Page:AManualOfCatholicTheology.djvu/116

 write down these truths, and at the same time suggests them to his mind and assists him to the right understanding and faithful expression of them. The assistance has been reduced by some theologians to a mere surveillance or watching over the writer; but the stress laid by the Fathers on the instrumental character of the writers in relation to God, and the Scriptural expression, ὑπὸ τοῦ Πνεύματος ἁγίου φερόμενοι, are plainly opposed to it (cf. St. Thom. 2 2, q. 174, a. 2). The diversity of style in the different books is accounted for by the general law, that when God employs natural instruments for a supernatural purpose, He does not destroy their natural powers, but adapts them to His own purpose.

III. 1. Though the Bible is not mere history or mere literature, it nevertheless has to do with history, and it is literature in the highest sense of the word. It has a human element as well as a Divine element; and how far the books are human and how far Divine is the great Scripture problem. The two elements are united somewhat after the fashion of the soul and the body. Just as the soul is present in every part of the body, so too the action of the Holy Ghost is present in every part of Scripture. But the Schoolmen went on to say that though the soul is whole and entire in every part of the body, it does not exercise all its powers in each and every part, but some powers in some parts and other powers in other parts. Hence we must not restrict Inspiration to certain portions of Scripture. On the other hand, the action of the Holy Ghost is not necessarily the same throughout.

2. When it is said that God is the Author of the Sacred Books, we must not take this in the same sense as when it is said that Milton is the author of Paradise Lost. This would exclude any human authorship. The formula was originally directed against the Manichæans, who held that the Evil Spirit was the author of the Old Testament.

3. The Church has never decided the question of the human authorship of any of the Books. There may be a strong opinion, e.g., that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, or