Biblical accommodation: Difference between revisions
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| ⚫ | }}'''Biblical accommodation''' refers to a number of distinct views in [[Bible|Biblical]] [[exegesis]], or the interpretation of the Bible. Such views broadly concern the question of whether, or to what extent, the Bible may be said to be [[Biblical literalism|literally true]]. The concept of Biblical accommodation is related to the broader concept of [[Accommodation (religion)|accommodation or condescension]], which Benin describes as the view that 'divine revelation is adjusted to the disparate intellectual and spiritual level of humanity at difference times in history'.{{sfn|Benin|1993|p=xiv}} |
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{{wikisource|Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Biblical Accommodation}} |
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| ⚫ | '''Biblical accommodation''' refers to a number of distinct views in [[Bible|Biblical]] [[exegesis]], or the interpretation of the Bible. Such views broadly concern the question of whether, or to what extent, the Bible may be said to be [[Biblical literalism|literally true]]. The concept of Biblical accommodation is related to the broader concept of [[Accommodation (religion)|accommodation or condescension]], which Benin describes as the view that 'divine revelation is adjusted to the disparate intellectual and spiritual level of humanity at difference times in history'.{{sfn|Benin|1993|p=xiv}} |
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In his discussion of accommodation, [[Thomas Hartwell Horne]], the English [[Theology|theologian]], distinguishes between the 'form' and 'essence' of revelation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Horne|first=Thomas Hartwell|url=http://archive.org/details/introductioncrit02horn|title=An Introduction to the Critical study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures|date=1856|publisher=Longman|isbn=|volume=2|location=London|pages=472}}</ref> The former refers to the manner in which the Biblical text expresses its content; the latter, to the content which is expressed through the Biblical text. |
In his discussion of accommodation, [[Thomas Hartwell Horne]], the English [[Theology|theologian]], distinguishes between the 'form' and 'essence' of revelation.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Horne|first=Thomas Hartwell|url=http://archive.org/details/introductioncrit02horn|title=An Introduction to the Critical study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures|date=1856|publisher=Longman|isbn=|volume=2|location=London|pages=472}}</ref> The former refers to the manner in which the Biblical text expresses its content; the latter, to the content which is expressed through the Biblical text. |
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Lee, a contemporary scholar, adopts a similar distinction. He associates [[John Calvin]] with the 'formal' view, and [[Fausto Sozzini|Faustus Socinus]] with the 'essential' view.{{sfn|Lee|2017|pp=3–4}} According to Lee, Calvin held that, although a number of the descriptions of events (in particular, those in the [[Genesis creation narrative]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sytsma|first=David S.|date=2015|title=Calvin, Daneau, and "Physica Mosaica": Neglected Continuities at the Origins of an Early Modern Tradition|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43946234|journal=Church History and Religious Culture|volume=95|issue=4|pages=472–75|issn=1871-241X|via=}}</ref>) could not be literally true according to current scientific theories, they were nonetheless essentially true and had simply been accommodated to human perceptual capacities.{{sfn|Lee|2017|p=4}} By contrast, Socinus held that some 'accommodated' Biblical teachings in the Bible were literally false.{{Sfn|Lee|2017|p=4–5}} |
Lee, a contemporary scholar, adopts a similar distinction. He associates [[John Calvin]] with the 'formal' view, and [[Fausto Sozzini|Faustus Socinus]] with the 'essential' view.{{sfn|Lee|2017|pp=3–4}} According to Lee, Calvin held that, although a number of the descriptions of events (in particular, those in the [[Genesis creation narrative]]<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Sytsma|first=David S.|date=2015|title=Calvin, Daneau, and "Physica Mosaica": Neglected Continuities at the Origins of an Early Modern Tradition|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/43946234|journal=Church History and Religious Culture|volume=95|issue=4|pages=472–75|issn=1871-241X|via=}}</ref>) could not be literally true according to current scientific theories, they were nonetheless essentially true and had simply been accommodated to human perceptual capacities.{{sfn|Lee|2017|p=4}} By contrast, Socinus held that some 'accommodated' Biblical teachings in the Bible were literally false.{{Sfn|Lee|2017|p=4–5}} |
