THOMAS NELSON AND SONS LTD Parkside Works Edinburgh 9 3 Henrietta Street London WC2 5 Parker's Buildings Burg Street Cape Town THOMAS NELSON AND SONS (CANADA) LTD THOMAS NELSON AND SONS SOCIÉTÉ FRANÇAISE D'EDITIONS NELSON First published February 1953 Copyright 1953 by Thomas Nelson & Sons Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 53-9447 Printed and bound in the United States of America A Catholic Commentary + EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Dom Bernard Orchard M.A. (Cantab.) General Editor and New Testament Editor Rev. Edmund F. Sutcliffe S.J., M.A. (Oxon.), L.S.S. Old Testament Editor Rev. Reginald C. Fuller D.D., L.S.S. Secretary of the Catholic Biblical Association Dom Ralph Russell D.D., M.A. (Oxon.) WITH A FOREWORD BY THE CARDINAL ARCHBISHOP OF WESTMINSTER דבר־אֱלֹהֵינוּ יָקוּם לְעוֹלָם The word of our God endureth for ever Isaias 40:8 $15.00 Thomas Nelson and Sons London Edinburgh Paris Melbourne Toronto and New York B5491 1753 WH FOREWORD HEN shortly after my appointment as Archbishop of Westminster at the end of 1943 I learned that some members of the Catholic Biblical Association were contemplating the preparation in one volume of a Catholic Commentary on Holy Scripture, I readily gave this ambitious venture my full approval and blessing. I was well aware of the need of such a work, and I was confident that those who proposed setting about this task were encouraged to do so largely by what our Holy Father, Pope Pius XII, had written earlier that year in his encyclical DIVINO AFFLANTE SPIRITU. After dealing with the improved conditions for biblical study, His Holiness had written : 'Now, therefore, that textual criticism has attained such a high level of perfection, biblical scholars have the honourable though not always easy duty of using every endeavour to procure that, as soon as it is possible and opportune, editions of the Sacred Books and the ancient versions shall be prepared by Catholics in conformity with these critical standards; editions, that is, in which a scrupulous observance of all the laws of criticism shall be combined with the deepest reverence for the sacred text '. The editorial committee have laboured hard for nine years to produce this commentary. They have realized that their efforts will not produce a 'popular' work, but all serious readers of the Bible will appreciate the immense value of this commentary. With new translations of Holy Scripture and with the improved presentation of texts which have come about by the devoted interest of publishers, more and more people are reading the Scriptures. There is a need for guidance in this matter and the appearance of this work is most opportune. In his encyclical the Holy Father referred particularly to the serious obligation incumbent on the faithful to make use of the Scriptures and of the distilled wisdom of those who have endeavoured with great labour to interpret Holy Writ, for, writes the Pope, God did not grant the Sacred Books to men to satisfy their curiosity or to provide them with an object of study and research; these divine oracles were bestowed as the Apostle tells us in order that they might "instruct to salvation by the Faith which is in Christ Jesus" and "that the man of God may be perfect, furnished to every good work". There is no dearth of Catholic scriptural scholars and the committee has been fortunate in having so wide a field from which to select its commentators. Indeed, they are drawn from throughout the English-speaking world, from the secular clergy and the religious orders alike. I am confident that for many years the value of this commentary will be deeply appreciated by all English-speaking Catholics. I thank the Catholic Biblical Association and, in particular, the editorial committee for all they have done in so worthy a cause. Their work has borne great fruit, and I am confident that in welcoming the appearance of this commentary I am speaking for thousands who will appreciate its immense value and scholarship. BERNARD CARDINAL GRIFFIN 30 April 1952 MS64799 |
