Why did the development of critical study of the Bible represent more of a threat to Protestants than to Catholics?

Answer 1

Biblical Criticism is "the scientific study and analysis of the human elements that have entered into the composition and preservation of the Scriptures". As the Scriptures (the New Testament) were written entirely by Catholic Christians, and gathered into the New Testament by the Church, and preserved by the Church for all these centuries - they came from the Church; and the historical critical method has been encouraged by the Popes, particularly Pope Leo XIII in Providentissimus Deus (1893) and Pope Pius XII in Divino Afflanta Spiritu (1943). In all biblical criticism, the Catholic Church insists on her scholars' recognizing that The Bible is the inspired word of God and consequently may not be treated as a merely human piece of writing. Moreover, the Church considers herself the divinely authorized custodian and interpreter of Sacred Scripture. Catholic scholars must therefore recognize that the Church's magisterium has the final word on the conclusions reached by biblical criticism. Protestants, unfortunately, have no magisterium, and no guarantees from God that their study and/or conclusions will be inerrant. Moreover, real historical critical method supports the Catholic Church's position on these matters, and there is no final authority to reign protestant scholars in when they go astray.

Answer 2

At different times, critical study of the Bible affected Catholics and Protestants to different degrees. For example, in the sixteenth century it was possible to see that the Vulgate was a seriously corrupt text, whereas it had been assumed that the Latin Vulgate, largely but not completely the work of Jerome, was authoritative, inerrant and timeless. Catholic doctrines deduced by scholastic exposition of the Latin Vulgate were thereby cast into doubt.


Protestants have faced a different problem, as their faiths are more fully based on the Bible, with less reliance on intervening tradition. Any study that casts doubt on the literal truth of the Bible casts an immediate shadow over the claims of the Protestant Churches. The Catholic Church has a wealth of pious tradition, and the faithful could turn to saints and miracles for evidence to prove that Catholicism was the authentic Church.