Under the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit: Pneumatological Considerations for the Theology of Biblical Inspiration

Abstract

Under the Inspiration of the Holy SpiritPneumatological Considerations for the Theology of Biblical Inspiration Michael Brummond (bio) Key Words Biblical Inspiration, Social Inspiration, Pneumatology, Holy Spirit, Charisms Dei Verbum, in continuity with the councils of Trent and Vatican I, states that the Scriptures “are sacred and canonical because written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author. . . .”1 The various theories of inspiration, however, are almost completely indifferent to the traditional language that appropriates inspiration to the Holy Spirit. Indeed, the datum of the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of the Scriptures is more fundamental to the tradition than any particular theory of inspiration, yet one is hard pressed to find a systematic consideration of the theological content or consequences of this pneumatological assertion.2 After some brief preliminaries, I argue that attention to the Holy Spirit’s role in inspiration provides a point of reconciliation between social or communal theories of inspiration, and the traditional language ascribing inspiration to individual human authors. Further, the same pneumatological emphasis in inspiration also grounds a canonical and Christological reading of Scripture. [End Page 52] Basic Points of Biblical Inspiration The Fact of Inspiration That “all scripture is inspired by God” (2 Tim 3:16) is a truth of divine and Catholic faith affirmed in Scripture itself,3 in the constant tradition of the Church,4 and repeatedly confirmed by the Church’s Magisterium.5 The Meaning of Inspiration As theopneustos, or breathed by God, and “written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their author. . . . In composing the sacred books, God chose men and while employed by Him they made use of their powers and abilities, so that with Him acting in them and through them, they, as true authors, consigned to writing everything and only those things which He wanted” (DV, §11).6 Hence, at a minimum, inspiration signifies that these books originate from God in a unique way not true of other books. As a consequence, “everything asserted by the inspired authors or sacred writers must be held to be asserted by the Holy Spirit. . . .” (DV, §11); or, as Jeremy Holmes puts it, inspiration means that “God intends to attach his own voice to the words of a text.”7 At the same time, inspiration does not vitiate the genuine contribution of the sacred writers as true authors.8 Theories of Inspiration Various theories of biblical inspiration have been proposed to account for the divine-human causality involved in the dual provenance of Scripture.9 • Some accounts, such as ecstatic-mantic or dictation theories, are inadequate insofar as they nullify the human author’s contribution, relegating the human author to the function of a stenographer.10 • Other theories excessively diminish the divine provenance of Scripture. The theory whereby Scripture is considered inspired by a merely negative protection from error, and that which regards the Scriptures as human writings subsequently approved by the Church, were both rejected by the First Vatican Council.11 [End Page 53] • Theories of partial inspiration attribute inspiration properly speaking only to matters of doctrine or morals.12 John Henry Cardinal Newman, for instance, denied inspiration to so-called obiter dicta, or matters said in passing.13 Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical Providentissimus Deus excluded this notion in favor of the plenary inspiration of Scripture.14 • Content inspiration, most often associated with the Jesuit Johann Baptist Franzelin, and popular in theological manuals of the latter half of the nineteenth century, held that inspiration as such applies to the content or ideas contained in Scripture, while the exact formulation or words is left to the ingenuity of the human author, though the latter would nonetheless be the subject of divine assistance.15 • After the publication of Pope Leo XIII’s encyclical on Christian philosophy Aeterni Patris (1879), the popularity of content inspiration gave way to a notion of plenary or verbal inspiration making use of the Thomistic concept of instrumental causality.16 Known foremost through its proponent Marie-Joseph Lagrange, this theory sees the human and divine as noncompetitive causes, and thus both wholly responsible for each portion of Scripture.17 • Psychological theories sought to further explain...