Call for Papers
Jun 28, 2021
"Interpretation of Scripture and Ecclesial Exegesis: The Search for an Integrated Theology" with Gregory Vall, Fr. David Meconi, and Robert Louis Wilken
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In an address given to the Fourteenth Synod of Bishops on October 14, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI stated:
Only when both methodological levels — the historical/critical and the theological — are observed can one speak of a theological exegesis that alone is adequate to Sacred Scripture. . . therefore for the life and mission of the Church, for the future of faith, it is absolutely necessary to overcome this dualism between exegesis and theology. Biblical theology and systematic theology are two dimensions of one reality, which we call theology.
These remarks are a succinct summary of Benedict’s methodological approach to the Bible, which he articulated 20 years earlier in his 1988 Erasmus lecture. In this lecture, he called for an interpretation of Sacred Scripture focusing on its historical context combined with the fullness of the canon, an explicit philosophy of interpretation, and a hermeneutic of faith in the context of the Church. His “Method C” would unite patristic and scholastic exegesis with a philosophically chastened historical method for an integrated approach to theological reflection.
This conference will reflect upon how biblical scholarship can best embrace the openness to complementary methods the sources of revelation require:
- How does historical critical biblical scholarship contribute to an integrated Catholic Theology and what are its limitations?
- How does Catholic philosophy and theology shape the understanding of Scripture in turn?
