Biblical Introduction

BIBLICAL INTRODUCTION. - The science that provides the knowledge necessary for the reading and interpretation of the Bible (v.).

The name "i." was used for the first time in its Greek equivalent εἰδαγωγή by the monk Adrian (v.) around the middle of the 5th century, in the work Εἰδαγωγή εἰς τὰς θείας γραφάς (Introduction to the Divine Scriptures: PG 98, 1273-1312; cf. G. Mercati, in Rev. bibl., 11 [1914], pp. 246-55). A century later, Cassiodorus, in his Institutiones divinarum et humanarum lectionum (edited by R. A. B. Mynors, Oxford 1937, and, earlier, in PG 70, 1105-50) lists among the "introductores Scripturae Divinae" the Donatist Ticonius, St. Augustine, Adrian, Eucherius, Junilius, who, except for Junilius, give only norms of biblical interpretation (PL 70, 1122).

The generic notion is described by Leo XIII in the encyclical Providentissimus (18 Nov. 1893), where he imposes on "the sacred seminaries and academies" the study of biblical introduction, so that "the student may have useful resources for demonstrating the integrity and authority of the Bible, for investigating and attaining its legitimate sense, for repressing and destroying captious attacks" (cf. Enchiridion biblicum, Rome 1927, nos. 88-89).

The necessity of this study is reaffirmed by Pius X in the apostolic letter Quoniam in re biblica (27 March 1906; Ench. Bibl., nos. 155-73), by Benedict XV in the encyclical Spiritus Paraclitus (15 Sept. 1920; Enchiridion biblicum, nos. 457-508), by Pius XII in the encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu (30 Sept. 1943; AAS, 35 [1943], pp. 297-326).

The necessity of an introductory study of Sacred Scripture is already pointed out by St. Peter where he laments that "certain persons without instruction and unstable twist" certain difficult passages of St. Paul "as they do the other Scriptures of the same kind" (II Pt. 3, 16). The difficulties of the Bible demand a biblical introduction: we are in fact in the presence of a divine-human book, composed in ancient languages, with a mentality very different from our own.

There is not yet a uniform arrangement of biblical introduction. Commonly, by biblical introduction in the broad sense is meant "all the disciplines whose knowledge is useful for the understanding of the Sacred Scriptures, therefore also the sciences that are called auxiliary, such as philology, geography, history, biblical archaeology" (H. Hoepfl-B. Gut, cit. in bibl., p. 2). By biblical introduction in the strict sense is meant "that discipline which studies the origin (divine and human) of the Sacred Letters, their history (preservation and propagation), genuineness, integrity and interpretation" (ibid.).

Biblical introduction is customarily divided into general and special. The first, also called biblical propaedeutics, deals with the questions that concern the sacred books taken together and studies their inspiration, the canon, the original Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek text, the ancient and modern versions, hermeneutics, the history of exegesis.

Special biblical introduction studies separately the individual books, or groups of books, of the Old and New Testaments and intends principally to establish their human authority. It investigates their authors, date, place of origin, subject, purpose, division, integrity.

The rationalists, considering the Bible as a purely profane book, treat biblical introduction as "the history of the sacred books of the Hebrews" or "of biblical literature"; Catholics, mindful of the warning of Leo XIII, consider this as a science "treated under the auspices and with the assistance of theology"; this, however, does not prevent them from using the historical-critical method. Biblical truth has nothing to fear from sound criticism (cf. E. Mangenot, col. 914). The proofs adduced especially in favor of inspiration and canonicity will thus have a twofold value: apologetic, insofar as they represent historical tradition; theological, insofar as they attest dogmatic tradition.

Historical outline. As a special discipline, biblical introduction was treated in systematic form only from the 16th century onward; yet treatments of particular questions connected with biblical introduction are not lacking from the earliest centuries. In this field too the stimulus to the perfecting of methods was born from the progress of critical, philological and historical sciences.

In the age of the Fathers, biblical introduction was not treated ex professo. Nevertheless, important notices drawn from tradition concerning the sacred authors, the canon, the sacred text were handed down: especially the hermeneutical norms were studied. Of interest for biblical introduction, in the 2nd century, are the Marcionite Prologues on the Gospels of Mark, Luke, John and on 10 Pauline letters, the Muratorian canon, a hermeneutical Key attributed to Melito of Sardis (lost). In the 3rd century, the writings of St. Irenaeus and the hermeneutical publications of the "Alexandrian school," with Clement of Alexandria and Origen, are useful. In the 4th century, those of the "second Antiochene school," with Diodore of Tarsus, St. John Chrysostom (v.), Theodore of Mopsuestia. Many notices of biblical introduction are read in the Historia ecclesiastica of Eusebius of Caesarea and in the works of St. Jerome, especially in the celebrated Prologues to his version from the Hebrew, in the De viris illustribus and in his expanded version of the Onomasticon of Eusebius.

