Loading...
Loading...
Click here if you don’t see subscription options
Tim ReidySeptember 19, 2008
As many readers of this blog probably know, The Synod on the Word of God begins in October and lasts for most of the month. The purpose of the gathering is for the world’s bishops to discuss the place of Scripture in the life of the church. America’s special issue on the synod has just been published and features articles by Old Testament scholar Richard Clifford, S.J., John Klassen on lectio divina, and John R. Donahue on the preaching and proclamation of the Word of God. Boston College Professor Pheme Perkins looks at the revitalization of Scripture since Vatican II, but wonders why the Pauline reading remains misunderstood. Ronald Witherup, the general of the Sulpicians, compares the synod’s working document to Vatican II’s Dei verbum. It’s a meaty issue, and we hope it will provide fodder for our readers and bloggers through the synod and beyond. For a preview, listen to Father Drew Christiansen’s introduction to the synod on our weekly podcast. Tim Reidy
Comments are automatically closed two weeks after an article's initial publication. See our comments policy for more.

The latest from america

Pope Leo XIV waves to the crowd in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican as they join him for the recitation of the Angelus prayer and an appeal for peace hours after the U.S. bombed nuclear enrichment facilities in Iran on June 22. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
“Let diplomacy silence the guns!” Pope Leo XIV told the crowd in St. Peter’s Square a few hours after the United States entered the Iran-Israel war by bombing three of Iran’s nuclear sites.
Gerard O’ConnellJune 22, 2025
Paola Ugaz, a Peruvian journalist who helped expose the abuse committed by leaders of the Sodalitium Christianae Vitae, gives Pope Leo XIV a stole made of alpaca wool during the pope's meeting with members of the media on May 12 in the Paul VI Audience Hall at the Vatican. (CNS photo/Vatican Media)
Pope Leo XIV’s statement was read at the premiere of a play about the Peruvian investigative journalist Paola Ugaz, who was subject to death threats because of her reporting on sexual abuse.
Gerard O’ConnellJune 21, 2025
Bishop Micheal Pham, center, leads an inter-faith group as they enter a federal building to be present during immigration hearings on June 20 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
About a dozen religious leaders from the San Diego area, including Bishop Michael Pham, visited federal immigration court on Friday “to provide some sense of presence.”
In a time of increasing disaffiliation from and disillusionment with the institutional church, a new theological perspective on the church is needed—one that places Jesus’ own teaching at the center.
Roger Haight, S.J.June 20, 2025