Since 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.

Contents
Henri Hyvernat | Corpus Scriptorum Christianorum Orientalium
Patrick W. Skehan | Committee for the Revision of the New Testament

Msgr. Henri Hyvernat (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 1947 when William Foxwell Albright went on archaeological exploration to Egypt, he asked Skehan to be a visiting lecturer in his place at Johns Hopkins University. Skehan agreed and did this for Albright at other times between 1947 and 1956.

On January 18, 1936 The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD), under the leadership of Edwin O'Hara, Bishop of Great Falls, Montana, organized aCommittee for the Revision of the New Testament, working from the Douay-Rheims version of the New Testament, a translation from St. Jerome's Vulgate. Also at this time it was proposed that there should be a permanent organization of Scripture scholars. This proposal was made by Romain Butin, a faculty member in the Department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at CUA. His proposal was met with unanamous approval and the name chosen for this new organziation was The Catholic Biblical Association (CBA). The CBA worked on the New Testament revision for the next five years. During this time it was decided that revision work should be done on the Old Testament.

The New Testament revision was complete in 1941 and was published by St. Anthony Guild Press, Patterson, New Jersey. Below is a portion of the manuscript of the Gospel of John. The primary revisor of this gospel was Msgr. William L. Newton. The English expression of the text was edited both by William McClellan, S.J., and Dr. Joseph Christopher.

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