{"id":330,"date":"2012-01-19T14:37:46","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T14:37:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=330"},"modified":"2012-01-19T14:43:57","modified_gmt":"2012-01-19T14:43:57","slug":"var-_gaq-_gaq-_gaq-push_setaccount-ua-25646250-2-_gaq-push_trackpageview-function-var-ga-document-createelementscript-ga-type-textjava-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=330","title":{"rendered":"<script type=\"text\/javascript\">    var _gaq = _gaq || [];   _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-25646250-2']);   _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']);    (function() {     var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text\/javascript'; ga.async = true;     ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https:\/\/ssl' : 'http:\/\/www') + '.google-analytics.com\/ga.js';     var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s);   })();  <\/script>  <\/heat> Catholic Statements on Faith and Science and on the Authorship of the Biblical Account of Noah and the Flood"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I wish to respond in a thoughtful way to the comments that address the very approach being taken in our adult study of the scripture. The comment <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=317#comments\">http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=317#comments<\/a>\u00a0seem to make a number of assumptions. \u00a0I think one is that a faithful Catholic must choose between religion and science, although in the comment there is a reference to scientists who are brothers and sisters of the faith.\u00a0 However, there isn\u2019t an American science, or a Russian science, or a Chinese science; nor is there a Christian science, a Muslim science, or a Jewish science, etc.\u00a0 There is just science.\u00a0 That is not to say that all of the above persons can be and are scientists.<\/p>\n<p>To read the relevant statement by the authority of the Catholic Church I would direct the reader to the Vatican website on The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church <a href=\"http:\/\/bit.ly\/10wHxJ\">http:\/\/bit.ly\/10wHxJ<\/a>. Where we read in Q. 29,<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhy is there no contradiction between faith and science?\u00a0 Though faith is above reason, there can never be a contradiction between faith and science because both originate in God. It is God himself who gives to us the light both of reason and of faith.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>There are, nonetheless, conflicts in our society between scientists and believers.\u00a0 The conflicts are quite complex though.\u00a0 These conflicts reside not in science and in faith but in scientists and believers. They have a long and tortuous history.\u00a0 Their origins are in that history to which, unfortunately, both the religious and the scientific communities share the blame.\u00a0 We will move beyond these conflicts only when both communities engage in authentic conversation at both the level of science and the level of theology.\u00a0 Before we move to a second assumption, you may wish to offer you own thoughts, etc. on the previous couple of paragraphs.<\/p>\n<p>There is, as I understand it, another assumption in the comments.\u00a0 If we take the time to read carefully the comment, I think it is easy to recognize the passion of the author\u2019s beliefs; a passion that is both honorable and enviable.\u00a0 It seems to me that such passion is stirred because not to take the bible literally is to \u201cstart undermining the word of God;\u201d it is to &#8220;give the faithful more reasons to doubt the word and you.\u201d I understand \u201cyou\u201d to mean me but I\u2019m not sure.\u00a0 He adds, \u201cOnce you shift Genesis from Moses to other authors you discredit the word and undermine all of scripture.\u201d Ultimately what is at stake as I hear him is the bible itself.<\/p>\n<p>Again let me draw on authoritative Catholic statements.\u00a0 The most significant encyclical informing Catholic biblical scholarship is Divino Afflante Spiritu [Inspired by the Divine Spirit] issued by Pope Pius XII on Sept. 30, 1943, quite a while ago.\u00a0 This encyclical inaugurated the modern period of Roman Catholic Biblical studies.\u00a0 The Catholic biblical scholar Father <a title=\"Raymond E. Brown\" href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Raymond_E._Brown\">Raymond E. Brown<\/a>\u00a0described it as a &#8216;Magna Carta for biblical progress.&#8217; There is a whole library of books from Catholic Biblical scholars based on contemporary methodologies.<\/p>\n<p>More to the point of the authorship of the biblical account of Noah and the Flood is the website of United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.\u00a0 There <a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/6\">http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/genesis\/6<\/a> the notes offers the following concerning it authorship,<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/6:5\">6:5<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/8:22\">8:22<\/a>] The story of the great flood is commonly regarded as a composite narrative based on separate sources woven together. To the <strong>Yahwist source<\/strong>, with some later editorial additions, are usually \u00a0assigned \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/6:5\">6:5<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/6:8\">8<\/a>; \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:1\">7:1<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:5\">5<\/a>, \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:7\">7<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:10\">10<\/a>, \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:12\">12<\/a>, \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:16\">16b<\/a>, \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:17\">17b<\/a>, \u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:22\">22<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/7:23\">23<\/a>;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/8:2\">8:2b<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/8:3\">3a<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/8:6\">6<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/8:12\">12<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/8:13\">13b<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/8:20\">20<\/a>\u2013<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/gn\/8:22\">22<\/a>. The other sections are usually attributed to the <strong>Priestly writer<\/strong>. There are differences between the <strong>two sources<\/strong> \u2026\u201d [Bolded added]<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s just a mistake to think that the only acceptable Roman Catholic interpretation of the scriptures is a literal interpretation.\u00a0 The vast 2000 year intellectual tradition of Catholic thought underpins a commitment to truth both revealed and grasped naturally.\u00a0 What has persuaded modern Catholic biblical scholarship is the shear weight of the evidence.<\/p>\n<p>There is another important observation that needs to be made.\u00a0 If the Catholic Church since at least 1943 approved of the very approach I am taking in our adult scripture study, why does it seem so foreign to so many Catholics and really Christians of many other traditions? The answer to that is a book but in essence it is a cultural and an educational issue.\u00a0 It is the very reason that I have argued most of my life that what is needed is adult education.<\/p>\n<p>As always your responses are welcomed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I wish to respond in a thoughtful way to the comments that address the very approach being taken in our adult study of the scripture. The comment http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=317#comments\u00a0seem to make a number of assumptions. \u00a0I think one is that a &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/?p=330\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,9,5],"tags":[12,28,11],"class_list":["post-330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-science","category-scripture","tag-catholic-position","tag-literal-interpretation","tag-science-and-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=330"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":336,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/330\/revisions\/336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/rjr.richardross.annaerossi.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}