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Another view, expressed in an early 20th century edition of the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', holds that 'accommodation' is the adaptation of words or sentences from the [[Bible]] to signify ideas different from those that are genuinely expressed in the text. |
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Another view, expressed in an early 20th century edition of the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', holds that 'accommodation' is the adaptation of words or sentences from the [[Bible]] to signify ideas different from those that are genuinely expressed in the text. Thus, if a sinner excuses his fault by saying, "The serpent deceived me", he applies the scriptural words of Eve (Gen., iii, 13) to express an idea which the sentence does not convey in the Bible. Similarly, a blind person might use the words of Tob., v, 12, "What manner of joy shall be to me, who sit in darkness, and see not the light of heaven". Here, again, the words would have a meaning which they do not bear in Sacred Scripture. This accommodation is sometimes incorrectly styled the accommodated, or accommodative, sense of Scripture. From the definition it is clear that it is not a sense of Scripture at all. The possibility of such accommodation may arise, first, from some similarity between the ideas in the sacred text and the subject to which the passage is accommodated; secondly, from the fact that the words of Scripture may be understood in two different senses. The first is called extensive accommodation. Examples of it are found in the Church's offices, both in the [[Breviary]] and the [[Missal]], when the praises bestowed by the [[Holy Ghost]] on [[Noah|Noe]], [[Isaac]], and [[Moses]] are applied to other saints. Thus the words of Ecclus., xxxii, 1, 5: "Have they made thee ruler? . . . hinder not music" are sometimes applied to College presidents assuming the burden of their office; we need not say that the words of Sacred Scripture have quite a different meaning. The second species of accommodation, called allusive, is often a mere play on words and at times seems due to a misunderstanding of the original meaning. The [[Vulgate]] text, ''Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis'' (Ps., lxvii, 36) means, in the mouth of the [[Psalmist]], that [[God]] is wonderful in His sanctuary (sancta, -orum). The Latin words may also be translated "God is wonderful in his saints" (sancti, -orum), and they are employed in this sense in the Missal. As this second signification was not intended by the inspired writer, the English rendering of the text in the [[Douay-Rheims]] version is a mistranslation. |
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==The use of accommodation in the Bible== |
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It is generally held by [[Catholic]] authors that certain passages from the [[Old Testament]] have been used over again in the [[New Testament]] with a change of meaning. In the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii, 5) the words spoken to Josue, "I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee" (Jos., i, 5), are applied to all [[Christians]]. Other examples of accommodation are the use of Exod., xvi, 18 in II Cor., viii, 15; Zach., iv, 14 in Apoc., xi, 4; Ps., vi, 9 in Matt., vii, 2, 3; Mich., vii, 6 in Matt, x, 36. Evidently, the new meaning attached to the words is also inspired. [[Rationalist]]ic writers have maintained that similar accommodations are to be found in every case where the [[Four Evangelists]] quote the prophecies of the Old Testament. Some few Catholic writers have been willing to grant this explanation for a few passages, but the words in which the Evangelists assert that events in Jesus' life took place "in order that" the prophecies might be fulfilled are incompatible with the theory that they wished to indicate only a resemblance between the event and the prophet's words. It is probable that no prophecy is used in the Gospels merely by accommodation. |
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New Testament quotations of Old Testament predictions often seem to modern readers to be accommodations, striking or forced as the case may be, while the New Testament writer, "following the exegetical methods current among the Jews of his time, Matthew ii. 15, 18, xxvi. 31, xxvii. 9",<ref>[[Samuel Rolles Driver]] in ''Zechariah'' in ''Century Bible'', pp. 259, 271</ref> puts them forward as arguments. To say that he is merely "describing a New Testament fact in Old Testament phraseology" may be true of the result rather than of his design.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Accommodation|volume=1|page=121}}</ref> |
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==Catholic rules for accommodation== |
==Catholic rules for accommodation== |
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Accommodation is used in the liturgy and by the [[Fathers of the Church]]; texts have been accommodated by preachers and ascetical authors. Many of the sermons of [[Bernard of Clairvaux|St. Bernard]] are mosaics of scripture phrases. The [[Council of Trent]] forbade the wresting of Scripture to profane uses (Sess. IV, Decret. "De editione et usu Sacrorum Librorum "). Typical rules for guidance in the accommodation of scripture are: |
