“Literal Interpretation of Scripture Among Catholics
23% Word of God, literally true word for word
39% Word of God, but not literally true word for word
27% Book written by men, not the word of God
11% Don’t know/ refused/ other
Question wording: Which comes closest to your view? The Bible is the word of God, OR The Bible is a book written by men and is not the word of God? [IF BELIEVE THE BIBLE IS WORD OF GOD, ASK:] And would you say that The Bible is to be taken literally, word for word, OR not everything in The Bible should be taken literally, word for word?”

As you can see, only 39% of Catholics gave an answer that aligns with the Catholic Church’s way of reading Scripture. 23% hold a fundamentalist view. To be honest, I thought this would be higher than the 27% who do not believe that it is the Word of God at all, but both are problematic nonetheless.

Personally, I feel this shows that there is a lack in our faith formation of teens and adults on how to read the Bible and what Catholics believe about the Bible. John Paul II and the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, in their 1999 pastoral “Our Hearts were Burning Within Us” clearly state that catechesis must be focused on adults for it is they who are “capable of an adherence that is fully responsible (JPII in Catechesi Tradendae, 1979).”

What are other people’s thoughts on the Pew Reports’ findings in relation to the Bible? Since it just came out, I am still processing its implications for parish faith formation ministry, so I would love to hear other insights.

As for my favorite translations, I enjoy using The Message as a supplimentary resource, but only after reading the passage in another translation – NAB is a personal favorite.

I realized that in my recommendation of one the study Bibles that I gave an incorrect title. For the New American Translation, I recommend The Catholic Study Bible edited by Donald Senior and John J. Collins published by Oxford University Press (this is the American version) or for the International version, The Catholic Bible, Personal Study Edition: New American Bible edited by Jean Marie Heisberger.

I have actually been occasionally attending a nondenomenational bible study because I want to get more in depth into the Scriptures, but on the occasions that I go, I find the reflections on the daily mass readings in my Magnificat to be more valuable. I have been trying to pinpoint the problem, and I think a lot of it has to do with taking small tidbits of a story and giving them broad applications.

For example, the last one I attended, we looked at Acts Chapter 8 and the story of the Ethiopian Eunuch. Part of the passage mentions Phillip being told by an angel to travel through the desert. The leader of the study generalized this point exessively talking about how we are all called to travel long and potentially dangerous paths in God’s name, and that we need to strike out on these paths at the moments notice, when we hear the whisper in our ear.

I personally think they missed the broader point of the story that the Scriptures can be confusing and that we need an authority to help us understand them, which I think is one of the themes of the article Bishop Sklba wrote.

Study Bibles:
I definitely love my New Oxford Annotated with Apocrypha (Red cover, largish print-especially for the footnotes, NRSV translation). Its been with me for 6 years and the cover is now coming off, pages are falling apart, etc… Its been worth every penny for all of the course work and parish ministry its been through!

I also highly recommend the New American Bible: Study Edition. There is one edited by and has commentaries from U.S. theologians and one from an International onslaught of Bible Scholars. Both are good, but they are different.

Personal Prayer/Reflection:
I love the New Jerusalem Bible for its Psalms. the poetry is great, and it is still fairly close to the original meaning. I don’t recommend it for study though, since the translation is old and does not necessarily convey the true meaning from the Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek for much of the narratives.

I also love, love, love Psalms for Praying: An Invitation to Wholeness by Nan C. Merrill. She has taken the Psalms and re-worked them through for hearts and ears of modern people (especially women). The original psalms are a must, but this is great for group prayer when you don’t want to interrupt with a lecture on culture and history or personal reflection…not to mention the images and poetry are gorgeous. Bishop Sklba’s not a big fan, because it does deviate from the authentic translation, but he says as long as it is noted that they are inspired psalms and not a translation of their own, its perfectly acceptable!

Lastly, my mentor and friend really likes the Serendipity Bible for personal prayer. I haven’t really used it, but I completely trust his opinion on these matters. It has a personal bible study program and questions inlaid throughout it. It is NOT a study Bible, no footnotes for all the socio-cultural info, but it is nicely edited for reflection.

I think it is wonderful that more people are embracing reading the Bible, and I really love the study bibles that give background information as well as some good translation and clarification for the confusing parts. It makes it more accessible and hopefully less intimidating for some.

Does anyone have a favorite translation? I have really been loving the Message Bible (simplified and contemporary language, sometimes a little too simplified) and the New Living Translation (Jehovah’s Witness translation). They don’t just give those out to anyone so I was super stoked to get one. They’re not Catholic bibles, so only for personal reflection but they really help me hear things in a new way and its so interesting to compare.

For the ultimate parallel Bible resource, biblegateway.com is great. Not many Catholic options however. When I bought my first Bible I remembered searching forever for Catholic Bible tabs, which I could not find for the life of me. Now they’re fairly plentiful I think.

I have been reading Sacred Scripture regularly for the past four months, and have truely enjoyed hearing the Word of God sing to me from the page! Before, even in Catholic school, I barely picked up a Bible!