Is Dei Verbum a Young Earth Creationist Document?

Benno Zuiddam's View of Catholicism and Creationism · First World History · Is Dei Verbum a Young Earth Creationist Document? · Ambiguous Sentence Found · For Those who Do Take Vatican II as a Valid Council

I had heard more than once, that Vatican II document ("dogmatic constitution" according to those who consider it a valid council) Dei Verbum limited Biblical inerrancy to what's relevant for our salvation.

I had sometimes heard it in the version that it was stated so that such a limitation could be interpreted as being intended. Indeed, Robert Sungenis stated it is not clearly stated that such a limitation is intended.

I was looking at the site of CMI - benighted Protestants who think the Bible has only 66 books and a few more items on their demerit score, but at least they are Young Earth Creationists and this is the side they show most often - and just today found Lita Cosner or Robert Carter (not sure who of them wrote what paragraphs) quoting their "statement of faith":

“The 66 books of the Bible are the written Word of God. The Bible is divinely inspired and inerrant throughout. Its assertions are factually true in all the original autographs. It is the supreme authority, not only in all matters of faith and conduct, but in everything it teaches. Its authority is not limited to spiritual, religious or redemptive themes but includes its assertions in such fields as history and science.”

Error 1 : "66 books" - Trent defines 72 or 73 if Baruch is counted separately from Jeremiah.
Error 2 : "the supreme authority" - make it part of a three stranded supreme authority of Holy Scriptures, Tradition and Magisterium.

Great benefit: "Its authority is not limited to spiritual, religious or redemptive themes but includes its assertions in such fields as history and science."

Here they are clear where I heard Dei Verbum was unclear.

So, I was looking it up. Since I knew "salvation" was in the quote I was finding inadequate (Trent, which is an undoubted Council as far as Catholics are concerned doesn't make that mistake), I tried to Ctrl+F for "salvation" which occurs 17 times in the English translation.

Here is one of them:

God, who through the Word creates all things (see John 1:3) and keeps them in existence, gives men an enduring witness to Himself in created realities (see Rom. 1:19-20). Planning to make known the way of heavenly salvation, He went further and from the start manifested Himself to our first parents. Then after their fall His promise of redemption aroused in them the hope of being saved (see Gen. 3:15) and from that time on He ceaselessly kept the human race in His care, to give eternal life to those who perseveringly do good in search of salvation (see Rom. 2:6-7). Then, at the time He had appointed He called Abraham in order to make of him a great nation (see Gen. 12:2). Through the patriarchs, and after them through Moses and the prophets, He taught this people to acknowledge Himself the one living and true God, provident father and just judge, and to wait for the Savior promised by Him, and in this manner prepared the way for the Gospel down through the centuries.

Here is the Latin original for this paragraph three or second paragraph of chapter 1:

Deus, per Verbum omnia creans (cf. Io 1,3) et conservans, in rebus creatis perenne sui testimonium hominibus praebet (cf. Rom 1,19-20) et, viam salutis supernae aperire intendens, insuper protoparentibus inde ab initio Semetipsum manifestavit. Post eorum autem lapsum eos, redemptione promissa, in spem salutis erexit (cf. Gen 3,15) et sine intermissione generis humani curam egit, ut omnibus qui secundum patientiam boni operis salutem quaerunt, vitam aeternam daret (cf. Rom 2,6-7). Suo autem tempore Abraham vocavit, ut faceret eum in gentem magnam (cf. Gen 12,2-3), quam post Patriarchas per Moysen et Prophetas erudivit ad se solum Deum vivum et verum, providum Patrem et iudicem iustum agnoscendum, et ad promissum Salvatorem expectandum, atque ita per saecula viam Evangelio praeparavit.

