Practical Hints 2: Reading Scriptures Intelligently

There are three ideas behind the title "Reading Scriptures Intelligently" that I wish to explain lest I be misunderstood. The first is that any passage of Scriptures must be read and understood as one would read any other piece of human literature, i.e., with the full use of one's God given intelligence. Reading with intelligence, in this first sense would be to read a piece of writing respecting (a) its language, grammar and syntax, and context; (b) the particular way in which it is written (i.e., whether it is written as poetry, or as chronicle, or as a story with a moral lesson, etc.); (c) the intent of the author (in the case of the Scriptures, it is always to proclaim the mighty deeds of God in the history of His people.) In this three-fold way of "respecting" the written Word of Scriptures, we are actually doing homage to the Humanity of the Word of God who -- in the language of St. Augustine -- is echoed forth in the many human voices of the books of the Bible.

The second idea behind the title "Reading Scriptures Intelligently" follows upon the fact that most readers of the Bible read translations of it. Since most of the better translations of the Scriptures have subsidiary notes and sections for its readers, one would be reading intelligently if one is able to make full use of those helps as well. Among the modern translations which have subsidiary notes and sections for its readers, I would mention the New American Bible (especially the Study Edition) and the Jerusalem Bible. Both these translations help the reader understand the particular words whose meanings are nuanced by their use in a particular passage or text, identify the way in which a given passage was intended to be read (i.e., as a lament, parable, or riddle, etc.), locate the mentality behind a passage culturally (e.g. Semitic or Hellenistic), politically (e.g. of priests, or administrators associated with the king, like "Chronicles", or of minority groups, like some parts of "Isaiah") or historically (e.g. before or after the Exile), and -- in the case of professional users like catechists and religious educators -- help translate the meaning of a text into a programme of human formation in values-discernment and moral growth. Furthermore, recent developments in bible scholarship has produced dictionaries and "How To" books for the general reader of the Bible. One who desires to be more intelligent in the reading of the Bible can't do without these helps.

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