Beware of Bad Info Online!

When "Googling" information or participating in social networking about the Bible, it is important to be very careful about the sources of the information you are considering. There is probably more false information than accurate information out there.

Four samples of "online idiocy":

"Mark is the surname of John." (There is a "John Mark" in the New Testament, but Mark is not a surname in this case. And, to my knowledge, no serious scholar links John Mark with the Gospel of John.)

"Luke was probably written just as a matter of recording it for posterity." (The gospel writers write in the context of the Christian community of which they are a part for the purpose of inspiring faith, not as an exercise in modern history writing.)

"The old testament was originally written by disiples [sic] guided by God. Some personally saw God talking and telling them what to write and others by visions." (This in no way reflects the approach to authorship in the Bible as the Catholic Church--indeed, as scholars in most Christian and Jewish denominations--understand it.)

"Adam, Noah, Shem, and the others each wrote down an account of the events which occurred in his lifetime, and Moses, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, selected and compiled these, along with his own comments, into the book we now know as Genesis." (Writing was almost exclusively limited to legal and economic transactions until the time of King David, about 250 years after the time of Moses. And even then, very few individuals could read or write. The Catholic Church's position on human authorship in the Bible is that early biblical traditions originated as oral stories and were later collected by unnamed human authors. The entire development of the canon, both as oral and written material, is seen as guided by the Holy Spirit.)

The textbooks authorized for the Catholic Biblical School are authoritative, and Hartford CBS students, at least, are encouraged to engage these texts thoroughly before venturing into other resources. Beyond the authorized textbooks, we recommend the materials listed in the "Further Reading" section of each week's lesson.

In general, though, if you decide to venture into cyberspace for information about the Bible, we recommend three guidelines: First, consider whether the material you find online is consistent with the Catholic approach to the Bible taught in the Biblical School. Second, look carefully into the professional credentials of the online source. If credentials aren't provided, then you should question the validity of the material. Third, recognize that even a well-qualified scholar may draw interpretations from their exegesis that are not consistent with the Catholic tradition. In this case, draw from their exegetical knowledge and insight, but compare their conclusions with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.