Pope Issues New Apostolic Exhortation on Scripture

Today, Pope Benedict XVI released an apostolic exhortation titled Verbum Domini: Post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation on the Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church. Click here for a link to the document in pdf form. (Catholic Culture is the source I used to obtain the link, from their story here.)

It seems a fortuitous opportunity to let you know about a personal project I have undertaken since All Saints' Day. On November 1st, I started a "Read the Bible in a Year" project that uniquely also ties into the Catechism. You can find the plan here. I highly recommend it.

For my Bible I am using the The New Jerusalem Bible: Saints Devotional Edition, which I acquired several years go. I know the NJB has numerous problems, but this edition does much to mitigate them. Most of the notes and all of the introductions are ditched in favour of very few notes (mostly of the cross-referencing kind, and occasionally of the 'this word could also be X' kind). The real strength is Dr Ghezzi's inserting works by the various saints (not a few of whom are Fathers of the Church) throughout as commentaries on various passages. There are 100 Old Testament commentaries, and 100 New Testament Commentaries. All of them are thoroughly orthodox. It really makes reading the Scriptures an enriched experience, and does much to rescue the New Jerusalem version. One thing though that strikes me from time to time ... It's clear in not a few places that the Fathers and other Saints understood the verses in ways modern scholarship poopoos. So for example "Only-begotten Son" in Jn 1:18 and that sort of thing, which means the commentary has to quote a different version entirely. Somewhat defeats the purpose of the commentaries complementing yours when they have to quote someone else.

To return to the Apostolic Exhortation, when I am done reading it, I will post some observations.