law, or else mere tricks and myths; and the apostolic Gospels and
writings are not the work of the Apostles at all.”
4
“What can we say of men who in expounding the very Gospels so
whittle away the human trust we should repose in it as to overturn
Divine faith in it? They refuse to allow that the things which Christ
said or did have come down to us unchanged and entire through
witnesses who carefully committed to writing what they themselves
had seen or heard. They maintain––and particularly in their treatment
of the Fourth Gospel––that much is due of course to the Evangelists––
who, however, added much from their own imaginations; but much,
too, is due to narratives compiled by the faithful at other periods, the
result, of course, being that the twin streams now flowing in the
same channel cannot be distinguished from one another.”
5
Second objection: “The popes and documents you quote are nearly a
hundred years old. They do not reflect the position of the Catholic
Church today!”
A current statement that is often heard within Catholic circles is this:
“Vatican II changed all that.” Those who use such a phrase often attribute
every authorized or unauthorized change to the Second Vatican Council.
The same have usually not even read the Council documents and refer
instead to the so-called “spirit of the Council.” This spirit is really a smoke-
screen set up in recent decades by neo-Modernists with the aim of hijacking
the Council’s agenda and replacing it with their own. When Protestants
hear certain Catholic clergy or laity speaking against the authenticity of the
Scriptures, without a doubt they have come across a Catholic of modernist
persuasion. The Protestant in this case may be excused if he fails to make
such a distinction, particularly as Modernism is so widespread today. In
such a situation, two things must be pointed out to the Protestant: firstly,
that modernist Biblical criticism actually had its origins in 18th and 19th
century liberal Protestantism (and is found more recently in the writings of
the German Protestant Rudolf Bultmann); and secondly, that Modernism is
even a greater enemy of authentic Catholic Biblical teaching than
Protestantism.
4
Pope Leo XIII, Ibid.
5
Pope Benedict XV, Ibid.
 |
 |
 |