Questions to Guide Your Reading

Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation (Dei Verbum), chs. IV and V

Chapter IV: The Old Testament

1. "In carefully planning and preparing the salvation of the whole human race," this chapter begins, God did what might seem at first a strange thing: "He chose for Himself a people to whom He might entrust His promises."  Why might this seem odd at first, but upon reflection, given God's ultimate goal, makes sense?

2. What, according to the Council, did God do to ratify this relationship with this people?

3. What, according to the Council, was the "principal purpose to which the plan of the Old Covenant was directed"?

4. Finally, says the Council (echoing a famous phrase authored by St. Augustine): "God, the inspirer and author of both testaments, wisely arranged that the New Testament be hidden in the Old and the Old be manifest in the New."  Explain what this phrase means.  In addition, please explain what notion of history underlies this conception of the relationship between the Old Testament and the New Testament.  (In other words, the relationship envisioned here between the Old Testament and the New is not merely a textual matter; it has roots within a certain philosophy of history.)  Discuss this question using material from the reading by Fr. Latourelle on "History and Revelation."

Chapter V:  The New Testament

1. What, according to the Council, are the realities to which the writings of the New Testament "stand as a perpetual and divine witness"

2. Does the Second Vatican Council affirm the apostolic origin of the four Gospels?  Why, in this context, does the Council make use of the locution "apostolic men"?

3. Does the Catholic Church affirm the historical character of the Gospels?  Or do they believe them to be largely "allegorical" or some other type of genre?

4. Although the Council affirms the historical character of the Gospels, they also point out that they were written "after [the apostles] had been instructed by the events of Christ's risen life and taught by the light of the Spirit of truth."  Please discuss the significance of this statement.

5. Again, although the Council "unhesitatingly asserts" the historical character of the Gospels as telling "the honest truth about Jesus," and that they "faithfully hand on what Jesus Christ, while living among men, really did and taught for their eternal salvation until the day He was taken up into heaven," yet the Council also suggests that the sacred authors engaged in a process of selection.  Explain.  How is the situation of the Gospel writers similar to that of any historian in this regard?  Explain.

6. What, according to the Council, was the intention of the Gospel writers in writing the Gospels?

7. At the end of this chapter, the Council affirms: "For the Lord Jesus was with His apostles as He had promised and sent to them as Paraclete [Counselor or Advocate] the Spirit who would lead them into the fullness of truth."  Why is this mention of the Holy Spirit especially fitting at the end of this chapter?  (There are two reasons we mentioned in class: one has to do with the authorship of the text; the other with its interpretation.  In this regard, see especially DV III.)