Accommodation is used in the liturgy and by the [[Fathers of the Church]]; texts have been accommodated by preachers and ascetical authors.{{Citation needed|date=July 2020}} Many of the sermons of [[Bernard of Clairvaux|St. Bernard]] are mosaics of scripture phrases. The [[Council of Trent]] forbade the wresting of Scripture to profane uses (Sess. IV, Decret. "De editione et usu Sacrorum Librorum "). Typical rules for guidance in the accommodation of scripture are: |
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* Accommodated texts should never be used as arguments drawn from revelation. |
* Accommodated texts should never be used as arguments drawn from revelation. |
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==Apologetics== |
==Apologetics== |
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German eighteenth-century [[rationalism]] held that the Biblical writers made great use of conscious accommodation, intending moral commonplaces when they seemed to be enunciating Christian dogmas. Another expression for this, used, for example, by [[Johann Salomo Semler]], is "economy," which also occurs in the kindred sense of "reserve" (or of ''Disciplina Arcani'', a modern term for the supposed early Catholic habit of reserving [[Western esotericism|esoteric]] truths). [[Isaac Williams]] on ''Reserve in Religious Teaching'', No. 80 of ''[[Tracts for the Times]]'', made a great sensation, and was commented on by [[Richard William Church]] in ''[[Oxford Movement|The Oxford Movement]]''.<ref name="EB1911"/> |
German eighteenth-century [[rationalism]] held that the Biblical writers made great use of conscious accommodation, intending moral commonplaces when they seemed to be enunciating Christian dogmas. Another expression for this, used, for example, by [[Johann Salomo Semler]], is "economy," which also occurs in the kindred sense of "reserve" (or of ''Disciplina Arcani'', a modern term for the supposed early Catholic habit of reserving [[Western esotericism|esoteric]] truths). [[Isaac Williams]] on ''Reserve in Religious Teaching'', No. 80 of ''[[Tracts for the Times]]'', made a great sensation, and was commented on by [[Richard William Church]] in ''[[Oxford Movement|The Oxford Movement]]''.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1|wstitle=Accommodation|volume=1|page=121}}</ref> |
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==References== |
==References== |
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== Sources == |
== Sources == |
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{{Catholic|wstitle=Biblical Accommodation}} |
{{wikisource|Catholic Encyclopedia (1913)/Biblical Accommodation}}{{Catholic|wstitle=Biblical Accommodation}} |
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*{{Cite book|last=Benin|first=Stephen D.|url=http://archive.org/details/footprintsofgodd0000beni|title=The Footprints of God: Divine Accommodation in Jewish and Christian Thought|date=1993|publisher=[[State University of New York Press]]|isbn=9780791496282|location=Albany, New York|pages=|via=Internet Archive}} |
*{{Cite book|last=Benin|first=Stephen D.|url=http://archive.org/details/footprintsofgodd0000beni|title=The Footprints of God: Divine Accommodation in Jewish and Christian Thought|date=1993|publisher=[[State University of New York Press]]|isbn=9780791496282|location=Albany, New York|pages=|via=Internet Archive}} |
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*{{Cite book|last=Lee|first=Hoon J.|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-61497-7|title=The Biblical Accommodation Debate in Germany|date=2017|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|isbn=978-3-319-61496-0|location=Cham, Switzerland|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-61497-7}} |
*{{Cite book|last=Lee|first=Hoon J.|url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/978-3-319-61497-7|title=The Biblical Accommodation Debate in Germany|date=2017|publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]]|isbn=978-3-319-61496-0|location=Cham, Switzerland|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-61497-7}} |
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Biblical accommodation refers to a number of distinct views in Biblical exegesis, or the interpretation of the Bible. Such views broadly concern the question of whether, or to what extent, the Bible may be said to be literally true. The concept of Biblical accommodation is related to the broader concept of accommodation or condescension, which Benin describes as the view that 'divine revelation is adjusted to the disparate intellectual and spiritual level of humanity at difference times in history'.[1]
In his discussion of accommodation, Thomas Hartwell Horne, the English theologian, distinguishes between the 'form' and 'essence' of revelation.[2] The former refers to the manner in which the Biblical text expresses its content; the latter, to the content which is expressed through the Biblical text.
