Divino afflante spiritu

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Excerpt from the Gutenberg Bible

The encyclical Divino afflante Spiritu (“by inspiration of the divine spirit”) was published on September 30, 1943 by Pope Pius XII. released. She dealt with the handling of the Bible and the Bible explanations and removes some misinterpretations, for example on the natural sciences.

Background to this teaching letter

At the beginning of the 20th century, the actual Bible movement emerged and exegesis ( Bible explanation) began, which reached out in different directions and opinions. Divino afflante Spiritu is one of the three so-called "Bible encyclicals", it takes up the theme of the first Bible encyclical Providentissimus Deus (1893) by Pope Leo XIII. and indicates the fiftieth anniversary of this circular. In the series of biblical encyclicals, the so-called Hieronymus encyclical Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) by Pope Benedict XV followed as the second instructional letter .

Brief description

In the introduction, Pius XII raised the principles of biblical studies given by his predecessors. The encyclical is intended to explain the methods of explanation to exegesis. She admonishes the exegetes to pay attention to the literal sense in order not to present any statements as historical or scientific principles.

Therefore, the following sentence can also be found in the text: “The biblical writers, or rather the Holy Spirit who spoke through them, wanted, as St. Augustine says, not to teach people about the innermost essence of sensible things, which is for salvation would have been of no use. "

According to the encyclical, God did not want to teach man about scientific processes; but she admits scientific and historical errors in the Bible. Finally, the exegetes are impressed that they should recognize more of the literary intention in the Bible. It also encourages form and genre research and practically declares the genre research that has been introduced to be legitimate.

literature

  • Carl Andresen , Georg Denzler : dtv dictionary of church history , Deutscher Taschenbuch Verlag, Munich, May 1982, ISBN 3-423-03245-6
  • Rudolf Fischer-Wolpert, Do you know - Lexicon of religious and ideological questions, Verlag Friedrich

Web links