Excellent introduction to the scriptures

A friend from my Wonersh days back in the late 1970's, Canon Michael Lewis of Menevia Diocese, has kindly sent me a copy of his pamphlet "The Depths of Scripture. The Bible in the Light of the Catechism." which has recently been published by the Catholic Truth Society (CTS) in its "Deeper Christianity Series."

Canon Lewis has provided a balanced and truly Catholic introduction to the Scriptures in this very sound guide that is underpinned by a love of the Hebrew language and of the Fathers of the Church, without ever losing the ordinary reader. There are many insights that prompted me to stop and think. For example, he says:
Strangely enough, there is one mystery of Christ that is often overlooked: the mystery of Christ as the perfect reader of Scripture. We forget all to easily that the incarnate Word himself read and loved the Scriptures as he received them as a child, from within the community of the Jewish people. The way in which Christ read the Scriptures is, of course, definitive for all who would follow him.
He refers to the Jewish establishment of a nationwide system of "primary schools" to study the Torah. He shows how the living interpretation of the Torah (which our Lord himself respected) is fulfilled in the magisterium of the Church. He offers a readable and intelligible debunking of the rationalist attack upon the Scriptures and provides some very sensible advice on choosing a translation of the Bible.

The sections on interpreting the Scriptures and on the spiritual sense of the Scriptures give the ordinary Catholic solid guidance in accord with the teaching of the Church and particularly the expression of that teaching in the Catechism. There is a very good short exposition of the texts that the Church has chosen for the Mass of Our Lady of the Assumption to illustrate this spiritual sense.

Often people write to me with questions about how Catholics should read the Bible. I heartily recommend this pamphlet as a guide. The pamphlet is 60 pages, £1.95, available from the CTS.

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