Lee, a contemporary scholar, adopts a similar distinction. He associates John Calvin with the 'formal' view, and Faustus Socinus with the 'essential' view.[3] According to Lee, Calvin held that, although a number of the descriptions of events (in particular, those in the Genesis creation narrative[4]) could not be literally true according to current scientific theories, they were nonetheless essentially true and had simply been accommodated to human perceptual capacities.[5] By contrast, Socinus held that some 'accommodated' Biblical teachings in the Bible were literally false.[6]
Another view, expressed in an early 20th century edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia, holds that 'accommodation' is the adaptation of words or sentences from the Bible to signify ideas different from those that are genuinely expressed in the text.
Catholic rules for accommodation
Accommodation is used in the liturgy and by the Fathers of the Church; texts have been accommodated by preachers and ascetical authors.[citation needed] Many of the sermons of St. Bernard are mosaics of scripture phrases. The Council of Trent forbade the wresting of Scripture to profane uses (Sess. IV, Decret. "De editione et usu Sacrorum Librorum "). Typical rules for guidance in the accommodation of scripture are:
- Accommodated texts should never be used as arguments drawn from revelation.
- Accommodation should not be farfetched.
- Accommodations should be reverent.
Apologetics
German eighteenth-century rationalism held that the Biblical writers made great use of conscious accommodation, intending moral commonplaces when they seemed to be enunciating Christian dogmas. Another expression for this, used, for example, by Johann Salomo Semler, is "economy," which also occurs in the kindred sense of "reserve" (or of Disciplina Arcani, a modern term for the supposed early Catholic habit of reserving esoteric truths). Isaac Williams on Reserve in Religious Teaching, No. 80 of Tracts for the Times, made a great sensation, and was commented on by Richard William Church in The Oxford Movement.[7]
References
- ^ Benin 1993, p. xiv.
- ^ Horne, Thomas Hartwell (1856). An Introduction to the Critical study and Knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Vol. 2. London: Longman. p. 472.
- ^ Lee 2017, pp. 3–4.
- ^ Sytsma, David S. (2015). "Calvin, Daneau, and "Physica Mosaica": Neglected Continuities at the Origins of an Early Modern Tradition". Church History and Religious Culture. 95 (4): 472–75. ISSN 1871-241X.
- ^ Lee 2017, p. 4.
- ^ Lee 2017, p. 4–5.
- ^ One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Accommodation". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 1 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 121.
Sources
Wikisource has original text related to this article:
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Biblical Accommodation". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company.
- Benin, Stephen D. (1993). The Footprints of God: Divine Accommodation in Jewish and Christian Thought. Albany, New York: State University of New York Press. ISBN 9780791496282 – via Internet Archive.
- Lee, Hoon J. (2017). The Biblical Accommodation Debate in Germany. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-61497-7. ISBN 978-3-319-61496-0.