The Importance of an Exegetical Approach to Sacred Scripture

Abstract

The author proposes a rapid overview of the approach to Sacred Scripture, beginning with patristic exegesis according to which the text was essentially Word of God, and for which the spiritual interpretation and allegorical method dominated, with the inevitable limit of arbitrariness, despite the great value for the faith of the commentaries it produced. The epochal shift occurs with the Renaissance and with the emergence of the historical-critical method, the emergence of a rational approach to the bible which brought about new problems in the context of an emerging chasm between faith and reason. Rossé then concentrates on the important 1993 document of the Pontifical Biblical Commission entitled The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, and concludes by commenting on some current problems that spring from the divide between the results of biblical study and popular faith and liturgical traditions that fail to nourish themselves with the results of such study.