Heteronomy: The Catholic view of the Bible

Question 1

Question: How does Dei Verbum describe the authorship of the Bible?

Answer 1

Answer: The Bible is written by humans but inspired by God via the Holy Spirit, making it “without error” and containing “that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings”.

Question 2

Question: How did God use human authors according to Dei Verbum?

Answer 2

Answer: God chose men and, while employing them, made use of their powers and abilities. Acting in them and through them, they consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted.

Question 3

Question: What is Sacred Scripture according to Dei Verbum?

Answer 3

Answer: Sacred Scripture is “the word of God” written “under the inspiration of the divine spirit”.

Question 4

Question: What role does Sacred Tradition play according to Dei Verbum?

Answer 4

Answer: Sacred Tradition takes the word of God entrusted by Christ the Lord and the Holy Spirit to the Apostles and hands it on to their successors so they can faithfully “preserve” and “explain” it.

Question 5

Question: What ensures the truthfulness of Sacred Scripture?

Answer 5

Answer: Sacred Scripture is ensured to be truthful because it was written “under the inspiration of the divine spirit,” containing “that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings”.

Question 6

Question: What is one example of crimes perpetrated by the Catholic Church?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 6

Answer: Examples include the paedophile priest scandals and the Church’s allegiance with fascism, especially Hitler.

Question 7

Question: What do Protestants argue about the Catholic Church’s actions?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 7

Answer: Protestants suggest that the Church is corrupt and does not act like it is guided by the Holy Spirit.

Question 8

Question: What was the Catholic Church’s policy regarding indulgences?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 8

Answer: The Church accepted money in return for forgiveness of sins, with priests praying for the dead to get them out of purgatory faster.

Question 9

Question: How was purgatory linked to the sale of indulgences?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 9

Answer: Purgatory was used as a justification for selling indulgences, claiming that donations could reduce a relative’s time in purgatory.

Question 10

Question: What did Martin Luther claim about purgatory?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 10

Answer: Luther claimed purgatory was “fabricated by goblins” and criticized the sale of indulgences in his 95 theses.

Question 11

Question: What was one of Luther’s criticisms in his 95 theses about the sale of indulgences?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 11

Answer: Luther criticized that preaching pardons made it difficult to maintain reverence for the pope due to slander and questioning from the laity.

Question 12

Question: What question did Luther pose about the pope’s use of money from indulgences?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 12

Answer: Luther questioned why the pope allowed impious men to buy pious souls out of purgatory for money instead of freeing them for pure love’s sake.

Question 13

Question: What did Luther say about the pope’s wealth and the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 13

Answer: Luther asked why the pope, who was wealthier than Crassus, did not use his own money to build St. Peter’s Basilica instead of using money from poor believers.

Question 14

Question: What does the sale of indulgences suggest about the Church’s intentions, according to critics?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 14

Answer: The sale of indulgences suggests that the Church was abusing its power to invent false doctrines for the sake of making money.

Question 15

Question: What was the ultimate critique of the invention of purgatory in relation to indulgences?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 15

Answer: The ultimate critique was that the invention of purgatory was an abuse of power, creating false doctrines purely for financial gain, indicating corruption.

Question 16

Question: How did Luther describe the impact of preaching pardons on reverence for the pope?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 16

Answer: Luther described that preaching pardons made it difficult for even learned men to rescue the reverence due to the pope from slander or shrewd questioning by the laity.

Question 17

Question: What moral question did Luther raise regarding the pope’s practices?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 17

Answer: Luther questioned the morality of the pope allowing a man to buy a soul out of purgatory for money rather than freeing the soul out of pure love.

Question 18

Question: What overall impression does the sale of indulgences give about the Catholic Church?

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences.

Answer 18

Answer: The sale of indulgences gives the impression that the Catholic Church was corrupt and focused on financial gain rather than genuine spiritual guidance.

Question 19

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences: Catholics would respond

Answer 19

Catholics would respond that of course the Church can sin because it is populated by human beings. Christ knew this yet still wanted them to be a source of moral authority. We can’t use human flaws as evidence that Jesus didn’t want humans to have this role.

Question 20

The Catholic Church’s corrupt sale of indulgences: Protestants could respond

Answer 20

Protestants could respond that the extent of their corruption is so great that they have betrayed and sacrificed their right to the authority Christ entrusted them with.

Arguably the crimes of the Catholic Church go beyond normal human flaws. Jesus entrusted flawed humans with the role of forming a Church, but if the Church went beyond normal human flaws then they are going beyond Jesus’ expectations.

Question 21

But what human has the right to…

Answer 21

But what human has the right to decide to end something Jesus started?

Question 22

Arguably Jesus never wanted the Church to have…

Answer 22

Arguably Jesus never wanted the Church to have equal authority to the Bible. This depends on the interpretation of Jesus’ words regarding the mission he gave his disciples.

Question 23

Issues around the role of reason in ethics

Answer 23

The Catholic Church follows Natural theology, including Natural Law ethics, such as Aquinas’ natural law theory; the view that humans can use their God given reason to figure out God’s ethical precepts. This is part of the ‘reason’ element of heteronomy.

However, protestants like Luther, Calvin and Barth, reject natural theology and natural law with it, because they claim that human reason was corrupted by the fall and thus is not able to be a source for Christian moral principles.