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I. The Revelation of Jesus Christ in ScriptureInstructional TimelineUnit - Lesson - ResourceCommon Formative AssessmentExtensionReteaching
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Kindergarteners:
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I. How Do We Know About God?
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A. The thirst and desire for God (CCC nos. 27-30, 44-45, 1718)
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 1. Within all people there is a longing for God.
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 2. That longing itself is from God, who desires and initiates a relationship with each person.
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 3. Only in God can lasting joy and peace be found in this life and in the next.
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B. God revealed in many ways.
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 1. Natural Revelation (CCC, nos. 32-34)
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 a. Natural Revelation attested to in Sacred Scripture (CCC no. 32) (Old Testament references Genesis and Wisdom, and Paul's Letter to the Romans)
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 b. Patristic testimony (CCC no. 32)
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 c. Scholastic theology's arguments for the existence of God (CCC nos. 31, 34) (St. Thomas Aquinas and the 5 proofs for existence of God)
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 d. Vatican 1: we can grasp with certainty the existence of God through human reason (CCC, nos. 36-38, 46-47)
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 e. Contemporary arguments based on the human person's opening to truth, beauty, moral goodness, freedom, voice of conscience (CCC, no. 33)
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 2. Divine Revelation
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 a. Definition / meaning (CCC, nos. 50-53, 68-69)
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 b. Scripture as a divinely inspired record of God's Revelation in history (CCC, nos. 54-64, 70-72)
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 1.) Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (CCC, nos. 59, 145, 147)
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 2.) Moses (CCC, no. 61)
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 3.) Old Testament prophets (CCC, nos. 61-64, 522)
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 4.) Wisdom literature
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 5.) Preparation through John the Baptist (CCC, nos. 523, 717-720)
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 3. The transmission of Divine Revelation (CCC, nos. 74-95)
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 a. Apostoc Tradition (CCC, nos. 74-79, 96)
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 b. The relationship between Tradition and Sacred Scripture (CCC, nos. 80-83, 97)
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 c. The Deposit of Faith and the role of the Church (CCC, nos. 84-95, 98-100).
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II. About Sacred Scripture
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A. Divine Inspiration.
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 1. Inspiration is the gift of the Holy Spirit by which a human author was able to write a biblical book which really has God as the author and which teaches faithfully and without error the saving truth that God willed to be consigned to us for our salvation. (CCC, nos. 105, 135).
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 2. Since God inspired the biblical writers, he is the author of Scripture (CCC, nos 105-106, 136).
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 3. Because the human authors needed to use the language and thinking of their time, we need to study the conditions and use of language in the context of their time and understand what they intended to communicate, remembering that these human authors might not have been conscious of the deeper implications of what God wanted to communicate (CCC, nos. 106, 108-114).
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 4. The Bible is inerrant in matters of Revelation and faith: because God is the author of Scripture, all the religious truths that God intends to reveal concerning our salvation are true; this attribute is called "inerrancy" (see DV, no. 11; CCC, NO. 107).
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 5. The Bible is a sacred text for Christians; it contains in the Old Testament writings sacred to the Jews.
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B. How the Bible came to be.
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 1. Oral tradition and its role (CCC, nos. 76, 126).
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 2. Development of the written books (CCC, nos. 76, 106).
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 3. Setting the canon of Scripture (CCC, no. 120).
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 a. Apostolic Tradition is the basis for which books the Church included (CCC, nos. 120, 138).
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 b. Sometimes other criteria came into play, e.g., the Gnostic gospels were rejected in part because they did not include or shied away from the suffering and Death of Jesus.
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 c. Local Councils of Hippo (AD 393) AND Carthage (AD 397).
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 d. Ecumenical Council of Trent (AD 1545-1563).
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 4. Translations of Scripture.
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 C. Sacred Scripture in the life of the Church.
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 1. Importance of Sacred Scripture (CCC, nos. 131, 133, 141).
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 2. Study of Sacred Scripture (CCC, no. 132).
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 3. Scripture and prayer.
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 a. Liturgy of the Hours (CCC, nos. 1176-1177).
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 b. Scripture at Mass and other liturgies (CCC, nos. 103, 1096, 1100, 1184 ,1190, 1349).
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 c. The psalms and the Our Father are biblical prayers shared by all Christians (CCC, nos. 2585ff., 2759ff.).
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 d. Lectio divina: a meditative, prayerful approach to Scripture (CCC, nos. 1177, 2708).
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 e. Scripture as basis for individual prayer and for prayer within small Christian communities and other parish, school, or local gatherings (CCC, nos. 2653-2654).
