Abstract
This article addresses the catechetical challenge posed by the Catechism of the Catholic Church that emphasizes the importance of interpreting the bible in view of its literary genres, yet interprets the Adamic narrative as though the text is a figurative account of a particular historical event. This interpretation stands in conflict with the overwhelming consensus of modern biblical scholarship and resists the Church’s mandate for exegetes to freely apply the best interpretative means at their disposal so as to contribute to the continued development of doctrine. The article detects a null curriculum at work, resisting the progress advanced by the Church’s explicit teachings on the interpretation of scripture. However, this tension is indicative of a dynamic, evolving tradition within which development cannot be simultaneous across every aspect of teaching and practice. In view of the reality of the Church’s implicit and null curricula, standing in conflict with its explicit teachings, the article posits the importance of catechesis that empowers learners to receive doctrine in a critical manner, situating it within the broader context of the tradition and setting it in dialogue with their knowledge and experience.
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Notes
The reference to the seductive voice in the Adamic myth implies Justin Martyr’s second century identification of the serpent of Eden with Satan, while the reference to Satan as a fallen angel, reflects the position of Justin’s contemporary Tertullian, as reiterated at Braga I and Lateran IV. The evidence suggests that the motif fallen Satan as envisaged in the Christian imagination would have been unknown to the Yahwist authors of the Adamic narrative. See Kelly (2006). Satan: A Biography. New York: Cambridge University, 2006, p. 3; Clifford and Murphy (1990). ‘Genesis,’ The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, pp. 8–43 at 12; Viviano (1988). Genesis. Collegeville Biblical Commentary. Collegeville: The Liturgical Press, p. 43.
Martyn Percy, quoted by Brown (2003). The Da Vinci Code. New York: Doubleday, p. 231 Cf. Percy (2013). Thirty Nine New Articles: An Anglican Landscape of Faith. London: Canterbury Press, p. 20.
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McGill, A. Tensions between the Catechism’s teachings on the interpretation of scripture versus its exegesis of the Adamic narrative: explicit, implicit and null curricula in an evolving tradition. j. relig. educ. 65, 51–68 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-017-0046-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40839-017-0046-4