Biblical interpretation at Clapham Park

Fr Chris Basden, the indefatigably hospitable parish priest of Clapham Park, arranges regular gatherings for clergy at which we listen to a paper, pray together at Benediction and then enjoy lunch together.

Today's paper was given by Fr Marcus Holden, a young priest who is assistant at the Holy Ghost, Balham. The subject was "Pope Benedict XVI and the crisis in biblical interpretation". He drew attention to the question of the hermeneutic that usually underlies the historic-critical method of interpretation, and focussed on the triple spiritual sense of scripture. He gave some excellent illustrations of the use of the spiritual sense of scripture in the words of Christ and of St Paul, looked at some of the Fathers and St Thomas, and examined the problems of post-modernist use of the spiritual sense. I could not do justice to the lecture by summarising it and I am glad to hear that he is intending to edit the paper and publish it in due course.

The most important of the books he recommendeded was "Biblical Interpretation in Crisis: The Ratzinger Conference on Bible and Church". The UK Amazon price is a rather choking £65 but it may be possible to persuade theological libraries to ensure that they have a copy.

Another book he recommended was De Lubac's "Scripture in the Tradition" which is a more approachable £20.

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