Biblical Scholarship at The Catholic University of AmericaSince the founding of The Catholic University of America (CUA) the study of Scripture has been one of its foremost disciplines. Throughout its history CUA has worked alongside other organizations, like the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine and the Catholic Biblical Association to create a uniquely Catholic scholarly community. This online exhibit draws on the materials housed in the American Catholic History Research Center and University Archives to document the history of Biblical studies in America.Patrick W. Skehan | Committee for the Revision of the New Testament
(1858 - 1941) was the first member faculty of The Catholic University of America. He was first professor of Scripture. His vision and scholarship guided the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures for 50 years until his death. He established the Institute for Christian Oriental Research, and his personal library collection was the foundation for the Semitics/ICOR library.Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium was started in 1903 by Jean Baptiste Chabot, an eminent Syriacist who had received his training at the College de France. With Chabot, four other Orientalist scholars participated in the early work and publication of the C.S.C.O.: Baron Carra de Vaux, Louis Cheikho, S.J, Ignazio Guidi, and Henri Hyvernat. The C.S.C.O. makes available critical editions and modern translations of the works of the Eastern fathers of the church (e.g. Ephraem the Syrian, Cyril of Alexandria, and Jacob of Serug); these include many commentaries on Scripture. In 1912 Henri Hyvernat drafted a proposal stating that The
Catholic Universities of America and Louvain should assume
responsibility for publishing the C.S.C.O. It was approved that same
year by the rectors of both the
universities. The American bishops responded with letters of
congratulations
and good wishes to the Universities (Click
here for an enlargement and transcription of the Cardinal Gibbons'
letter
displayed on the right).
Msgr. Patrick W. Skehan(1909 - 1980) was the Chair of the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures, where he taught Hebrew, Aramaic, and Syriac. He collaborated with many scholars through his work on the Dead Sea Scrolls, the New American Bible, the New Catholic Encyclopedia, the Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium , and the Pontifical Biblical Commission.
 In September of 1943 Pope Pius XII issued Divino Afflante Spiritu which urged Biblical scholars to employ the historical critical method. It also called for scholars to use the original Hebrew and Greek texts of the Bible. By 1944, the CCD and the CBA began a new translation of the Bible from the original languages. Their efforts would produce the New American Bible, which they continue to revise in order to maintain current standard English usage, and in order to consider new archeological discoveries like the Dead Sea Scrolls which shed new light on the text and history of the Bible.
Sources Used Collections and Papers in the Department of Archives,
Manuscripts and Museum Collections at The Catholic University of
America
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