By RAYMOND DE SOUZA
Part 14
Is the Book of Genesis historical or simply allegorical? Many have spent hours and days and years trying to prove one view or the other, as if God our Lord left to individuals the ability to decide about it.
The truth is that some things are historical and some things are allegorical and some things are a combination of both. To distinguish between them is a decision ultimately falling at the threshold of the Church’s Magisterium. The Church listens to theologians, consider their different viewpoints and arguments, and may define or not define the issue, if she believes it is important to the salvation of souls at a given point in time.
Sometimes she will leave the matter open, allowing different theologians to hold different views, as long as their differences do not unduly interfere with or influence the people’s knowledge, love, and service of God. In short, if the issue is not per se relevant to salvation, she will let you have and defend your view.
The adage attributed to St. Augustine is: In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas: In what is necessary, essential, non-negotiable, let there be unity; in what is doubtful, open to discussion, debatable, let there be liberty or freedom; in everything, let there be charity.
Thus, for instance, people are free to believe that the creation of the universe took six literal days, while others are free to believe in a creation process that lasted millions of years. It is not per se relevant to salvation. People are free to believe that God created Adam directly out of the earth while others are free to believe that He simply used a preexisting matter, without specifying which one it was. It is not per se relevant to salvation.
But — and this “but” is of utmost importance. We are not free to believe that we do not descend from a single couple — that is the heresy of polygenism. Because if mankind does not descend from a single couple, we would not be brothers and sisters, and there could be superior and inferior races, as Hitler believed. Also, the mixture of different species or races would not be able to produce offspring. The basic laws of genetics prove that mankind is one single species. Marriages between people of any two different races do produce offspring. Fact.
More: Adam and Eve are historical realities, although we do not know for sure when they were created. It does require a great humility to research and present our conclusions with entire submission to the Magisterium of the Church of Jesus Christ. Because, friends, ultimately science does not give you eternal life — but the Church, with her sacraments, does. Period.
Let me give you an interesting and beautiful example of biblical exegesis I learned from St. John Chrysostom of the fourth century about the creation of Eve.
Adam was the first man, and Jesus was the first among men, the second Adam, as St. Paul calls him. The first Adam emerged from the earth, the second Adam emerged from the tomb in the earth. Now, sleep is a prefigure of death, and we pray in the Mass for those who have fallen asleep in the Lord and sleep the sleep of peace. The first Adam was put to sleep. The Second Adam died.
While the first Adam was asleep, his side was opened; while the second Adam was dead, his side was opened. From the open side of the first Adam, matter came out — a rib (could be anything else, it does not matter); from the open side of the second Adam, matter came out — blood and water. God made Adam’s spouse from that matter; God made the Church of Christ, His spouse, from that matter — the water of Baptism and the blood of the Eucharist. From the marriage union between Adam and his spouse we have God’s children according to the flesh; from the mystical union between Christ and His Spouse, the Church, we have God’s children according to the spirit.
St. Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians explains the sacredness of the Catholic marriage between man and woman as a reflection of the mystical marriage between Christ and His Church.
As you see, Adam and Eve were historical prefigures of what was going to happen, and God, for whom past, present, and future are a single “now,” organized everything in beauty and order to illustrate His Providence and love for us.
But not every narrative in the Old Testament is meant to be taken historically. To this day the literary genre of the Book of Job is still under discussion. In the fourth century, St. Augustine laid down a rule whereby one ought not to depart from the literal sense unless reason dictates or necessity demands. In 1905, the Biblical Commission ruled that the books of the Old Testament that are regarded as historical in whole or in part are to be regarded as historical, unless one can present solid arguments to show that the inspired writer did not intend to give a true and strict history, but rather made use of a literary way (parable, allegory, etc.) of expression to convey a truth.
But with the Gospels it is another matter: They are historical accounts from A to Z, written by people who were contemporaries of the events related, and not written decades or centuries after the events, as some contemporary dissidents claim.
Saints Matthew, Mark, and John explicitly affirm that they were eyewitnesses of the events they relate, or, in the case of St. Luke, he faithfully reported what he had received from the apostles and the Blessed Virgin Mary (he learned about the apparition of the Archangel Gabriel to Mary from Mary herself, since there were no other witnesses there in Nazareth, not even St. Joseph).
In conclusion, from the difficulties mentioned before, it is evident that the Bible, especially the Old Testament, does require proper interpretation. But we have seen ad nauseam that Bible interpretation was never, ever given to individuals.
From the very beginning of Christianity, the Magisterium of the Catholic Church was the one charged with teaching and explaining Sacred Scripture. Even the Fathers of the Church submitted their conclusions to the Roman Pontiff and the bishops in communion with him.
Therefore, just as there are three Persons in God, there are three elements in divine Revelation: Sacred Scripture, Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium of the Church. Sacred Tradition interprets Sacred Scripture, and the Magisterium interprets and guides God’s people on their road to know, love, and serve God, in order to be happy with Him in eternity.
Next article: The four senses of Sacred Scripture.
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(Raymond de Souza is an EWTN program host; regional coordinator for Portuguese-speaking countries for Human Life International [HLI]; president of the Sacred Heart Institute, and a member of the Sovereign, Military, and Hospitaller Order of the Knights of Malta. His website is: www.Ray
monddeSouza.com.)
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