Catholic Church: Bible Not Historically/Scientifically Accurate
The Times Online reports,
The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has published a teaching document instructing the faithful that some parts of the Bible are not actually true.
The Catholic bishops of England, Wales and Scotland are warning their five million worshippers, as well as any others drawn to the study of scripture, that they should not expect “total accuracy” from the Bible.
“We should not expect to find in Scripture full scientific accuracy or complete historical precision,” they say in The Gift of Scripture.
Hrmm, when Nosson Slifkin said the same thing about Tannaitic statements in the Talmud, they put him in herem. Catholics more open-minded than hareidim? Ya don’t say… Maybe Jewsweek is onto something.
i had read this as well. not clear from the original what the vatican said exactly, and what the english catholic church said. unfortunately, either way most catholics (the majority of latin am and africa) will never be told this by their local priests, who will probably never read this. i’d like to hear the church say unequivocally that there is no way jesus was blonde haired and blue eyed – so i could be saved the massively depressing cognitive dissonance of seeing the aryan jesus on the wall of all these beautiful brown catholics in latin america – the same ones who can’t get a loan or a good public education because they don’t look like white jesus. namsayin?
it’s been a valid idea in christianity for a long time now that the old testament revelation is “flawed” or misrepresented somehow… that’s not nessesarily open mindedness anymore than Koranic dismissals of previous revelations are.