Fr. Hans' Three Cents

Well, Deacon Brett, I’ve always thought it was more important to give people what they need, rather than just what they want. . .


Over the past couple of years, some form of this question has come up repeatedly during Youth Ministry: How can we believe what the bible tells us when it is so obviously full of bad science? This question applies most obviously to the first eleven chapters of Genesis, but the answer also gives some insight into how we read the rest of the bible as well.

The Second Vatican Council, in its teaching on Divine Revelation, “ Dei Verbum,” states:

“. . .[S]ince everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit, it follows that the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation. . .

“However, since God speaks in Sacred Scripture through men in human fashion, the interpreter of Sacred Scripture, in order to see clearly what God wanted to communicate to us, should carefully investigate what meaning the sacred writers really intended. . .

“To search out the intention of the sacred writers, attention should be given, among other things, to “literary forms.” For truth is set forth and expressed differently in texts which are variously historical, prophetic, poetic, or of other forms of discourse.” (Dei Verbum 11, 12)

The bible teaches truth necessary for salvation, rather than truth about the natural world. The books of the bible use a wide variety of literary forms, and each should be read in accord with its genre.


The modern scientific method didn’t exist at all before about 500 years ago. The authors of scripture were not writing to communicate about the natural world. Their writing focused rather on communicating who God is, and how human beings relate to God. The first eleven chapters of the Book of Genesis isn’t bad science; it’s not what we call science at all. It’s theology. Theology is the study of God. Genesis is a theological reflection on creation, on who God is as creator, and on who we are as created.

Here’s a practical example: if you are sitting around the campfire, and someone starts a story by saying “Once upon a time…”, do you expect science to follow? No, it’s obviously going to be a fairy tale. Will that story express truth of some kind? Yes, but not what we would call scientific truth. It will express truth about people, and how people interact with each other, with the world, and with God. And it will express that truth through the “literary genre” of “fairy tale.”


As an example of the need to respect literary genres, here’s the first line of the Book of Job: “There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job.” To me, this sounds similar to beginning with “Once upon a time….” The truth I expect from the Book of Job is not historical or scientific. I expect to learn about who God is.