Description
Book SynopsisA detailed study of the Catholic Church's acceptance of the historical-critical method and modernization through the pivotal work of European theologians and biblical scholars.
One of the few topics in Catholic studies that demonstrates a marked about-face in theological attitudes within the Catholic Church is the reception of the historical-critical method in biblical exegesis and its dramatic rise from outright condemnation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries to its official acceptance by the 1990s. The Bible and the Crisis of Modernism tells the dramatic story of the ultimate acceptance of this modern method by the Catholic Church as it worked out the relationship between faith and reason in view of advances in the social and natural sciences. Particular attention to the contributions of Czech theologians to the field of biblical exegesis foregrounds the tensions at play in the church's gradual recognition of the value of the historical-critic
Trade Review
“While we have any number of good scholarly books on modernism, there has not been such a thorough account of its history in relation to the great debates about biblical hermeneutics as The Bible and the Crisis of Modernism.” —Lawrence Cunningham, editor of The Norton Anthology of World Religions: Christianity
"A detailed study of the Catholic Church’s acceptance of the historical-critical method and modernization through the pivotal work of European theologians and biblical scholars... Scholars in biblical studies, Catholic studies, and the history of the church in the Czech Republic will find Petráček’s work an enlightening addition to their collections." —American Society of Church History
"Detailed and nuanced... Petráček’s book offers a balanced alternative to hostile histories, one that will benefit readers regardless of what they think of the truth claims of the Catholic Church." —Christopher Shannon, Reading Religion
Table of ContentsForeword
1. Introduction
2. Catholic Biblical Scholarship and the Beginnings of the Historical-Critical Method
3. Biblical Interpretation and the Teaching Order of the Church
4. The Opponents of Progressive Exegesis
5. The Motives for Opposing Historical-Criticism
6. The Impact and Consequences of the Resistance to Exegesis
7. The Process of Adopting the Historical-Critical Method in the Catholic Church
8. Final Reflections
Bibliography
List of Abbreviations
List of Names
