ANTILOGY. — The term (ἀντιλογίας) means
“contradiction”; among scholars of biblical sciences it is
used to designate those cases in which two passages of
Scripture appear to be in contradiction with one another.
Contradictions may be real, when the original or translated
text has undergone alterations that have changed its meaning,
or merely apparent; and in the latter case they are also called
enantophany (“contrary appearances”). Real antinomies are
frequent in numerical data, which in ancient scripts were
easily subject to error; but even apart from numerical cases,
real contradictions arise from scribal or translational errors.
It is the task of the biblical interpreter to correct such errors
by employing the means suggested by sound criticism. Apparent
contradictions arise from the fact that the relevant biblical
passages refer either to similar but distinct subjects, or to
different circumstances of the same subject, or are due to
different ways of presenting the same subject, and to similar
causes. In general, the norm laid down by St Augustine
applies: “Si aliquid in eis offendero Litteris quod videtur
contrarium veritati, nihil aliud quam vel mendosum esse
codicem, vel interpretem non assecutum esse quod dictum
est, vel me minime intellectis esse non ambigam” (Ep. 82,
n. 3). V. RIMENENTICA.