PRESENT CATHOLIC BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP

Pope Leo XIII gave the modern impetus to Bible study when he issued his famous encyclical, Providentissimus Deus, which set up standards for all future Bible scholarship. In addition, he established the Biblical Commission in 1902 to study and to give answers to biblical questions. In 1890 M.J. Lagrange, O.P., founded the Ecole Biblique at Jerusalem and also established the periodical, Revue Biblique. The Biblical Institute was established in Rome in 1908 by Pius X to give advanced training to biblical scholars.

In 1907 the Biblical Commission asked the Benedictine Order to undertake the task of revising the Vulgate, and this translation is still in process. Under the direction of the English Jesuit, Reverend Cuthbert Lattey, English and American scholars produced the Westminster edition of the Sacred Scriptures directly from the Greek and Hebrew texts. Other modemversions include altranslation of the New Testament from the original languages by Fr. F. Spencer, O. P., and this was published in I937. A complete translation of the Bible was made by Msgr. Ronald Knox of England in 1950 and has attained wide popularity because of the modernness and clarity of its language.