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Procedure in Studying Christian Doctrine, Part I That the reading of the Bible is a basic requirement for understanding the core concepts of the Christian religion is most certainly a given. Even those with the least familiarity with Christianity know that the Bible is the foundation of the faith. All those who call themselves believers must familiarise themselves with the concepts that are found in this book. It provides us with a framework for understanding this world, and thereby recognising the spiritual when it appears, since it is so distinct and unaffected by the natural or human realm. The Bible makes clear that nothing in this physical world can stop the ideal from being realised, as long as the ideal is constructed with purity and a desire for a result that is enduring, enriching, stable and induces progressiveness. These attributes are absent from the worlds activities. The Bible shows the emptiness of materialism and status-seeking, by describing the finitude of compromise and the abject humiliation of seeking human approval. For a good grounding in Christianity, one can naturally recommend that the enquiry begin with reading the Holy Bible, preferably the New King James Version. Currently no major English version is totally free from at least a few serious fundamental translation errors. Nonetheless, there are many translation editions, and they are mostly on line. The Bible Gateway provides an easy way to search for verse, or search using keywords, many English translations of the Bible. One should pay attention to the cross references that are given, in order to appreciate the grand orderliness of Holy Scripture. The New American Bible is the approved Catholic verion, issued in 1986. It varies from most Protestant versions in adding a number of books. It should be emphasised, that if at all possible, a parallel consulation of the Greek text should be made along with the English translation. For this, Quick Verse is a programme that is excellent. As one reads a verse, the original Greek appears in another window. On clicking on a word in the KJV, the word in Greek is also highlighted, and below that, Stong's translation of the word. Using this method, one plainly sees the inadequacy of current translations, since so often they fail to capture the true meaning of concepts such as 'love', 'hate', 'sin', 'good', and 'forgiveness'. Next, one should look at the documents of the Ancient Church. there is some confusion as to what exactly is an 'ancient' document. This occurs because the Catholic Church has had the admiral tradition of bringing forward all the wisdom obtained by previous generations. It is essential to understand that spiritual truth is discovered, not made by men. Just as in science, once a truth is discovered, it cannot be overturned. The purview of the truth might change, but its applicability is immutable. Hence, by 'ancient' we are referring here to documents written early in church history (up to about 1200). It can be especially gratifying to read the writings of the early Church Fathers, such as Ambrose of Milan, Athanasius the Great, Basil the Great, Bede the Venerable, Boethius, Clement I, Cyprian, Gregory (Theologos) of Nazianzen, Ignatius (Theophoros), John Chrysostom, Jerome, Justin Martyr, Leo I the Great, Rufinus, Severus, Tertullian, and Theophilus. These profound and sometimes mystical works of the Fathers are a fascinating portal into early Church history, when many key concepts were in formation. They also emphasised a thorough-going transformation of the individual's life, and encouraged a radical alteration in the individual's world view. Although the ideas in these works is congruent with present Church teaching, it is quite at variance with the approach to spirituality of the average layperson or clergyman. These men subscribed to the belief that the typical Christian, not only the saint, should be genuinely set apart from secular society, liberated, conscientious and courageous.The full text of numerous extant writings by such men can be found at St. Pachomius Library. Further documents letters, treatises and other writing of the first eight centuries of the Church Fathers, can be found in Christian Classics Ethereal Library-Early Church Fathers The next investigation should be made into the the entire extant documents from the seven ecumenical councils, which can be found in the Christian Classics Ethereal Library For the 'final word' on many moral matters, it is essential that the Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church(English Translation, 1983) is consulted. It should be said, that it is extremely curious that this work is very difficult to obtain in print. Although the Bible and Catechism are easily obtained from any Catholic bookstore, the Code of Canon Law is almost always absent. Perhaps it is felt by vendors and clergy that the book is too technical or legalistic. However, that is not the case. The Code is written in fairly straightforward language. It is more likely that the reluctance to make this work easily available has more the fact that its strong, decisive language clashes with the often 'soft' language of many sermons and even some encyclicals. For example, the canon about abortion (no. 282) states that a woman is automatically excommunicated if she procures an abortion... This means that she is no longer technically in the church, and cannot partake of any of the sacraments, including confession. She must gain absolution from a bishop before being allowed to participate in any of the sacraments. There is no 'sympathetic' attitude to be found here, and so cowardly clergy and laypeople fear criticism for the Church's 'harshness', its 'anti-woman' mysoginst attitudes. The latest Catechism of the Catholic Church should be consulted often and studied carefully for information on the summation of 2000 years of wisdom and teaching. Nazareth Master Catechism.the Catechism of the Council of Trent and the new Catechism of the Catholic Church -- plus three "particular" or local catechisms of great historic influence -- the Catechetical Instructions of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Baltimore Catechism (4), and the Catechism of St. Pius X. Then, the encyclicals of the Popes, the Curial documents, the writings of the learned theologians, and the writings of the early Church Fathers should be scrutinised. About 200 Curial Documents are available online, with summaries. Over 600 Papal Documents can also be found, the large majority of these documents relate to 20th century popes, espiacally John Paul II. The Encyclicals page contains about 285 documents, most of which were issued after 1850.Further Encyclical Documents of the following popes can be found at another source, although the sets are not complete: Boniface VIII (1294-1303), Paul III (1534-1549), Benedict XIV (1740-1758), Gregory XVI (1831-1846), Pius IX (1846-1878), Leo XIII (1878-1903), Pius X (1903-1914), Benedict XV (1914-1922), Pius XI (1922-1939), Pius XII (1939-1958), John XXIII (1958-1963), Paul VI (1963-1978), John Paul II (1978- ) Obviously, after a basic understanding is developed, the student will go back and forth among all these documents, following a line of research. Certain concepts are explained competently in the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913. For those wishing to take an systematic academic approach, there is International Catholic University, which has 14 courses in religious subjects. One can also examine Biblical Evidence for Catholicism. As the title implies, this site attempts to prove all the distinctly Catholic doctrines have Biblical foundation. Issues such as Purgatory, Communion of Saints, Papal Infallibility, Penance, Justification and Salvation are covered. The site contains internal and external links for each issue, with the link providing an article running on average several pages. The authors are not described otherwise; some are clergy. Some articles do not carry author's names, and some articles are weakened by taking a patronising youth-orientated tone. The reader should always be careful of such sites, where there is much unedited and unreviewed material, material that is not reviewed by a person or group for accuracy, etc. Again, the references above are to online sources. There are many excellent printed resources that can be consulted. Information on these titles will be given in a subsequent article. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright holder. |
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