MODERN ERRORS

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 36, 5 September 1907, Page 23

MODERN ERRORS

A NEW SYLLABUS

- . The following is a translation of 'the long-expected condemnation of modern errors, by decree of -the Ho}y Roman and Universal Inquisition :— • Wednesday, July 3, 1907. With truly lamentable results our age, intolerant of all check in its investigations of the ultimate t causes of things, not unfreqiuently follows, what is new in such a way as to reject the legacy, "as it were, of the human race and thus fall Into the most grievous errors. These errors will be all the more pernicious when they affect sacred disciplines, the interpretation of the Sacred Scripture, the principal- mysteries of the fai ; th. It is to be greally deplored that among Catholics also not a few writers are to be found who, crossing the boundaries fixed by the Fathers and by the Church herself, seek out, on the plea of- higher intelligence and in the name of historical considerations, that progress of dogmas which is in reality the cor- - ruption of the same. - , „ But lest errors of this kind, which, are being daily spread*, among the faithful, should strike root in their minds and corrupt the purity of the faith, it has pleased his Holiness Pius X., by Divine Providence . Pope, that the chief among them should be noted.- and condemned through the office of this Holy Rorman.and Universal Inquisition. Wherefore after a most 'diligent investigation, and > after - having taken the opinion of the Reverend" Consuitors, the Most, Eminent and Reverend Lords Cardi- ■ nals, the General Inquisitors -in matters of faith arid morals, decided that the following propositions are to be condemned and proscribed, as they are, by this general Decree, condemned and proscribed : 1. The ecclesiastical law, which prescribes that books regarding the Divine Scriptures are subject to previous censorship, does not extend to critical scholars or students of the scientific exegesis of the Old and New Testament. 2. The Church's interpretation -of the Sacred Books is not indeed to be contemned, but it is subject to the more accurate judgment and to -.the correction of the exegetes. 3. Prom the ecclesiastical judgments and censures passed against -free and more scientific" (cultiorem) exegesis, it may be gathered that the faith proposed by the Church contradicts history and that the Catholic dogmas cannot really be reconciled with the true origins of the. Christian religion. 6 4. The magisterium _of the Church cannot, even . "through dogmatic definitions, determine the genuine . sense", of the. Sacred Scriptures. 5. Since in the deposit of the faith only revealed truths are contained, under no respect does it appertain to the .Church to pass judgment concerning the - assertions of human sciences. 6. In defining truths the Church learning (discens) and the Church teaching (docensX collaborate in such a way that it only remains _f or the Church docens to sanction the opinions of the Church discens. 7. The Church,* when it prescribes errors, cannot exact from the faithful any internal assent by which . the judgments issued by it are embraced. ■8. Those who treat 'as- of no weight the condemnations passed" by the Sacred Congregation of the Index or by the other Roman Congregations are free from all blame. 9. Those who believe that God is really the author of the Sacred Scripture display excessive simplicity orignorance. ' 10. The inspiration of the books of the Old Testament consists in the fact that the Israelite writers have handed down religious doctrines under a peculiar .aspect,, either" little or not at all known to. v the Gen.tiles. " - ltr-Divine inspiration is not to be so extended to the -whole Sacred Scriptures that if renders its." parts, all and single, imimune from all error. . 12. The exegete, if he wishes to apply himself usefully to biblical studies, must first of all put aside all preconceived opinions concerning the supernatural origin of the Sacred Scripture, and. interpret it not otherwise than other merely human documents. "■ 13. The Evangelists themselves and- the Christians of the second and third generation ' arranged (digesserimt) artificially the evangelical parables, and in this way gave an explanation of the scanty fruit of the preaching of Christ among the Jews.

•14.- In a great -many .narrations the Evangelists reported not so much things that are true as things which even though false they judged to be more profitable for their readers. , . • - • 15. The Gospels until the time the canon was defined and constituted were increased by additions; and corrections; Hence in them there remained,.of the doctrine of Christ only a faint and uncertain trace. -/ 16. The narrations of John are not properly history, but the mystical contemplation of the Gospel ; the discourses contained in his Gospel are theological meditations; devoid-of historical, truth' concerning the - mystery of salvation. - - 17.-The Fourth Gospel exaggerated miracles not only that the. wonderful might stand-out but also that they might become more suitable for signifying the work and ' the glory of the "Word Incarnate. 18. John claims for himself the quality of a witness concerning Christ ; but in reality he is- only _a distinguished witness of - the Christian life, or of -the life of Christ in the Church, at the close of the first century. • - - 19. Heterodox exegetes have expressed the true "sense of the Scriptures more faithfully thanCatholicexeg^tes. 20. Revelation could be "nothing -.but the consciousness acquired by man of his relation with God. - 21. Revelation, constituting the object of Catholic faith, was not completed with the Apostles. ■ 22. The dogmas which the -Church gives' out as re-, vealed are not truths tywhich have fallen down from heaven, but are an interpretation of - religious facts, which the human mind .has acquired by laborious efforts. 23. Opposition' may and actually does exist between the facts which are narrated in Scripture and the .dogmas of the Church which rest on them ; so that the - critic may reject as false facts which the" Church "holds as most certain. " 24.. The exegete is hot to be blamed" for constructing premises from which it ' follows that the dogjmas ' are historically false or doubtful, provided he does not directly "deny the .dogmas themselves. - 25. The assent "of faith rests ultimately ,on mass of probabilities. . ' ". " ~ r ' . 26. The dogmas of faith are to be held only according .to their practical sense, that is, as perceptive norms of conduct, b.ut not as norms of believing. 27. The Divinity of Christ is not proved from the Gospels ; but is a dogma which the Christian conscience has derived from the notion of the Messias. 28. Jesus, while He was exercising His Ministry, did not speak with the object of teaching that He was tne Messias, nor did His miracles tend to prove this. x 29. It is lawful to believe that the Ghrist of 'history is far inferior to the Christ -Who is the obiject of faith. - - 30. In all the evangelical texts the name Son of God is equivalent only to Messias, and does not all signify that Christ is the true and natural Son of God. 31. The doctrine concerning Christ taught by Paul, John, the Councils of Nicea," E.phesus, and Chalcedon,'is not" that -which Jesus taught, but. that which! the Christian conscience conceived concerning Jesus. 32. It is not possible to reconcile the natural sense of the Gospel texts witlT the sense taught by our theologians concerning the conscience and the infallible knowledge of Jesus Christ. ' - - 33. It is evident to everybody who is not led "by preconceived opinions that either Jesus professed- an error concerning the immediate Messianic coming,- or that the greater part of His doctrine as contained in the Gospels is destitute .of authenticity. . ;, • 34. The critic cannot ascribe to Christ a knowledge circumscribed by no limits except on a hypothesis which cannot be historically conceived, andjwhich is repugnant to the moral sense, viz., that Christ as man had -the knowledge of God and yet was unwilling to communicate the knowledge of a great many things to His Disciples and to posterity. * ; (To be concluded next '_week.)