Let's go to Christian, age 11, calling from Irving, Texas, the great Lone Star
State, listening on Guadalupe Radio. Irving--
excuse me, Christian, welcome to Catholic Answers Live.
Hi. Hey Christian, how are you? Very good. What
about you? We're doing well, we're happy to have you on the program.
it's a little warmer there in Texas, isn't it? Yeah.
Pretty hot, actually. Yeah, it's been hot around here too. It's around 100 today.
And of course Irving used to be home of the Dallas
Cowboys before Arlington stole them away, right? Yeah, but I'm not a Cowboys fan. That's good. The Packers
are a much better team. No, actually the Giants are. There you go. See, just, I'm not gonna get into this
particular fight. That's all right, Father. Well Christian, that's okay. We let
Giants fans ask questions on Catholic Answers Live. What's your question for
Father Hugh? Yeah, so my question is: who wrote the book of Genesis? Great question.
It's an interesting question; the tradition of the Church is,
from the fathers, that Moses wrote the book of Genesis. And our Lord even says
"Moses wrote of me," and he was talking about things that were in the book of
Genesis. But there are modern scholars-- and the Church does not prohibit them--
who say, "Well, maybe Moses had something to do with the beginning of the
discussion, but then other people added their considerations and texts, and
gradually the document developed over time with the original part for Moses
and then other things added by others." So let's just say the most prudent
or reasonable decision would be that Moses wrote it, because Our Lord said he
did; but that other people contributed or edited or redacted
the text in view of future time. And so that would be the the classical answer
for this particular question. And I'm glad you're asking, because of course the
book of Genesis has so many important things in it that determine how we view
the world and what's in it, so I'm very happy that you asked this
question. So is that okay, Christian? Yes, thank you. Thank you, God bless you.
Christian I'm gonna just ask Father a little follow-up here about your
question. Is that okay Father, can I ask a follow-up? Absolutely, you can ask anything you want.
Christian can ask, he's 11, he's in Irving; you can ask anything you want.
That's right. So Father, now, when you when you say Moses wrote the book of
Genesis, would you say that like Homer wrote the Odyssey, that this is part of
the oral tradition, or that at some time in Moses's life maybe he just set down
with in writing? Am I asking a fair question? Yeah that's a fair
question, in the sense that "wrote--" "What do you mean by 'wrote?'" Right. Well there's an
oral tradition which is carried on, and if youu were in,
like, modern--like, even now, Montenegro today, or certain parts of the Macedonian
countryside, you would find the storytellers
who could actually recite to you lines and lines and lines and lines of
local poetry that were exact and passed on from age to age. So I take
"wrote," Christian, in a broader sense; that is, that there's a source which is
there, which then is later on ordered or redacted or added to by other authors.
But it doesn't mean that Moses actually sat down and put pen to...I won't say
paper, but to...papyrus, right, whatever it is. So in any case--and he
might have been writing in hieroglyphics, so you never know. But Christian, Father
Hugh makes a very important point about the practice that once existed--and still
does in some parts of the world, like in the Balkans with the storytellers--
of memorizing long passages of a
people's history. Right, and all these cultures had that tradition, that
oral tradition that was passed on. And the Jews preserved much of their
scriptures in Babylon through that-- during the Babylonian captivity--through
that oral tradition. And they learn writing from that particular tradition.
So Christian, and all you good children listening, you need to work on the skill
of memorizing, right? Because that's kind of a lost art now, Father. We don't
see a lot of memorizing. We don't see that much. We see it a lot among homeschoolers, and
in some parochial schools, but not so much. Yeah, it's true. They should all
start with-- Learn a poem. Chesterton's Lepanto. Perhaps. Do you know that one
Christian? No. Alright. Well, you look that one up. You're gonna love it, I promise you.