Religious change and interpretations

In class we talked about how Augustine interpreted the bible using the base of Love vs. Lust and described how this is one of many ways to look at a religious text and interpret it. The discussion turned into a debate that everyone can not just interpret the bible or other texts as they want but need a general theme to compare to. I thought this was interesting because of the three branches of Christianity there are over 50 different denominations that view the bible in different ways. Some of these denominations regard the bible strictly others use it as a reference but all of them have different interpretations that link back to one central idea that they believe. Along with this idea is the thought of how much of the bible is allegory and how much is literal. Each of these denominations has different ideas on this.

One specific example of how the Bible interpretation has changed in just one branch is Catholics. After Vatican II the church changed a lot of its ways and focused its homilies on more traditional ideas and practices. Even though this change occurred the Catholic view on the bible hasn’t changed and the main themes are still thought but the individual interpretations have changed.

Another little thing that I have noticed in church as a Catholic is the even at just different churches with different priests passages are interpreted and conveyed differently. I have gone to two mass on the same weekend at churches and have listened to two completely different homilies from the same scripture passages. Not to say that either is wrong but both different.

I just wanted to note that I know individual people shouldn’t interpret the bible to their own liking but churches do this collectively quite often. It is true that my faith, the Catholic faith, believes that “The church's interpretation of the Bible was final. Any Christian who substituted his or her own interpretation was a heretic.” Which is from Council of Trent during the reformation.