Later writers devoted greater care to the systematization of the treatise on hermeneutics. St. Augustine dedicates to it the De doctrina christiana (PL 34, 15-122) and the 4 books De consensu Evangelistarum (PL 34, 1041-1230). Among the writings recalled as introductory by Cassiodorus, one notes: the Donatist Ticonius (ca. 400), De septem regulis, for finding the biblical sense (PL 18, 15-66), discussed by St. Augustine; Eucherius (v.) of Lyon, Formularum spiritis intelligentiae ad Uranium I. unus; Instructionum ad Salonium II. duo (PL 50, 727-822); Junilius Africanus (ca. 550), De partibus divinae Legis (PL 68, 15-42), in dialogic form.

In the 6th century, Cosmas Indicopleustes, in the Topografia cristiana (PG 88, 51-470), also treats of the authors and the subject of the sacred books. Cassiodorus (d. 570) gathered the notions of biblical introduction treated by various authors in his Institutiones (PL 70, 1105-50).

In the Middle Ages, the scholastics were interested predominantly in the doctrinal and moral questions contained in the Bible; they touch incidentally on introductory questions in the prolegomena or in the commentaries. Not knowing the original languages, they rely solely on the Latin Vulgate and seek to correct the faults of the copyists.

Worthy of remembrance are Hugh of St. Victor, and especially St. Thomas Aquinas, who set out the hermeneutical rules in the Sum. Theol., 1a, q. 1, aa. 9-10; Quodlib., VII, q. 6, aa. 14-16; and treated thoroughly the question of inspiration. Also remembered are J. Gerson, Propositiones de sensu litterali S. Scripturae; N. Lyranus in the prolegomena to the Postillae, completed by Paul of Burgos.

In the period of Humanism, notable progress was made in the field of biblical philology. The study of the Oriental languages, introduced into the universities by the Council of Vienne (1312), bore fruit in the field of biblical introduction and of Old Testament exegesis; the study of the Greek language, spread in the West, especially after the fall of Constantinople (1453), contributed to the deepening of New Testament studies. With the publication of the Polyglot of Cardinal F. Ximenes de Cisneros (d. 1517), critical studies received new impetus. D. Erasmus of Rotterdam (d. 1536) advanced critical studies on the New Testament with his editions of the Greek text. In this period Santes Pagnini stands out, Isagoges seu introductionis ad Sacrae Litteras liber unus (Lyon 1525), in which he treats of the Hebrew language and writing, of the versions, of the canon and of the hermeneutical rules. He also wrote Isagoges ad s. Literas et ad mysticos Scripturarum sensu libri octodecim (ibid. 1536).

After the Council of Trent, which fixed the canon and declared the Vulgate authentic (8 April 1546), Catholic writers dealt especially with these subjects and with hermeneutical norms. Sixtus of Siena (v.) may be said to be the first who compiled a complete autonomous biblical introduction with his 8 books entitled Bibliotheca sancta (Venice 1566); St. R. Bellarmine, in his Controversies, also treated De verbo Dei scripto et non scripto (Rome 1581).

Works of biblical introduction were published by A. Salmerón (d. 1585), N. Serarius (d. 1609), J. Bonfrère (d. 1643).

Among the Protestants, those who applied themselves to biblical introduction were M. Flacius (d. 1575), A. Rivetus (d. 1634), A. Calovius (d. 1686), and especially B. Walton (d. 1661), with the celebrated London polyglot Bible (1654-57).

In the era of biblical criticism and rationalism, the Oratorian R. Simon (d. 1712), in the Catholic camp, was the first to treat biblical introduction with the historical-critical method, in his celebrated works Histoire critique du texte, des versions et des commentaires du Vieux Testament (Paris 1678); Histoire critique du texte du Nouveau Testament (Rotterdam 1689), etc. Wishing to walk the middle path between Catholics and Protestants, he ended by displeasing both the one and the other. He was combated by J. Bossuet and by the Protestant J. Le Clerc, but his method ended by triumphing. Among Catholics there distinguished themselves A. Calmet (d. 1757), H. Goldhagen (d. 1794), J. F. Marchini (d. 1774), I. N. Schaeffer (d. 1790).

With the English deists, especially with E. Herbert of Cherbury (d. 1638) and A. Collins (d. 1729), then with J. S. Semler (d. 1791), biblical rationalism became established, which denied to the Bible any superior dignity and authority. T. Hobbes, B. Spinoza, Voltaire greatly influenced it. These currents, especially the rationalistic one propagated by G. L. Lessing and S. Reimarus, strove to reduce biblical introduction to the level of a profane literary science.

In the 19th century, Catholics renewed introductory studies, adapting the method of R. Simon to the new apologetic needs and giving rise to the initiatives and publications favored and guided by the ecclesiastical magisterium (Biblical documents of the Vatican Council, of Leo XIII, Pius X, Benedict XV, Pius XI and Pius XII, Responses of the Pontifical Biblical Commission; cf. Enchiridion biblicum, from no. 60 to the end). The encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu recalls the progress made in the biblical field in the 50 years since Providentissimus (1893). The biblical school of the Dominicans in Jerusalem, the Pontifical Biblical Institute of the Jesuits in Rome and in Jerusalem, and the journals of a strictly biblical or theological character frequently treat questions of biblical introduction.

Pietro De Ambroggi