Vatican II Revisited: Sacred Scripture

Holy Family Parish in Concord, Massachusetts, will be hosting Professor John Clabeaux of Blessed John XXIII Seminary on Wednesday, February 6 at 7:30 PM.  Professor Clabeaux, who teaches New Testament and other biblical courses at the seminary, is part of a year long program of special adult Faith Formation sessions exploring the documents and meaning of the Second Vatican Council as we celebrate that significant Council’s 50th anniversary.  In this session, John will address the Vatican II document dealing with Scripture known, in Latin, as Dei Verbum [The Word of God].

John earned both his MA and Ph.D. degrees at Harvard in the field of New Testament and Christian Origins. John joined the faculty of Blessed John Seminary in 2011 and before that he taught at the Pontifical College Josephinum in Columbus, Ohio, Creighton University and St. John’s Seminary College in Brighton where he was also Academic dean.

 Of the document Dei Verbum John writes:

As a biblical scholar responsible for teaching seminarians I do not know what I would do without this document [Dei Verbum].  Since my very first year teaching I have been able to point to it to clarify what we must do and must not do in the work of biblical interpretation.  I will have much to say about the key issues that were contested in the discussion of its drafts during the sessions of Vatican II…  I could not imagine the Catholic Church being true to its commitment to Faith and Reason if it had rejected or radically altered this document. Much of what it asserted had already been asserted in Divino Afflante Spiritu by Pius XII in 1943.

The presentation will be held in the lower level of the Parish Center at 55 Church Street in West Concord at 7:30 PM.  A donation of $5 – 10 is deeply appreciated.