If Scott Hahn’s “Catholic Study Bible” is a monument to the contribution that converts from Protestantism have made, Daniel Gonzalez’ “Mass Explained” is a monument to the solid, reliable, and deep faith of lifelong Catholics. Both books are magnificent accomplishments.
A few years after I was received into the Catholic Church, my older brother and his family followed suit. Wanting to get involved in his parish, he asked what he might do. Coming from an Evangelical background, I suggested he start a parish Bible study. Some months later he said, “You know when we were Baptists they said Catholics don’t read the Bible, and they know nothing about the Bible?” “Yes I remember. So?” He replied: “They were right.”
Good Catholics will, of course demur, deflect, and defend. Nevertheless, it must be admitted that the average Catholic in the pew is far less likely to be Biblically literate than most Evangelicals. The reasons for this are historical, cultural, and theological, and this essay is not the place to explore and explain. It is the place, however, to say that there is no longer any excuse for this historical Biblical illiteracy on the part of Catholics.
Ignatius Press has produced an astonishingly good new Catholic Study Bible that should, in time, obliterate my brother’s somewhat jaded view of his fellow Catholic’s Bible knowledge.
Based on the Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition, this hefty tome is boosted with commentary, charts, and notes by a new generation of Catholic Bible scholars. Indeed it is the magnum opus of former Presbyterian pastor, well known Catholic convert and Bible scholar Scott Hahn and his team at the St Paul Center for Biblical Theology in Steubenville.
In a lengthy introduction, Hahn outlines the Catholic understanding of the Scriptures, explaining the link between the Word of God in the Bible and the incarnate Word—the Lord Jesus Christ. He goes on to explain what we mean by the inspiration and inerrancy of the Word of God and helps Catholics understand how to read the Bible in two ways: literally and spiritually.
He shares the three spiritual senses of the Bible: allegorical, moral, and anagogical: making symbolic connections between old and new testaments, discovering moral guidance and precepts, and finding pointers to our ultimate destiny. Finally he offers guidance on proper interpretation of the Scriptures—different passages shed light on others. The text must be considered in its entirety, and the literal reading and the spiritual reading should be in balance. A too-literal reading misses the spiritual meaning. A too-spiritual reading can dismiss the simple, literal meaning and disregard the historical veracity and significance of the text.
Hahn’s introduction is followed by an excellent essay by Jeffrey L. Morrow on the history of Sacred Scripture and the Catholic Church. Matthew J. Thomas follows with a thoroughgoing defense of the Catholic canon of Scripture, while John Bergsma completes the introductory section with an overview of Salvation History.
The text itself comes with an introductory essay for each book of the Bible complete with cross references, theological notes, maps, charts and word studies. The Ignatius Study Bible should be the main Bible for every Catholic home. It needs to be the “go to” Bible for catechists, parish directors of faith formation, Catholic school theology departments and every parish priest.
Scott Hahn’s influence in the church illustrates the contribution converts from Evangelical Protestantism bring to the Catholic faith. Sometimes dismissed as overly zealous, neurotic or naive, converts like Hahn have spent their working lives merging their love of the Scriptures into their newfound Catholic faith, thus enriching and fulfilling both their Protestant heritage and the Catholic Church. They remind all of us that our Protestant brothers and sisters have much to offer as they come into the Catholic Church. Hahn’s solid contribution over the years in Biblical studies, apologetics and mentoring young scholars highlights some of the disastrous ecumenical efforts of the last fifty years.
While I praise the contributions of former Protestant pastors like Scott Hahn, one can only look with dismay on the efforts of some Catholics scholars in the years after the second Vatican Council to enthusiastically adopt the modernistic assumptions of the theologians and Biblical scholars of the German Protestant school. Knowing the pressures to conform to academic orthodoxy to gain career momentum, too many scholars accepted dubious presuppositions, philosophical solecisms, and historical blindspots.
Hahn and a wave of young Catholic Biblical scholars have doubted the doubters and been unashamed of weaving the conservative Protestant tradition of solid, academic Biblical studies into Catholic tradition. They treat the texts with reverence and respect and eschew the fashionable trends of rationalistic secular modernism that have so often besmirched Biblical studies in academe. The Ignatius Study Bible along with the new commentaries being produced by what might be called “The Steubenville School” are setting a new standard for Catholic Biblical scholarship that will influence generations to come.
Along with ignorance of the Bible, many Catholics are woefully ignorant about the history and richness of the Catholic Mass. Another big book has recently been produced not by a convert, but by a lifelong Catholic. Daniel Gonzalez had strayed from his boyhood faith, but in 1993 he was brought back by the beauty and depth of the Mass. This began a thirty-year quest to discover and share the beautiful truths he learned about this “source and summit of the faith”. The result is a big, beautiful resource for Catholics to learn all there is to know about the Mass.
With forty-three sumptuously illustrated chapters across over five hundred pages, Gonzalez’ book features review questions, sources for personal reflection and prompts for discussion and group sharing. Every page of Mass Explained features quotations from Scripture, from the apostolic fathers, and from official church documents. There are diagrams, maps, and charts to help illustrate the history and theology of the Mass, as well as Dan’s own story of reversion to the faith and traditional devotions before and after Mass.
Readers can preview Mass Explained at a beautifully designed website. At massexplained.com you’ll find sample pages, an introductory video, and full information on ways to purchase.
If Scott Hahn’s big study Bible is a monument to the contribution that converts from Protestantism have made, Dan Gonzalez’ big book is a monument to the solid, reliable, and deep faith of lifelong Catholics. Together the Bible and the Mass provide the solid rock the Catholic faith offers in the midst of a whirligig world of shifting ideologies, turbulent technological change, and unpredictable politics. Both books are magnificent accomplishments, and your substantial investment in them will be worth every penny.
The Ignatius Study Bible is available from ignatius.com and the stpaulcenter.com. Learn more about Mass Explained at massexplained.com
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