ŚLĄSKIE STUDIA HISTORYCZNO-TEOLOGICZNE

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

Sensus Fidei versus Analogia Fidei in the Catholic Biblical Exegesis
The Second Vatican Council in the Dogmatic Constitution Dei Verbum provided exegetic guidelines on the interpretation of Scripture. The “analogy of faith” is one of the mentioned above theological principles. Exegetical practice perceives this principle only as a negative criterion. Unfortunately, such an understanding of this principle does not allow to use it in the so called “Chalcedonian hermeneutics”. Benedict XVI postulated the coexistence of scientific and theological principles during the whole exegetical process. The article focuses on the relation between the analogy of faith and the sense of faith. It is sensus fidei that allows the analogy of faith to reveal its positive character. Therefore, it becomes a proper tool used to interpret divine and human inspired books.