Everything about Catechism Of The Catholic Church totally explained
The
Catechism of the Catholic Church, or
CCC, is an official exposition of the teachings of the
Roman Catholic Church, first published in French in 1992 by the authority of Pope
John Paul II. The volume, which is a stout book of over 900 pages, has been translated into many other languages,
including English. In 1997, a Latin text was issued which is now the official text of reference the contents of the first French text being amended at a few points.
The
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in 2005, and the first edition in English in 2006. It is a more concise and dialogic version of the CCC. The text is available in twelve languages on the
Vatican website,
which gives the text of the Catechism itself in eight languages.
Contents
A
catechism has been defined as "a summary of principles, often in question-and-answer format"
(External Link). Although handbooks of religious instruction have been written since the time of the Church Fathers, the term "catechism" was first applied to them in the sixteenth century, beginning with
Martin Luther's 1529 publications. Mostly, they're meant for use in class or other formal instruction.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, for which the usual English-language abbreviation is
CCC, is instead a source on which to base such catechisms and other expositions of Catholic doctrine. It was given, as stated in the Apostolic Constitution
Fidei depositum,
(External Link) with which its publication was ordered, "that it may be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching catholic doctrine and particularly for preparing local catechisms." The
CCC is in fact not in question and answer format. What corresponds to most people's idea of a catechism is instead the
Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
CCC is arranged in four principal parts:
The contents are abundantly footnoted with references to sources of the teaching, in particular the
Scriptures, the
Church Fathers, and the
Ecumenical Councils (External Link) and other authoritative Catholic statements, principally those issued by recent Popes.
The section on Scripture in the
CCC (nos. 101-141) recovers the Patristic tradition of "spiritual exegesis" as further developed through the scholastic doctrine of the "four senses." This return to spiritual exegesis is based on the Second Vatican Council's 1965
"Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation", which taught that Scripture should be "read and interpreted in light of the same Spirit by whom it was written" (
Dei Verbum 12). The
CCC amplifies
Dei Verbum by specifying that the necessary spiritual interpretation should be sought through the four senses of Scripture
(nos. 111, 113, 115-119), which encompass the literal sense and the three spiritual senses (allegorical, moral, and anagogical).
The literal sense (no. 116) pertains to the meaning of the words themselves, including any figurative meanings. The spiritual senses (no. 117) pertain to the significance of the things (persons, places, objects or events) denoted by the words. Of the three spiritual senses, the allegorical sense is foundational. It relates persons, events, and institutions of earlier covenants to those of later covenants, and especially to the New Covenant. Building on the allegorical sense, the moral sense instructs in regard to action, and the anagogical sense points to man's final destiny. The teaching of the
CCC on Scripture has encouraged the recent pursuit of
covenantal theology, an approach that employs the four senses to structure salvation history via the biblical covenants.
Points of controversy
Some
Traditionalist Catholics argue that statements made in
CCC conflict with past Catholic teachings on many topics, and that it's infected with
Gnosticism, promotes the
theory of evolution, exonerates the
Jewish people and presents them as still in a covenantal relationship with
God, favours
indifferentism (the heresy that religions are equal), false
ecumenism (cooperation with non-Catholic Christians),
secular collaboration and
compromise,
homosexuality and
internationalism.
They maintain that, though theological opinion wasn't intended to be a part of
CCC, it in fact "does not distinguish between matters of faith and theological opinion."
One such writer, quoting
Pope Paul VI to the effect that the Catholic Church has made a conscious attempt to adopt "a more humble and fraternal attitude ... that of a search for the truth", claims that
CCC displays a shift away from presenting dogma as fact and toward presenting the Catholic faith itself as a search for truth.
Referring also to the statement in the Apostolic Constitution
Fidei Depositum that "the contents are often presented in a new way in order to respond to the questions of our age", he claims that the "new catechesis ... attempts to produce
existential reactions rather than intellectual conviction."
Further Information
Get more info on 'Catechism Of The Catholic Church'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://catechism_of_the_catholic_church.totallyexplained.com">Catechism of the Catholic Church Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
