Word of God but is its servant. It teaches only what
has been handed on to it. At the divine command and with the help of the Holy Spirit, it listens
to this devotedly, guards it with dedication and expounds it faithfully. All that it proposes for
belief as being divinely revealed is drawn from this single deposit of faith.”
On the one hand, this statement entrusts authentic interpretation to the magisterium (the
bishops with the pope). On the other hand, it insists that the magisterium is the servant of
divine revelation and can teach only what is drawn from the single deposit of faith constituted
by divine revelation. As a pastoral council, Vatican II avoided becoming an arbiter of
theological disputes. Its insistence on the oneness of Scripture and tradition, however, did
have a pastoral dimension.

CCC 109 In Sacred Scripture, God speaks to man in a human way. To interpret Scripture
correctly, the reader must be attentive to what the human authors truly wanted to affirm and to
what God wanted to reveal to us by their words.
CCC 110 In order to discover the sacred authors' intention, the reader must take into account
the conditions of their time and culture, the literary genres in use at that time, and the modes
of feeling, speaking, and narrating then current. "For the fact is that truth is differently
presented and expressed in the various types of historical writing, in prophetical and poetical
texts, and in other forms of literary expression."
CCC 111 But since Sacred Scripture is inspired, there is another and no less important
principle of correct interpretation, without which Scripture would remain a dead letter. "Sacred
Scripture must be read and interpreted in the light of the same Spirit by whom it was written."
The Second Vatican Council indicates three criteria for interpreting Scripture in accordance
with the Spirit who inspired it.
CCC 112 Be especially attentive "to the content and unity of the whole Scripture. " Different as
the books which comprise it may be, Scripture is a unity by reason of the unity of God's plan,
of which Christ Jesus is the center and heart, open since his Passover. The phrase "heart of

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Christ" can refer to Sacred Scripture, which makes known his heart, closed before the
Passion, as the Scripture was obscure. But the Scripture has been opened since the Passion;
since those who from then on have understood it, consider and discern in what way the
prophecies must be interpreted.
CCC 113 Read the Scripture within "the living Tradition of the whole Church." According to a
saying of the Fathers, Sacred Scripture is written principally in the Church's heart rather than
in documents and records, for the Church carries in her Tradition the living memorial of God's
Word, and it is the Holy Spirit who gives her the spiritual interpretation of the Scripture
("according to the spiritual meaning which the Spirit grants to the Church").
CCC 114 Be attentive to the analogy of faith. By "analogy of faith" we mean the coherence of
the truths of faith among themselves and within the whole plan of Revelation.

The Bible in Church Life today

One of the great achievements of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) has been the
renewal of interest in the Bible among Catholics. In order to understand the Bible’s place in
Catholic thinking today, it can be helpful to see how Christians in other times and places
thought about and interpreted the Bible. A brief history of biblical interpretation will reveal
important insights that remain valid today.
The Old Testament constituted the Bible for Jesus and the early Christians. According to the
Gospels, Jesus sometimes quoted or alluded to Old Testament texts in order to establish a
theological point or to suggest a way of acting. He clearly accorded these texts a certain
degree of authority. Nevertheless, Jesus emerges from the New Testament as displaying
flexibility toward the Old Testament and even asserting his authority over it. He distinguishes
what comes from God and what comes from Moses (see Mk 10:1–12), goes beyond certain
scriptural teachings (Mt 5:21–48), and rates love of God and neighbour (Mk 12:28–31) over
strict observance of the Sabbath.
New Testament writers such as Paul and Matthew looked upon the Old Testament Scriptures
as “fulfilled” in Jesus Christ. Basing themselves on what apparently was a widespread early
Christian understanding, they interpreted the Old Testament Scriptures in the light of the life,
death, and resurrection of Jesus. Like other Jews of the time, they understood the Old
Testament to be a “mystery”, that is, something that could not be understood without guidance
or explanation.
By the time of the Fathers of the Church (the patristic period), the Christian Bible contained
two Testaments, Old and New. These early theologians generally adopted one or the other of
two basic approaches to the reading and interpretation of Scripture: the allegorical and the
literal methods.
The allegorical method, favoured particularly by those theologians who lived in Alexandria in
Egypt, emphasized uncovering the spiritual truths beneath the surface of the biblical stories. It
had also been adopted by Jewish interpreters, like Philo of Alexandria, who used the method
on the Hebrew Bible to appeal to non-Jews and especially to Jews who had come under the
influence of Greek philosophy and culture. Christian theologians who used this method
included Origen and Clement of Alexandria.
In contrast to this method was the more literal reading of the Bible, favoured by those Christian
thinkers who lived in Antioch, the capital of Syria in Roman times.

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The literal method focused more on the historical realities described in Scripture and insisted
that any higher or deeper sense should be based firmly on the literal sense of the text. John
Chrysostom favoured this approach.
It is important to recognize that these different emphases were not completely opposed to
each other. Thus the allegorical method did not deny the historical truth of events in Scripture,
nor did the literal method deny the spiritual meaning of those events.

CCC 115 According to an ancient tradition, one can distinguish between two senses of
Scripture: the literal and the spiritual, the latter being subdivided into the allegorical, moral, and
anagogical senses. The profound concordance of the four senses guarantees all its richness
to the living reading of Scripture in the Church.
CCC 116 The literal sense is the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered
by exegesis, following the rules of sound interpretation: "All other senses of Sacred Scripture
are based on the literal.”
CCC 117 The spiritual sense. Thanks to the unity of God's plan, not only the text of Scripture
but also the realities and events about which it speaks can be signs.
1. The allegorical sense. We can acquire a more profound understanding of events by
recognizing their significance in Christ; thus the crossing of the Red Sea is a sign or type of
Christ's victory and also of Christian Baptism.
2. The moral sense. The events reported in Scripture ought to lead us to act justly. As St. Paul
says, they were written "for our instruction.''
3. The anagogical sense (Greek: anagoge, "leading"). We can view realities and events in
terms of their eternal significance, leading us toward our true homeland: thus the Church on
earth is a sign of the heavenly Jerusalem.

There are some abiding principles of Catholic biblical interpretation: the central significance of
Christ; the struggle to be faithful to the literal meaning while searching for spiritual meaning;
the conviction that faith and reason are not opposed; the insistence that the Bible should be
interpreted in the Church; and the emphasis on biblical truth against the attacks of rationalism.

Application to Life:

- What is your experience in reading the Bible? Did you feel the presence of God?
- What do you hope to get from this Bible Study?

Let us Pray: God our Father, we praise and thank You for giving us this opportunity to
study and grow through Your Holy Word.
We ask that You send the Holy Spirit to open our minds and our hearts to receive what You
have prepared for us this night. Help us to pass on “The Story” to our families, parishes and
communities as we learn to imitate the faith and the obedience of our Mother Mary.
May we come to trust You more, as we follow Your Son and Word Jesus Christ.
Amen!

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