homer- la biblia1801.jpgI remember that throughout my beginning years in the Biblical ministries, the Directors of the Biblical Societies (myself included among the group) would be so proud of the amount of Bibles being distributed. The effectiveness of the distribution would be measured by the number of editions released from the storage houses. How mistaken we were!

A Bible in a person’s hands is just the beginning. The world is full of dust-covered Bibles in non-believers’ homes… and believers’ homes as well. The world has changed in this regard: Catholics have changed (for the good) in regards to their relationship toward the Bible, while some Protestants (the people of the Book) have changed – for the worse – in terms of our use of the Holy Scriptures.

Background

I used to ask myself where that emphasis on quantity might have originated. I came to the conclusion that it was just a logical outcome:

  • Our history is related to missions. The first directors of Biblical Societies were primarily missionaries from the United States and Great Britain. These missionaries had – and continue to have – the pressures of presenting results using concrete terms (numbers, names, etc.), because the people who contributed wanted to know the results of their donations.
  • Latin America was a world without Bibles. The Bible suffered persecutions similar to the Inquisition. In Puerto Rico, my country, it is said that the first Bibles were brought in by hiding them in sacks of flour by pirates and corsairs. Popular legend has it that this is how the first evangelical churches were founded, by reading Bibles brought through contraband. When the missionaries arrived, there were already believers. (Modern-day pirates say they follow the traditions of the first corsair evangelists… the contraband music so that others would be blessed with the faith, and to be blessed themselves with the money.)

God’s Other Plan

In the midst of America’s colonization period, another event that would transform the Spanish-speaking world was taking place in Europe. The Bible was being translated, and although America was probably not in the minds of the translators, it was in God’s mind.

These were different times for the Bible. [Casiodoro de] Reina and [Cipriano de] Valera (not a married couple, as a sister at church once said) had to escape from a monastery in Sevilla, Spain , because they were being accused as heretics. Casiodoro translated the Bible as he fled all around Europe. The Spanish Bible was translated in England, France, and finally was printed in Holland in 1569.

The persecution reached the extreme of burning an image of Casiodoro and accusing him of sexual abuse (an accusation from which he was exonerated after some time). This was all due to his dream in which he saw all people reading, understanding, and living the Word of God. This was truly a life a sacrifices so that the Bible would be understood and studied in Spanish.

Latin America and the Bible

When the persecution was over, the promoters of the Bible encountered an illiterate mass of people. However, this was not the first time that the Bible had met this challenge. Some historians say that when the New Testament was written in the first century, only 10% of the people knew how to read and write.

Nonetheless, around the middle of this past century, there has been a strong demand for the Bible. The emphasis was on the provision of the Word of God. “What’s important is that you have the Bible!” the missionaries said, with a strong confidence in that “the Word will not return empty!”

The New Reality in the XXI Century

Today, thanks to God, the Bible is distributed more than ever, although the religious illiteracy still remains. 60 years ago in Latin America, including Brazil, the annual distribution of the Bible did not reach the 260,000 copies. In our day, more than six million Bibles our distributed each year.

The Catholic Church does not persecute those who read the Bible anymore; on the contrary, they want people to read it. The two most recent Popes have made declarations that, if Martin Luther were alive and were to hear them, he would die of a heart attack.

Last year, in an encounter in Rome to celebrate the 40 years of the Dei Verbum, Pope Benedict XVI dedicated most of his message to promoting the reading of the Bible. He said:

“The assiduous reading of the Holy Scriptures, accompanied by prayer, allows an intimate dialog that, through reading, one can hear God speaking and, through prayer, we may respond with a confident openness of heart. If this practice is promoted with efficacy, I am convinced that a new spiritual spring would be produced within the Church. We can never forget that the Word of God is a lamp for our steps and a light for our ways. Only he who listens to the Word can become an annoucer of it.”


What is the Current Situation in the World?

In spite of the growth of the Bible’s distribution, there still remains a weak religious culture. This was revealed through a recent investigation that took place during three years in France, Spain, and Italy. The study was sponsored by the Alianza Bíblica Universal (Universal Bible Alliance), led by professor Luca Diotallevi, from Roma Tres University.

Professor Diotallevi, a sociologist and director of the investigation, explained that in the 40 years following the Vatican II Counsel, the Bible “entered massively in the families of many Christians, in houses where it did not use to be. It is a shame that in many cases in remains shut, more like a sacred object than a Sacred Book.”

The investigation concluded that, among these groups:

  • 55% of people in France read the Bible
  • 52% of people in Spain read the Bible
  • 42% of people in Italy read the Bible

Among the people interviewed, the homily appears to be the main tool to make the Bible known.

The knowledge of Biblical facts continues to be very partial, the study said. There were some trick questions in the interviews, among which was: Which of the saints had authored a gospel?

  • 32% responded Peter
  • 49% responded Paul, bringing to light a confusion between evangelist, apostle, and author of an epistle

The low index of reading now worries the Catholic Church. The president of the Catholic Bible Federation, Monsignor Vincenzo Paglia, remarked that only 3% of faithful Catholics read the Bible daily.

In the United States, the level of ignorance and lack of Bible reading is also troubling. According to a survey from Barna Research:

  • 90% of households have a Bible
  • 80% of those who have a Bible use it very little
  • 66% “rarely/never” read the Bible
  • 39% read the Bible to nourish their faith
  • Less than 20% of those who have a Bible would read the whole book
  • 23% of Catholics in the USA read the Bible during the week
  • 65% believe that the Bible has answers for most of their problems
  • 4% believe that the Scriptures can make their families stronger
  • 76% believe that the Bible helps them feel closer to God

Conclusion

The Catholic Church is, as the Pope said, “entering into a new spring with the Bible”. However, in many Protestant Churches the study of the Bible occupies a secondary role. Celebration and worship (also important elements in ecclesiological life) sometimes take more time from the life of the Church than the exhaustive study of the Word of God.

When theological nonsenses occur among the evangelical people (something very common in our times) one realizes that this is the result of a Biblical illiteracy. Although we have defeated the illiteracy that impeded us from reading the Bible, we now confront a Biblical illiteracy that is an obstacle for correctly studying it and living it out.

Dr. Plutarco Bonilla, a Biblist residing in Costa Rica, once told me “Reading the Bible is not what we need. I read the newspaper, but I do not study it.” Studying is more than just reading. It is a purposeful reading in search of a practice that will conduct us to change. The lack of Biblical studies is the worst enemy that we have confronted in order to extend the Kingdom of God.

By Melvin Rivera Velázquez

English translation by Alexander Rodríguez

Popularidad: 2%

Artículos relacionados:

Más artículos: