Abstract:
Biblical scholarship experienced a major paradigm shift at the end of the nineteenth century. This shift had an enormous impact on the way in which the Bible was read and studied by scholars during the twentieth century. During the early stages, it affected primarily Protestant denominations and their doctrine of Scripture. The Roman Catholic Church, however, could not escape its in-fluence. In 1943, biblical scholars in this tradition received permission from Pope Pius XII to use historical-critical methods in their study of the Bible. The results of this shift are only now impinging on theology in the broad sense and there are signs that Christian theology is heading for a new shift which is going to be just as radical as the previous one.
