Przemoc w Biblii w interpretacji Papieskiej Komisji Biblijnej w dokumencie „Natchnienie i prawda Pisma Świętego"
Violence in the Bible according to the interpretation of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in the document “Inspiration and Truth of Scripture”

Summary/Abstract: The article is entitled ‘Violence in the Bible in the interpretation of the Pontifical Biblical Commission in the document “Inspiration and Truth of Scripture” ’. The biblical texts speak of legal violence, the law of herem, and imprecatory psalms from a Christian perspective are very difficult to interpret. The Pontifical Biblical Commission indicates the hermeneutical principles necessary for their proper understanding. The article discusses the nature and importance of the Commission's guidelines in the context of a theological discussion. Its scheme is as follows. The first point is the general characteristic of the document “Inspiration and Truth of Scripture” on the background of the earlier official statements of the Church. Special attention is paid to the Post-Synodal Exhortation of Benedict XVI, Verbum Domini (2010). The next point includes examples of interpretations of selected biblical texts. In the interpretation of biblical texts associated with legal violence the complementary nature of Law is shown. It also points out problems in the interpretation of the law “herem”. The ferocity of “herem” seems to be in contrast with the biblical image of God. Prayers for violence contained in some psalms (imprecatory psalms) cast a shadow on theological beauty of the psalter. To properly interpret these texts attention should be paid to: the situation of a person suffering; the true intentions of the psalmist, and who are his enemies. In the interpretation of the Christian, enemies can refer to negatives spiritual realities. The Pontifical Biblical Commission is opposed to the practice of removing difficult biblical texts from the Lectionary and omitting them in homily. The Commission encourages the patient interpretation of difficult texts of the Bible because they are also the inspired word of God.

• Details
• Contents