The specific contribution of Divino afflante Spiritu

Abstract

When the Encyclical Letter Divino Afflante Spiritu appeared thirty years ago, it was welcomed with great pleasure and enthusiasm by all serious biblical scholars of that time. It has been considered - and still it is - as the 'magna Charta' of modem biblical studies in the Catholic Church. 'For Catholic exegesis', wrote Jean Levie, 'it is what Rerum Novarum was for the social question in 1981'. A quick glance backward to the Catholic biblical studies in the past thirty years will force the conclusion that in this field Pope Pius XII's Encyclical was really a very bright landmark and that its author deserves the title of 'patron of Catholic biblical studies'.