So, it says God needs do no more than say a word to create, (unless you take "Verbum" / "the Word" as meaning the second person, in which case it may rise a question whether "Deus" / "God" could be meant to refer to the Father alone*) so God in fact is "a Demiurge or magician with an omnipotent wand" (to quote the polemic paraphrase given by Antipope Bergoglio) and what is more, the "first parents" cannot be Lucy or LUCA or Coelacanths, since God manifested Himself to them, a manifestation which brute animals cannot comprehend as such.

So, "first parents" (Latin, dative plural "protoparentibus") are clearly identified as Adam and Eve. And Adam and Eve are clearly also identified as our FIRST parents. Exit the scenario where they are universal ancestors, but neither unique in their generation nor the very earliest of our anatomy. No, whatever is "man" and whatever is shown to be "man" by having descendants today (for instance Neanderthals and Denisovans) either is or descends from them. No pre-Adamites, no other human population Cain met in Nod etc.

To make this even clearer, we have the adverb "from the start". This in English might be inadequate, that is why I looked up the Latin, and yes, it says "ab initio". The word "start" is translating the Latin concept tied to Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1. The first parents are tied to the beginning as surely as in Mark 10:6.

While part of the Council Fathers (if truly such, confer doubts on validity of John XXIII's papacy or legality of convocation and continuation, which are detailed by Ralph Wiltgen, who nevertheless supported it) were bishops from "Rhine coalition" (France, Germany, BeNeLux, I think alas Austria too), and while at least some French bishops were supporting evolution to some degree, they knew the document had to pass through being signed by bishops from, for instance Spain (I think Franco had had the good sense to ban Evolution) and Spanish Americas, and Africa, and Poland and a few more.

What is more, salvation history doesn't start with first parents being promised a redeemer and then leave off to Abraham, so the inbetween times could be indefinitely extended (like Adam and Eve living 10 000 years before Abraham or more) and therefore presumed distorted by transmission and compressed, oh, no. It says "[from that time on] He ceaselessly kept the human race in His care" / "[in spem salutis erexit (cf. Gen 3,15) et] sine intermissione generis humani curam egit," - so, Genesis 3 to vocation of Abraham in Genesis 12 are uninterrupted salvation history, uninterrupted Church History if you like, and therefore also likeliest to be uninterrupted actual historic record too.

If real (and therefore Young Earth Creationist) Catholics have to confront Vatican II Sectarians who try to pretend Dei Verbum allows non-inerrancy outside salvation topics, including on Genesis 1 - 11, we can actually refer to §3 which precisely resumes Genesis 1-11 as actual history.

From a more general Catholic point of view, restricting inerrancy to salvation issues is anti-Thomistic.

The principal object of the faith is God and His message of salvation, but while we do not each and sundry be well versed in the secondary object, we cannot reject it and the secondary object is all the circumstances of history through which God revealed His salvation plan to us. Therefore, at least historic inerrancy is required already there. But the books as such are in this history accepted as inspired by God, and this extends inerrancy even further into also scientific matters.

And sociological ones, like Matthew 26:11 parallelled in Mark 14:7 and John 12:8. A friend of mine commented on the context as "Judas Ischariot was the first Communist". But so were Reformers when reducing beauty and precious treasures for Church Liturgy.

Note, Young Earth Creationism is primarily a historical position. It involves today quite a few scientific ones, when defending it, but this comes as a byproduct of its character as exact history. And Genesis is a historical book, as no one** doubts for chapters 12 to 50.

Hans Georg Lundahl
Torcy
Day after St. Luke
19.X.2019

Consulted links:

* John 1,3 All things were made by him: and without him was made nothing that was made. - After John 1,1 already says ... and the Word was God. Dei Verbum kind of makes a grammatical opposition between God and "The Word" which means taking it as "the word" (things God said during creation week) is safer in the sentence. This possible confusion is not there in John 1.

** Some Atheist might come by and say "My Name is Nobody", but I meant nobody among Christians.

• Lita Cosner, Robert Carter : The inspiration of Scripture comes in various forms
• Dei Verbum English
• Dei Verbum Latin