The development of “Dei Verbum” tracked mostly the same as other Vatican II documents—an initial schema was proposed by the Holy Office (now the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith) that was more in line with traditional Vatican documents, but was rejected by the council fathers and substantially reworked. However, unlike most of its fellow documents, “Dei Verbum” was preceded by two developments in the church that substantially prefigured it: the promulgation of “Divino Afflante Spiritu” in 1943, and the writings of St. John Henry Newman (our latest doctor of the church!) in the 19th century.

While most historians wouldn’t consider Pope Pius XII to be a theological progressive or enthusiast of change (ahem), his encyclical “Divino Afflante Spiritu” was in many ways a radical document. The great Scripture scholar Raymond Brown, S.S., later called it a “Magna Carta for biblical progress,” and it’s the reason why Catholics no longer think Moses had horns (what?). More importantly, it started a revolution in Catholic approaches to Scripture that continues today by giving official sanction to closer textual criticism of the Bible and the study of the original languages of Scripture, instead of the Latin text descended from St. Jerome. 

That revolution continued with “Dei Verbum,” which attested that the “full revelation of the supreme God is brought to completion” in Christ. It further affirmed the historical-critical method as a valid (and indeed salutary) way to study and interpret Scripture, and redefined the church’s approach to the inerrancy of the Bible. Scripture, the document notes, is best understood holistically and as a sacred text that incorporates many forms and styles. 

“Dei Verbum” also clarified the church’s teaching on the connection between Scripture and tradition. While stating that “the books of Scripture must be acknowledged as teaching solidly, faithfully and without error that truth which God wanted put into sacred writings for the sake of salvation,” the document also asserts that “there is a growth in the understanding of the realities and the words which have been handed down.” 

A second clear influence on “Verbum Dei” was the work of St. John Henry Newman, the 19th-century Anglican-turned-Catholic who was canonized in 2019. The recognition of diverse sources, forms and traditions in Scripture requires a sensitivity to the way church teaching was constituted—what does a scholar do when the idea that God handed down the whole truth to the apostles is undermined or complicated by the tradition’s own scholarship? We adopt a historical consciousness, and accept that the truth doesn’t necessarily change, but our doctrine develops. 

Further, the document’s Christological bent owed much to Newman’s teachings. “Newman’s understanding of revelation as centered in the person of Jesus Christ fully accords with the Second Vatican Council’s path-breaking presentation of revelation and tradition in the constitution ‘Dei Verbum,’” wrote the Rev. Robert Imbelli in America in 2010. “He had, with keen foresight, looked forward to a new council to complete the partial labors of the recently adjourned First Vatican Council.”

Like most of the council documents, “Dei Verbum” passed by an overwhelming majority, 2,344 to 6. In the decades since, many scholars have credited the great Dominican theologian Yves Congar with having a powerful influence on the document’s final form—and along with him, a young Joseph Ratzinger. Both, of course, credited Newman for many of their own insights.

In his 2013 essay for America, Father Clifford (whose first article in this magazine appeared in 1970, and who still writes for us today) noted that “Dei Verbum” presented three challenges to Catholics in 1965 that still exist in the contemporary church. First, it challenged Catholics to read the Bible themselves—and actually to listen when it is proclaimed at Mass and elsewhere. 

Second, it reminded scholars and preachers to give greater importance to the Old Testament, something that Father Clifford thought “Dei Verbum” itself did not do sufficiently because of its profoundly Christological emphasis. “It is important,” he wrote, “to understand the entire Old Testament both on its own terms and as a constituent part of the Christian Bible.” 

Third, the document was a rebuke to all kinds of Biblical fundamentalism, “with its insistence on the historical character of biblical revelation, ecclesial tradition and historically sensitive scholarship.” It is important to take fundamentalism seriously, Father Clifford writes, as it is a constitutive part of American culture—but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s the best way to be nourished by Scripture.

The result of “Dei Verbum” in the years after Vatican II, wrote John R. Donahue, S.J., in America in 1990, was “a dazzling kaleidoscope” of scholarship and lay participation in the study of Scripture. Less than five years after its promulgation, another project 35 years in the making was finally completed: The New American Bible, the first translation of the entire Bible under Roman Catholic auspices from the original languages into English. When you hear the readings at Mass, it’s from a version of that translation, to be called the Catholic American Bible as of 2027.

In a 2005 essay for America marking the 40th anniversary of the closing of Vatican II, Gerald O’Collins, S.J., mentioned “Dei Verbum” in the context of a challenging question for Catholics that remains pertinent two decades further along:

The closing paragraphs of Dei Verbum dreamed of the people of God living by the Scriptures at every level. The council yearned for the whole church to be much more biblical in every aspect of its life. Here I have no right to examine any conscience except my own. But despite all the progress that has been made, have Catholics become a truly biblical people, who put their entire existence under the word of God?

•••

Our poetry selection for this week is “INCARNATION,” by Angela Alaimo O’Donnell. Readers can view all of America’s published poems here.

In other news, we still have a few spots left for our pilgrimage to Ireland in April 2026. Led by myself and America editor in chief Sam Sawyer, S.J., the trip, “The Land of Saints & Scholars: A Journey into the Heart & Soul of Ireland,” will be from April 19 to 28, 2026. We promise a lot of spiritual insights and a lot of absolute blarney.

In this space every week, America features reviews of and literary commentary on one particular writer or group of writers (both new and old; our archives span more than a century), as well as poetry and other offerings from America Media. We hope this will give us a chance to provide you with more in-depth coverage of our literary offerings. It also allows us to alert digital subscribers to some of our online content that doesn’t make it into our newsletters.