Other
resources concerning how biblical fundamentalism compares with Catholic
approaches to the Scriptures:Catholicism and Fundamentalism
Pastoral Statement for Catholics on Biblical Fundamentalism
Exegetical approach |
Fundamentalist approach |
| a methodical, scholarly, analytical reading | an “off the cuff,” historicist, and literalistic reading |
| basic assumption: the Bible must be understood through the same methods as we understand other ancient texts | basic assumption: the Bible must be treated as categorically different than other ancient texts because it is inspired by God. |
| This stance invites dialogue with persons of different faiths (or no faith) | This confessional stance permits no dialogue with “outsiders” |
| Like every other form of human discourse, the Bible has different levels of meaning, i.e., the “three worlds of the text”—behind, within, and before the text. | The Bible is unlike any form of human discourse because it is the revealed Word(s) of God. |
| The Bible is a collection of ancient texts from different times, places, and authors | The Bible is one book, by one (Divine) author whose message is eternal |
| Divine inspiration means the Bible was authored by human agents under the influence of the Holy Spirit | Divine inspiration means the Bible was authored by God via human agents |
| Inspiration works with and through the limits of human reason, culture and experience | Inspiration supplants human reason and free will so that human culture has no effect on the result |
| The Bible has different kinds of texts and they must be interpreted differently depending upon their individual genres, language, etc. | Everything the Bible includes must be read at face value and as if it were historical fact ("it happened just like it says") |
| Jesus Christ is the Word of God; the Bible attests to this the Divine Word and puts the prayerful reader in contact with God/JC | The Bible is the Word of God, verbatim; essentially this means that it is "the WORDS of God." |
| The initial object of exegesis is to discern the meaning of a text for its original, historical audience. | The object of a fundamentalist reading is to discover what is the message of this text for me today? |
| This original meaning must be interpreted for each new audience in order to be applied to today. | There is one correct meaning for the text, i.e., the meaning to me today; that is what it has “always” meant. |
| Use tools of scholarly analysis, historical data, etc. | No tools are needed; what it means to me today is what it means, period. |
| Key question: what can we know about who wrote this text, who received it, what it meant to them? | No questions. Knowledge of the human author(s) and the history of the text are irrelevant. |
| Subsidiary question: what occasioned this text and how does that shape its content? | No questions. God wanted to tell us something; that is what “occasioned” the Bible. |
| Knowing what it meant to the original audience, what is the message of this particular text for this specific community of believers? | God wrote the Bible not for ancient people but for me. After reading this passage, what does God want me, personally, to believe and/or do? |
| Other
resources concerning how biblical fundamentalism compares with Catholic
approaches to the Scriptures: Catholicism and Fundamentalism Pastoral Statement for Catholics on Biblical Fundamentalism |