Catholic Culture, Mark Joseph Zia: It is December of 1965. The world eagerly waits to learn what the Second Vatican Council will authoritatively teach in Dei verbum,the Dogmatic Constitution concerning the Church’s understanding of Divine Revelation. More than any other document, Dei verbum would tell the world where the Church stood on the nature, attributes and interpretation of the Bible. Far and wide the most intense discussion among the Council Fathers pertaining to the Bible centered upon the proper understanding of the doctrine of biblical inerrancy. Such a debate came at a time of increasing divisions in the Anglo-American world among the various Protestant churches which, to a great extent, centered upon the question of the Bible’s infallibility and authority for the Christian life. Full essay is here.
