32. How was Constantine a blessing to the Church? How was he in some ways a curse?

Constantine as a blessing: 

• Legal protection under the law
• Legal status for clergy
• Built a number of basilicas (Lateran palace was given to the Bishop of Rome)
• Supported the growth of many churches
• Supported episcopal and papal decisions with the legitimacy of the law
• Made huge social and moral strides in laws of the Empire
• Provided political stability for the spread of the Gospel
• Christianity is now not only tolerable but mainstream, although not necessarily the sole state religion.
• Christians have freedom and even favored status in the Empire.

Constantine as a curse:

• Ushered in an era of the Church which focused on the status of the Church in political life, which was at times helpful and at times distracting.  (Distracted away from the Gospel to politics and power, but could we have evangelized as well without being a political entity?)
• Frequently participated in (meddled) in councils, doctrinal disputes, the election of bishops, etc.  He was not neutral.  Constantine did many things which should have been in the realm of the Holy Father, and this as an unbaptized “Christian”
• Was not ardent in his own faith — he was baptized on his deathbed.
• Even the state-encouraged Christianity (mass baptisms and conversions) were more political nad superficial than genuine.
• Neither for the Empire as a whole, not for the Christian communities, was he able to address the polarizing dynamic shift from west to east, and the acrimony which followed
• Fostered a growing distance between Pope and Emperor which would continue to deteriorate in successive generations

31. Be able to explain the story of Constantine and the Battle of the Milvian Bridge

The Battle of the Milvian Bridge took place between the Roman Emperors Constantine I and Maxentius on 28 October 312. Constantine won the battle and started on the path that led him to end the Tetrarchy and become the sole ruler of the Roman Empire. Maxentius drowned in the Tiber during the battle.

According to chroniclers such as Eusebius of Caesarea and Lactantius, the battle marked the beginning of Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. Lactantius recounts that Constantine and his soldiers had a vision that God promised victory if they daubed the sign of the cross on their shields. The Arch of Constantine, erected in celebration of the victory, certainly attributes Constantine’s success to divine intervention.  (Thank you, Wikipedia)

During the battle, he was outnumbered 2 to 1.  The sign of the cross that he saw in his vision is commonly held to be the Chi-Rho, or the Greek initials of Jesus Christ, along with the words, “in hoc signo vinces” (“in this sign, conquer”).

30. What did St. Jerome say about the ignorance of scripture?

Ignorance of scripture is ignorance of Christ. When he made this statement, it was in reference to Isaiah.

29. What is the difference between the literal sense and spiritual sense of the scriptures?

The literal sense is what the author intended to say.  This need to be taken in the context of the genre and writing style used, audience and point of the message, and the historical and cultural circumstances of the time.

The spiritual sense is what else God can say beyond the author’s original intent.  This can include allegorical, moral and anagogical aspects.

28. Why are fundamentalism and scriptura sola flawed concepts?

Sola scriptura is the belief that in Scripture alone we can find certain Revelation and encouraged private interpretation over anything.  Fundamentalism is the extreme position that the only surety we can have about Biblical revelation is what seems obvious from the text itself.  Sola scriptura is, itself, not scriptural, in that nowhere in the Scriptures does is say that the Scriptures are the only source of Revelation.  It is also problematic when you consider that it took many centuries for the Bible as it is now to be formed, prior to the writing of the Scriptures and discerning of the canon, the faith was handed down via oral tradition and cultural teachings of the faith (Sacred Tradition and the Church, or in pre-messianic era, through the rabbis, priests, and prophets of Israel).  Another problem is that if we are not bound by the Magisterium, then we have no reference to guide our person interpretations, and we can fall into error — everything becomes relative.  Basically, we are on our own.  Yet, the Holy Spirit has been sent to guide the Church.  Once you lose faith in the Spirit working in the Church, you are alone.

27. Which canon of the OT does the Church venerate as inspired?

Septuagint (Greek translation), which contains 46 books.

26. What is the Canon?

The canon is the rule or standard that the Church has defined for the books which she considers to be divinely inspired by the Holy Spirit.  This was necessary because there were more people who put their experience of Revelation into writing than those whose works we venerate as Scripture.

25. Who gave us the Canon of Scriptures?

The canon of Scriptures was determined at the Council of Trent.  At that council, it was determined that the Church was have as their canon the books contained within the Septuagint, which was the Greek translation of the Bible — the gold standard at the time, and the one which is quoted in the New Testament.

24. In what way do we say the Scriptures are inspired? Divine dictation?

“To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more.”  (DV 11)

Scriptures were therefore not divine dictation, but rather penned under the breath of the Holy Spirit.  Unifying all the various genres of the books of the Bible is the Holy Spirit.

23. Explain the inerrancy of the Scriptures

The Scriptures are free from any error and accurately convey the Truth as God intended.

“Since therefore all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture firmly, faithfully and without error teach that truth with God, for the sake of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures.”  (DV 11)

The Scriptures flawlessly tell us who God/Jesus is.  THAT is the purpose of the text (not a science or history text).  Therein is the inerrancy.  This is our interest as theologians.