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Master·evangeli.net

Today's Gospel + short theological explanation

Friday of the First Week of Advent
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Gospel text (Mt 9:27-31): And as Jesus passed on from there, two blind men followed [him], crying out, “Son of David, have pity on us!” When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened (…).

How to interpret the "Bible"? Limits of the "historical-critical" method

EDITORIAL TEAM evangeli.net (based on texts by Benedict XVI) (Città del Vaticano, Vatican)

Today we confirm the profound relationship history-faith typical of Christianity: the miracle made with the two blind men is something historical, but is not only history. For this reason, the historical-critical method is an indispensable tool, but it does not exhaust the interpretative task for someone who sees the biblical writings as a single corpus inspired by God.

It is important to recognize the limits of the historical-critical method itself. 1) By its very nature, it has to leave the biblical word in the past (we can try to find applications for the present, but we cannot make it present) and in its vey precision in interpreting the reality of the past lies both its strength but also its limit. 2) It must treat the biblical words it investigates as human words. 3) The unity of all these writings as one "Bible" is not something it can recognize as an immediate historical datum.

—When reading "Bible", in the words from the past I can discern their meaning for today; a voice greater than man’s: God’s voice which today also calls me.