The Best Bible Study Available

Understanding the Scriptures: A Complete Course on Bible Study. By Scott Hahn (Midwest Theological Forum, 1420 Davey Rd., Woodridge, IL. 60517, 2005), 548pp. HB, $40.00.

At long last, Scott Hahn has finally done it! After years of dazzling students, conferences attendees, and listeners of his mass media presentations, Hahn has collected the wisdom of the Catholic faith on the Sacred Scriptures into one … [Read more...]

Pope Benedict XVI

Editorial, April 2009

Last October I spent three weeks in Rome covering the synod on the Bible. During that time I was able to see Pope Benedict XVI at several events—Sunday Masses and Wednesday audiences in St. Peter’s Square. In April he will be 83 and will com … [Read more...]

Reading Genesis with Cardinal Ratzinger

The author answers Catholic creationists by arguing that contemporary exegetes have sufficient reason to go beyond a literalist reading of Genesis.

How is a Catholic supposed to read the first chapter of Genesis that details the six days of creation? In a lecture entitled, “Restoration of Traditional Catholic Theology on Origins,” given at the First International Catholic Symposium on C … [Read more...]

Pastoral Interpretation in Pope Benedict’s Jesus of Nazareth

As a pastoral rather than an academic work, Jesus of Nazareth preaches a Gospel that is centered in the person of Christ.

Much has been said both in praise and in criticism of Benedict XVI’s Jesus of Nazareth. Fergus Kerr, a theologian writing in the The Tablet, calls it Joseph Ratzinger’s best book. Peter Steinfels, a journalist writing in Commonweal, finds it … [Read more...]

Time Tested Truths

THE ROYAL ROAD TO JOY: THE BEATITUDES AND THE EUCHARIST. By David Bird, O.S.B. (Hilldebrand Books, University of St. Mary of the Lake/ Mundelein Seminary, 1000 East Maple, Mundelein, IL 60060, 249 pp. PB. $24.00.

A series of informed reflections, Father Bird’s insightful meditations on the seven beatitudes examine these teachings from the Sermon on the Mount not as abstract principles or theoretical ideas but as practical wisdom and time-tested t … [Read more...]

A Scriptural Litany

LORD, WHO ARE YOU? THE NAMES OF CHRIST. By Jorge Cardinal Medina Estévez (Ignatius Press, PO Box 1339, Ft. Collins, Co., 80522, 2004) 157 pp. PB $11.95.

Cardinal Medina Estévez devotes over thirty brief but insightful chapters to the names given to Jesus Christ in the Old and New Testaments, discussing the attributes associated with each of these divine appellations. Resembling in format … [Read more...]

Software Review: BibleWorks 6

BIBLEWORKS 6.0. A software program for biblical exegesis. BibleWorks, LLC, P.O. Box 6158, Norfolk, VA 23508. http://www.bibleworks.com.

Whether you want to do some serious exegetical work or simply get a good feel for what’s happening in a particular passage of biblical text, BibleWorks is a software program that will soon have you wondering how you ever got along without i … [Read more...]

Genesis 1: A Cosmogenesis?

“Nihil pulchrius Genesi, nihil utilius.” Nothing more beautiful than Genesis, nothing more useful.

Genesis 1 is the most newsworthy chapter in the Bible. There can never be more fundamental news than that all depends on God because he made all, indeed the all, or the universe. This news did not come from any of the sages of ancient … [Read more...]