In the third chapter Rama P. Coomaraswamy exposes the systematic attack launched against Holy Scripture by the post-conciliar church. The author establishes, from the outset, the correct hierarchical relationship between the Church and the Bible, refuting both the Protestant error of Sola Scriptura and the modernist betrayal that reduces the Bible to myth and secular literature. The central thesis of the work is clear: "The Church does not come out of the Scripture, but, on the contrary, the Scripture comes out of the Church" (Fr. Urquart, cited on p. 45).
📜 The Primacy of Tradition over Scripture
The author reaffirms the perennial Catholic teaching that there are two sources of Revelation: Tradition and Scripture. However, he emphasizes that, strictly speaking, Scripture is part of Tradition. In this perspective, Tradition is the primary source, as it is more extensive and essential, given that the Church existed long before the New Testament was written. Christ did not write a single line, nor did He command His Apostles to do so; He founded a teaching Church and sent the Apostles to preach orally, not to distribute bibles.
Coomaraswamy recalls that the very authority of the Scriptures depends entirely on the Catholic Church. It was the Church, at the Council of Carthage (397), guided by the Holy Spirit, that determined the official biblical Canon. Without the authority of the Church, the Bible would be merely a human book, as attested by St. Augustine when he declared that he would not believe the Gospel if the authority of the Catholic Church did not move him to do so (p. 46). Thus, the author defends the Church against Protestant accusations of having hidden the Bible, arguing that the Church has always venerated it and protected it in the Latin Vulgate to avoid textual corruption, condemning only false and heretical translations produced to attack the Faith.
🛡️ Protestant Tactics and the Betrayal of New Translations
The author draws an analytical parallel between the Protestant Reformation and the post-Vatican II revolution. Reformers such as Luther, Tyndale, and Cranmer used the Scriptures against the Church by altering key words to destroy the doctrine of the Mass and the Priesthood. Where "altar" was read, they translated "table"; where "priest" was read, they put "elder"; where "grace" was read, they put "favor." Coomaraswamy demonstrates that the post-conciliar church adopted exactly the same tactic, utilizing new translations approved by Rome and made in "ecumenical cooperation" with heretics, which introduced grave doctrinal distortions. The author specifically cites the New American Bible and the Jerusalem Bible as effective vehicles for modernism.
✝️ Examples of Falsification and Doctrinal Alteration
Among the most flagrant examples of falsification cited in the text, the abolition of the term "soul" in modern translations stands out, as they prefer terms like "being" or "self." In the Magnificat, for example, the traditional expression "my soul magnifies the Lord" became "my being proclaims," while Christ's warning about losing one's "soul" was changed to "destroying oneself" (p. 49-50). In addition to this, one notes the denial of Hell, a term almost totally abolished and removed from the reading cycles of the "New Mass," resulting in the loss of belief in eternal damnation. There was also an attack on the divinity of Christ and the honor of the Virgin Mary: Christ's active resurrection was changed to the passive voice ("was raised") and the greeting "full of grace" was vulgarized to "highly favored," a term that implicitly denies the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (p. 51).
🔬 Modernist Exegesis: The Science of Disbelief
The text denounces the "new Catholic exegesis," which abandoned the wisdom of the Holy Fathers in favor of rationalist "historical criticism." Formerly, a book with the Nihil Obstat guaranteed orthodoxy; today, it is used to convey gross errors. Coomaraswamy attacks the historical-critical method, personified in figures like Rudolf Bultmann and Father Raymond Brown, who treat the Bible as secular literature under the guise of "science," denying the historicity of miracles and the physical Resurrection. This methodology places man as the judge of Revelation, and the post-conciliar hierarchy is criticized for protecting these academics while persecuting the defenders of Tradition, calling them "fundamentalists."
☦️ The Heresy of Personal Choice and the Appeal to Tradition
Quoting St. Augustine, the text recalls that "heresy" comes from the Greek for "choice," meaning that the heretic chooses, based on his private judgment, what he wants to believe. The new translations and modern exegesis are exercises of private judgment elevated to the level of official magisterium. Coomaraswamy ends the chapter with a dramatic appeal: the only way to correctly understand the Scriptures is through the eyes of the Church of All Time and the Saints. The author reinforces that abandoning traditional interpretation in favor of modern novelties is to fall into the curse against those who distort the Word of God, exhorting the faithful to stand firm in the traditions they were taught (p. 57).
📚 Bibliographical Reference:
COOMARASWAMY, Rama P. The Destruction of the Christian Tradition: Updated and Revised. Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2006.
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