The Depths of Scripture

The Depths of Scripture – Canon Michael Lewis published by  CTS

The subtitle of this booklet is The Bible in the Light of the Catechism, and its clear intention is to help us to read the Bible in a truly Catholic way, and to protect us against the errors of those who have tried to ‘deconstruct’ or otherwise re-interpret Holy Scripture.

The Preface sets the tone; recalling how Christ walked with Cleopas and his companion on the road to Emmaus and explained the Scripture to them until their hearts burned within them.  That is the effect reading Scripture should have on all of us, for it is an encounter with Christ Himself, the Word of God.

The first chapter (after the Preface) is Scripture in the Life of Christ, and reminds us how Our Lord was saturated in Scripture. If we are to imitate Christ, we too must fully immerse ourselves in the Holy Bible.  Canon Lewis also points out that the Jewish understanding of the Torah was not simply the written word, but the body of oral tradition that interpreted it for the faithful Jew.  That is of course paralleled by the place of Tradition in the Catholic interpretation of the Bible; but whereas the Jewish oral tradition was capable of corruption, Our Lord has promised the Church freedom from teaching error, guaranteed by the Holy Spirit.  But the main thrust of this chapter is simply the degree to which Christ himself exemplified knowledge and love of Scripture; as demonstrated by the frequency of his quoting it (try counting only the examples which spring to mind easily, to realise the force of this argument!)

 The next Chapter is Where do the Scriptures come From?  As well as clarifying the  complimentary roles of God and men in writing the Holy Bible, Canon Lewis considers the Enlightenment attack on Scripture – the search for the ‘real’ Jesus.  Quoting C S Lewis, he points out how unlikely it was that 18^th or 19^th century sceptics should have a better understanding of Christ than his Jewish contemporaries, and how in fact all such critics end up with a Christ who is a reflection of their own assumptions and philosophy.  Whereas the Church reads Scripture as a lover reads a love letter: seeking to discern in every phrase the characteristic voice of the beloved.

There is then a long chapter on How to Choose  a Bible.  This considers the different approaches to translation, particularly dynamic equivalence, and formal equivalence.  Canon Lewis points out the risks of dynamic equivalence, given the fact that changing the words changes the meaning; and recommends particularly the Catholic Revised Standard Version, along with the CTS New Catholic Bible, as a slightly more dynamic version.

We then get to the heart of the booklet: two chapters on Interpreting Scripture and The Spiritual Sense of Scripture.  Here Canon Lewis takes us through how correctly to find both the surface meaning and the deeper meaning in Scripture.  Drawing on the Catechism, the writings of recent Popes and the Bible itself, he takes us through an intensive introduction to intelligent reading of Holy Writ.  This is too rich to be summarised without devaluing it, so I strongly recommend that you get this excellent booklet, and read it – and then, as Canon Lewis says, quoting St Augustine’s Confessions, turn to the Bible and ‘Take and Read, Take and Read.”