Should Everything that the Inspired Authors Affirm be Regarded as Affirmed by the Holy Spirit? The Need for a Deeper Interpretation of Dei verbum 11. Cover Image

Czy wszystko, co twierdzą autorzy natchnieni, należy uważać za stwierdzone przez Ducha Świętego? Konieczność pogłębionej interpretacji nr 11 Dei verbum
Should Everything that the Inspired Authors Affirm be Regarded as Affirmed by the Holy Spirit? The Need for a Deeper Interpretation of Dei verbum 11.

Author(s): Sławomir Zatwardnicki
Subject(s): Christian Theology and Religion, Theology and Religion, Systematic Theology
Published by: Papieski Wydział Teologiczny
Keywords: reinterpretation of Dei verbum; the Holy Spirit’s speech; the word of God; the Logos incarnate; inspiration; divine revelation; biblical truth; incarnational analogy; humiliation of the word of God; e

Summary/Abstract: Paragraph eleven of Dei verbum, the Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation, contains a formulation: “everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit.” The article presents the reasons for the necessity of undertaking a deeper interpretation of this passage. From among the numerous reasons justifying the reinterpretation, those that result from reading the quoted passage in the context of the whole of paragraph eleven and the whole of the conciliar document have been selected. The first part of the article points out the need to consider the different ways of understanding the phrase that the Holy Spirit “consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted” through human authors. The difference between the speech of God in a single passage and in the whole canon is then presented. Significant conclusions are also drawn from the relationship between inspiration and biblical truth. In the second part of the text, the Council fathers follow the incarnational analogy to justify on this basis the need to move from the humble form of the word of God to its exaltation, and the difference between the incarnate Word and the words he speaks, and the rest of the biblical words is taken into account. The principles of biblical interpretation given in DV 12 shed additional light on the search for what it pleased the Holy Spirit to utter through the hagiographers. The last part of the material highlights the fact that God’s revelation reaches God's people in history, which is one more reason for the reinterpretation of DV 11.

  • Issue Year: 30/2022
  • Issue No: 1
  • Page Range: 83-118
  • Page Count: 35
  • Language: Polish
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