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III. Understanding Scripture
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A. Authentic interpretation of the Bible is the responsibility of the teaching office of the Church (CCC, nos. 85-87, 100).
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 1. Divino Afflante Spiritu (Pius XII, 1943: permitted limited use of modern methods of biblical criticism).
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 2. Dei Verbum (DV) (Vatican II, 1965; Church teaching on Revelation).
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 3. Pontifical Biblical Commission, Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, 1993, nos. 5-19.
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B. Criteria for interpreting the Sacred Scripture (CCC, nos. 109-114, 137).
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 1. Read and interpret Sacred Scripture within the tradition and teaching of the Church.
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 2. Give attention both to what the human authors intended to say and to what God reveals to us by their words.
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 3. Take into account the conditions of the time when it was written and the culture where it was written.
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 4. Read and interpret Sacred Scripture in the light of the same Holy Spirit by whom it was written (DV, nos. 12-13).
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 5. Read and interpret each part of Sacred Scripture with an awareness and understanding of the unity of the content and teaching of the entire Bible.
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 6. Be attentive to the analogy of faith, that is, the unity that exists in all Church teaching.
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C. Senses of Scripture (CCC, nos. 115, 118-119).
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 1. The literal sense: the meaning conveyed by the words of Scripture and discovered by exegesis (CCC, nos. 109-110, 116).
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 2. The spiritual sense (CCC, no. 117).
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 a. Allegorical sense: recognizing the significance of events in the Bible as they relate to Christ.
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 b. Moral sense: Scripture teaches us and encourages us how to live and act.
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 c. Anagogical sense: Scripture speaks to us of eternal realities.
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D. The Bible in relation to science and history (CCC, nos. 37, 159, 1960).
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 1. The Church teaches us how to relate truths of faith to science.
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 2. There can be no conflict between religious truth and scientific and historical truth (CCC, no. 159).
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 3. The difference between the Catholic understanding of Scripture and that of those who interpret the Bible in an overly literalist, fundamentalist way or with an approach limited to a symbolic understanding.
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E. Ancillary approaches to Scripture.
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 1. Research done by scholars' critiques of Scripture's texts, history, editing, etc.
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 2. Biblical archaeology: discoveries of Dead Sea Scrolls, Nag Hammadi, targums, and other authentic ancient texts.
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 3. The forms of literature in the Bible.
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IV. Overview of the Bible
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A. Old Testament (CCC, nos. 121-123, 138).
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 1. This is the name given to the forty-six books which make up the first part of the Bible and record salvation history prior to the coming of the Savior, Jesus Christ (CCC, no. 120).
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 a. Many Protestant Bibles have only thirty-nine books in the Old Testament; other Protestant Bibles contain the additional seven, referring to them as "deuterocanonical."
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 b. Catholics rely on the Greek version of the Old Testament for their Bible, while Protestants tend to rely on a Hebrew version.
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 2. It is called the "Old" Testament because it relates God's teaching and actions prior to the coming of Jesus Christ, who is the fullness of Revelation. It also focuses on the covenant God made with the Jewish people, which is called the "Old Covenant" to distinguish it from the New Covenant made by Jesus Christ (CCC, nos. 121-123).
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 3.  The Old Testament contains the Pentateuch, the Historical books, the Wisdom books, and the Prophetic books.
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B. New Testament (CCC, nos. 120, 124-127).
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 1. This is the name given to those twenty-seven books which compose the second part of the Bible and which focus on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ and some writings of the early Church.
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 2. The New Testament is composed of the Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the Epistles or Letters, and the book of Revelation
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C. The unity of the Old Testament and the New Testament (CCC, nos. 124-125, 128-130, 140).
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V. The Gospels
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A.  The Gospels occupy the central place in Scripture (CCC, nos. 125, 139).
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 1. They proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Word of God, the definitive Revelation of God.
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 2.  The Gospels contain a record of the life of Jesus Christ and of his teachings and redeeming work.
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 3.  The Gospels lead us to accept Jesus Christ in faith and apply his teachings to our lives.
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B. Three stages in the formation of the Gospels ( CCC, no. 126).
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C.  The Synoptic Gospels: Matthew, Mark, and Luke.
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 1.  Approximate dates for each Gospel.
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 2.  What is known about each of these three evangelists.
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 3. The churches for whom Matthew, Mark, and Luke wrote.
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 4. The contents of the Synoptic Gospels (CCC, nos. 512-667).
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 a.  Infancy narratives in Matthew and Luke.