Bible movement
In theological science, the biblical movement refers to the new reflection on the Bible that emerged in the 19th and early 20th centuries as the starting point of faith in the area of the Roman Catholic Church in the German-speaking area, which was shared with the youth movement , the liturgical movement and the ecumenical movement is considered to be the pioneer of the 2nd Vatican Council . With the biblical movement a new dimension of biblical piety and biblical pastoral care began, due to the intensive dissemination of the Bible in the respective national languages.
The Bible movement was partly responsible for an opening of the Catholic Church towards ecumenism , which led to the clarification and deepening of the common understanding of the Bible in the various churches and ecclesial communities .
history
Already in the 18th and 19th In the 19th century, German theologians (including Leander van Eß ) began to translate the Bible into German based on the original Greek text and independently of the Luther Bible , with the focus being on a translation that was as precise as possible, taking into account exegetical knowledge. Already at this time, however, there was cooperation with the Protestant Bible Societies . At the same time, theologians like Johann Michael Sailer , Christoph von Schmid and Georg Michael Wittmann thought about a better understanding and better dissemination of the Bible as an instrument for preaching in pastoral work. A new deepening of popular piety in the form of biblical piety of the 19th century owed in particular to her work in the formation of priests.
Pope Leo XIII. acknowledged this development in his encyclical Providentissimus Deus in 1893 and emphasized the importance of biblical exegesis for catechesis and the reception of the faith. He derived this from the fact that ultimately God himself can be accepted as the author of biblical revelation, who, inspired by the spirit, drove people to write the biblical books. At the same time, of course, the Pope emphasized that the Church's authority had sole authority to interpret the content and meaning of the biblical texts.
Because of this theological appreciation, there was a surge in biblical initiatives, especially in German-speaking countries. Paul Wilhelm von Keppler published a new edition of the Bible. In Germany (Stuttgart 1933), Switzerland (1935) and Austria (1966) Catholic Bible works were brought into being. This resulted in the founding of the Catholic Biblical Federation in 1969 (current president: Vincenzo Paglia ).
The German Catholic Bible Work was expressly founded as a registered association on September 22, 1933 under the term Catholic Bible Movement , but had to change the name in 1938 because the term "movement" was reserved exclusively for National Socialist objectives.
At the same time, countless pastoral initiatives for the integration of the Bible into the faith and community life of the church emerged. As a result, religious instruction and catechetical proclamation in particular , but also homiletics and spirituality, were strongly influenced by priests and lay people.
The encyclical Pope Pius XII , published in 1943, became the "Magna Charta" of more recent Catholic biblical studies . under the title Divino afflante Spiritu , with which the Pope particularly emphasized historical-critical exegesis as an important instrument of biblical research and declared it to be a necessary tool for determining the meaning and content of biblical books.
Effects
Based in particular on the positive emphasis on the Bible in the aforementioned two encyclicals, the Second Vatican Council in 1965 in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Divine Revelation Dei Verbum also emphasized reading the Bible as the center of Christian existence.
This evaluation was followed by intensive biblical research, countless Bible translations and a complete reform of liturgical books and reading orders in all countries of the world.
In Germany, the Bible movement ultimately resulted in the uniform translation of the Holy Scriptures in 1979 , which was also developed in ecumenical cooperation with the Evangelical Church in Germany with regard to the New Testament and the Psalms.
Not only in religious instruction, but also in everyday parish life and in the life of the spiritual communities, there were also pastoral innovations such as Bible study groups, Bible sections and special Bible reading plans.
literature
- Peter Scheuchenpflug: Bible Movement. In: LThK . 3. Edition. Herder, Freiburg 2006, Vol. 2, Col. 402f. mwN
- Peter Scheuchenpflug: The Catholic Bible Movement in the Early 19th Century. Echter, Würzburg 1997, ISBN 3-429-01966-4 .
- Joseph Ratzinger (Eds.), George Lindbeck, Raymond E. Brown: Explanation of Scripture in Contention. (Quaestiones disputatae 117). Herder, Vienna 1989, ISBN 3-451-02117-X .
- Paul-Gerhard Müller: The meaning of Pius XII. for biblical studies. In: Johannes Horstmann (Ed.): Pius XII., Theological Lines of His Pontificate: Biblical Studies, Liturgy, Peace Ethics. (Academy Lectures, Vol. 36). Catholic Academy, Schwerte 1991, ISBN 3-927382-06-X , p. 19ff.
- Manfred Eder : Church history. 2000 years at a glance. 2nd Edition. Patmos, Ostfildern 2010, ISBN 978-3-491-70411-4 , p. 212.
Individual evidence
- ^ Description of the Bible work
- ^ Paul-Gerhard Müller: The meaning of Pius XII. for biblical studies. In: Johannes Horstmann (Ed.): Pius XII., Theological Lines of His Pontificate: Biblical Studies, Liturgy, Peace Ethics. (Academy Lectures, Vol. 36). Catholic Academy, Schwerte 1991, ISBN 3-927382-06-X , p. 19ff.
- ↑ DV 21-26