Dear Catholic Exchange:
I have heard the theory that the Lucan account gives the genealogy of Mary, but I find that hard to accept from the text. Also, then, where is the name Joachim? To invent a fictitious genealogy to prove that Jesus descended from David — in my opinion — would have been sinful. The Church teaches us that the Bible is inerrant. I might even accept that God allowed small errors of fact — because eyewitnesses are known to make such inconsequential mistakes. But willful inventions for the purpose of coercing conversions does not fall into that category.
Can you help me resolve this issue?
Thank you,
Sayre Swarztrauber
Dear Mr. Swartztrauber:
Peace in Christ!
Regarding historical questions such as you raise in your e-mail, the Church is committed to the inerrancy of the Biblical text. You correctly cite Dei Verbum’s affirmation of the historical character of the Gospels. Indeed, everything that the Biblical writers say is true is in fact true because the human writers are affirming whatever the Holy Spirit affirms. And the Holy Spirit cannot err.
But when raising purely historical questions of what happened, the Catholic position is a bit more nuanced.
The Gospel authors tell us what actually happened but it is clear that the manner that they tell us is meant to communicate much more than just historical fact.
In other words they tell us the events of Jesus’ life not necessarily precisely as the events occurred in history but according to the fuller understanding of the Risen Lord, who because of the Holy Spirit, they could behold with resurrection faith. They never lie to us but the history they give us is presented in terms of inspired theology. Both this theology and the needs of their Biblical writer’s audience have helped to shape what they have told us. Indeed, the historical events themselves were shaped into an oral tradition, which was eventually committed to writing.
The Gospels are not merely a blow-by-blow description of events and the evangelists are not just artless chroniclers of dates and events. Rather they are very meticulously compiled inspired commentaries of the deeds and sayings of Our Lord. The Gospels were not written to be disinterested reports of Jesus but were crafted that readers might believe, and that believers might be confirmed in their faith. The Gospel truth, in other words, is in far more than just its history.
It is idle to accuse the sacred writer of “errors” in the details of his writings if the writer did not intend those details to achieve some idealized standard of modern historical exactitude. In truth, even modern history is invariably told from a point of view. The idea that any history can really ever amount to just “facts” is one of the more dubious claims of the Enlightenment.
United in the Faith,
Pete Brown
Information Specialist
Catholics United for the Faith
827 North Fourth Street
Steubenville, OH 43952
800-MY-FAITH (800-693-2484)
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