Friends,

It’s Elizabeth here to recap the last of our Winter Wine talks.  This week, Ray Urban joined us and discussed the role of the Bible in his life and evangelization.  Mr. Urban grew up Catholic but did not have a close relationship with Jesus until his health suffered.  After this, his wife invited him to her bible study.  Next thing he knew, he graduated from the Chicago Catholic Scripture School, run by the archdiocese, covering 95% of the bible.  Since his graduation, he actively participates in evangelization at his parish of St. Francis and within the archdiocese.  In fact, he facilitated one of the small groups at last year’s archdiocesan young adult study.

First, I’d like to get some basics out of the way.  The Catholic Bible consists of 73 books compiled in 393 A.D.  Subsequent councils reviewed the inclusion of each book with the final sanction declared at the Council of Trent in 1563.  Two official translations exist:  the Revised Standard Edition (RSV), last edited in 2006, and New American Bible-Revised Edition (NABRE), last edited in 2011 and the translation used at Mass.  These translations result from a painstaking process of interpreting the original Hebrew and Greek to create a modern English work best reflecting the original meaning of each word.  Translating the Bible consists of a long and storied history starting with oral tradition until the time of David.  From there, the Bible’s authors wrote in Hebrew and Greek and its translators converted it into Latin (Vulgate) and, finally, the vernacular.  This process initiates one of the most important historical events of the last 500 years: the printing press.

Translation is a difficult process--especially when the new language does not have the same subtleties of the original (if you ever want to talk about the difficulty of translating a work in another language and culture, this anthropologist would love to join you over a glass of wine).  In John 21:15, Jesus asks Paul three times if Paul loves Him.  Superficially, it appears Jesus’ repetition means to blot out Paul’s denial.  However, when examining the Greek, we see Jesus twice asks Paul “do you agape (self-sacrificing love) me?”  Paul responds with “I filia (friendship love) you” each time.  Only in the last question does Jesus ask “do you filia (friendship love) me”.  I find this so important.  Jesus meets us at our level.  He does not require self-sacrificing love from us before He allows us to approach him.  Instead, He waits while our discipleship and friendship-love grow into a self-sacrifice.  If Jesus waits for us, then we must also wait for those we evangelize to grow in their faith.  We cannot expect a come-to-God, Baptist revival moment from those just entering the spiritual life.

Mr. Urban reminded us that the bible is like a library with different literature types, such as historical/non-fiction and poetry.  Realizing this, the entire Bible should not be read entirely as a literal work; instead, the Church provides us with four lenses, called the Quadriga, through which to read its books:

• Historical.  This lens is somewhat literal and describes the historical context of each book and time period.  However, remember historians write historical works (biblical and secular) in and for a specific time with an emphasis on the issues, cultures, or mindsets of an individual community.
• Allegorical.  This lens refers to each object, person, or action as something else.  For example, Issac points to Jesus, Egypt symbolizes a state or place of sin, and water represents baptism or chaos.
• Moral.  Reading through this lens allows us to apply teachings and actions to modern situations.
• Anagogic.  This lens requires us to apply the reading to our internal spiritual life and illuminates the afterlife.

Individual readings and books benefit from the application of multiple lenses.  Our Protestant brethren consolidated these four lenses into one historical/literal lens with a couple verse exceptions.  However, use of each lens paints the larger context for the reader.  Due to this, cherry picking individual verses to prove a point, especially in evangelization, obscures the larger picture.  For example, individuals argue salvation through faith along utilizing Romans 3:28 while James 2:17 counter-argues faith without works is dead.  The further context of Romans shows us Paul teaching the congregation that the additional laws created by the temple priests were unnecessary. 

Have you ever noticed the God of the Old Testament seems so unlike the God of the New Testament?  Every so often, I think of this and struggle with the idea of a changing unchangeable God. Mr. Urban pointed out that the procession of books through the Old Testament and into the New reflects the peoples’ communities and their understanding of God.  Jesus points out that the spirit of the Law is far more important than its letter.  He came to change our minds and improve our understanding of the Father.
Doesn’t this happen in our own faith lives?  Shame and fear of God’s judgement have fueled my anxiety in the past.  In these last few years, though, I have grown in my understanding of God and His judgement.  While my anxiety flares up every so often, I have begun to see His mercy instead of His judgement and how He weaves His love into my daily life.  This same understanding of spiritual development must accompany our attempts at evangelization.  On I-65, one billboard declares “Hell is Real” and I guarantee no one converts because of it.  Instead, true evangelization works to help someone move from fear to understanding of His love.

Finally, Mr. Urban reviewed different theories about Christ’s Passion.  One theory argues we owed a debt we could not pay so Jesus paid a debt He did not owe.  While this theory illuminates the damage of sin, it also paints God as a loan officer similar to the Department of Education or private student loan companies.  Others view Jesus’ sacrifice as the ultimate ritual sacrifice satisfying God’s demand.  This view reflects the Temple sacrifices of Exodus and perfects them.  However, this sacrificial theory also depicts God as a petty, cold, brutal figure requiring violence to earn His love.  Mr. Urban presented a final theory, held by the Franciscans, which posits that Christ willingly sacrifices Himself to show His overwhelming love.  This act shocks us into a deeper understanding of His love in our lives.  Each understanding of God has its place, but I plan on focusing on the last one this Lent as I attempt to go deeper.

I hope you have enjoyed this post and the other Winter Wine reflections. Thank you all for attending the presentations and for reading these posts.  We hope to see you in the summer when Theology on Tap brews new insights on our Catholic faith.