SEEKING JESUS IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

by Dr. Renu Rita Silvano

OSV, 2006

254 pages, $14.95

It’s safe to say that, whatever the average Catholic knows about the Bible, the knowledge is usually heavily tilted toward the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. Put negatively: Most of us know too little about the Old Testament. Apart from the Psalms, few Catholics spend any serious personal time reading much at all from Genesis through Malachi.

We don’t know what we’re missing.

Want to find out? Read Seeking Jesus in the Old Testament — a book written, according to its introduction, to help Catholics “seek the face of Jesus through the Old Testament books of Moses (the Pentateuch), the Psalms, and the Prophets. … This work intends to reveal a fresh encounter with Jesus through the reading of the sacred Scriptures, even if some of the its texts seem obscure and difficult.” Silvano quotes the well-known statement of St. Augustine about the New Testament being hidden in the Old Testament and the Old Testament being fulfilled in the New.

He then makes this simple but significant remark: “The Old Testament is very relevant for the Christians of today — through it we obtain much of Jesus’ background and history.”

Many books about the Old Testament are written by specialists for other specialists, and more popular works often suffer from too much sentiment and not enough learned substance. Silvano, who is a member of the Executive Committee of the International Catholic Biblical Federation, and director of the Catholic Bible Institute of Mumbai (India), avoids exclusivity on one hand and sentimentality on the other. Instead, she applies sound Catholic principles of biblical interpretation in giving a spiritual reading of several Old Testament passages. In this way she reflects on the allegorical, moral and anagogical senses of Scripture (see the Catechism, Nos. 115-119) — but pays special attention to the allegorical perspective, shining Christ’s light on events that preceded his coming.

Take, for example, her reading of one of the first verses of the Bible: “And God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light” (Genesis 1:3). “In the spiritual realm,” Silvano writes, “the true light is Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness. … Jesus is the light of the world. He is the Light that dispels darkness from the very beginning of Creation. He will remain forever the Light of life.” Or Psalm 50, which is an ecstatic song of praise to the Lord: “Why all this concert of praise? Among other reasons we can think, it is because the Lord has risen indeed!” This is followed by an excellent four-page contemplation of the appearances of the risen Christ to Peter, Mary Magdalene and Paul.

Perhaps the best word to describe this edifying book is “prayerful.” Too often the Bible has been sliced, diced, parsed and picked at by the experts, yet often divorced from the liturgical and devotional life of the Church.

“The Bible is also the best school of prayer,” writes Silvano. “The reality of prayer lies in an encounter with the true God, and it is the Bible, God’s written word, that mediates in a very unique and special way God’s loving and powerful presence.”

Ash Wednesday is upon us. How are you fixed for Lenten reading? 

Carl E. Olson is editor of

IgnatiusInsight.com.