Sacred Scripture at Vatican II

The documents of the Second Vatican Council are shot through with the language of the Bible, Christian liturgical traditions, and the fathers of the church. The church’s historical journey away from its earlier focus upon these sources was reversed at Vatican II. Two documents deal specifically with the use of the Word of God: Sacro-sanctum Concilium (On the Liturgy) and Dei Verbum (On Revelation). sc, the first document to appear (1963), insisted upon a broader and deeper use of the Word of God in the liturgical texts, and in a renewal of the lectionary. Vernacular celebration initiated a regular exposure to sacred Scripture and called for biblically based preaching. Promulgated toward the close of the council (1965), dv was an epoch-making statement on the function of revelation in the love affair between God and humankind. Crucial teachings upon the role and mutuality of Scripture, tradition, and the magisterium broke new ground in the history of Catholic thought. Not new, but freshly stated, Vatican II insisted upon the unique reception of Jesus Christ at the one table of the Eucharist and the Word. The decades since the council have struggled to respond to the council’s insistence upon the role of the Word of God at the heart of the Catholic Church. The challenge remains. It still remains to be faced in a Catholic world very different from the one that produced sc and dv.