ŚLĄSKIE STUDIA HISTORYCZNO-TEOLOGICZNE

Theophylact’s Reasons for The Explanation to the Gospel of Mark
In ancient times the Gospel of Mark was understood to be summarized version of the first Gospel – the Gospel of Matthew. Because of that the Fathers of the Church limited to commentaries on the longer Gospel. Theophylact of Ohrid, was the first to write an explanation of the Gospel of Mark in Greek, after he had commented the First Gospel. The Preface to this explanation shows the reasons for explaining these Gospels separately. The Bishop of Ohrid refers to the biblical visions of four creatures (Eze 1:5-6.10; Rev 4:6-7). The symbols of the creatures, according to him, indicate the various contents of the Gospels, which require distinct commentaries

Canonical Exegesis and the Analogy of Faith According to Joseph Ratzinger (Benedict XVI)
The Second Vatican Council in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum provided exegetic guidelines on the interpretation of the Scripture. Post-council exegesis focused mainly on the historical-critical method which analyses the human dimension of the Holy Scripture. Therefore, Benedict XVI reminded of the necessity of using theological principles in the exegesis and showed their indepth theological basis. The hermeneutics of faith postulated by the pope includes three criteria that allow to grasp the divine dimension of the Bible; two of them were discussed in this article. “Canonical exegesis” takes into consideration the unity of the Holy Scripture, while the “analogy of faith” enables the believing exegete to interpret properly the text written by the believing author. The article also deals with Joseph Ratzinger’s (Benedict XVI’s) comprehension of the Revelation, as well as the differences between the Revelation and the Holy Scripture. It is hermeneutics of faith that enables one to rise above the “letter” and reach the “spirit” of the inspired texts