AUBURN - The Bible and the stories it contains are the basis of the Catholic and other faiths.

Wednesday evening, St. Mary's Church, as part of its Spirit Alive celebration, welcomed the Rev. George Heyman, assistant professor in Biblical studies and director of continuing education at Saint Bernard's School of Theology and Ministry in Rochester, to look at some of the ways in which the Bible can be interpreted.

The Rev. Frank E. Lioi, pastor of St. Mary's, introduced Heyman, pointing out how fitting his area of expertise is to Spirit Alive efforts.

“Spirit Alive is a time of spiritual renewal,” Lioi said. “It is fitting we are focusing on the Bible. Our goal is to understand Jesus' example in the Bible and the word of God in the Scriptures.”

Topics that Heyman is uniquely qualified for.

Through his studies, which include earning a master's degree from Harvard as well as his doctoral degree from Syracuse University, Heyman has dedicated his work to understanding the meanings of the books contained in the Bible.

Along with studying the stories in their English translations, Heyman has also studied the root languages from which the Bible has been translated, including Greek and Aramaic and has also gone on numerous digs to Israel to further study the roots of the Bible.

Heyman touched on several areas, including how the Bible is read by Catholics, how that reading is understood and what it means and even delved into the Bible's grammar and word choice.

Heyman began is talk with a handout. Printed at the top in bold letters was the phrase “GOD IS NOWHERE.”

Heyman pointed out that this could be read two ways.

The statement could either say “God Is Now Here” or “God Is Nowhere,” he explained.

He used this as an example of how people are taught to understand written language and how that plays into how texts are interpreted.

“The letters are symbols we try to read,” Heyman said. “There are two ways you can read those letters and get two different meanings from the exact same symbols.”

Heyman went on to give other examples of what is referred to as hermeneutics, from the Greco-Roman god Hermes, the messenger; this is the study of text, their meanings and interpretations.

For example, he used a generic newspaper headline, “Dems Blast White House for Bailout,” to show how people learn to read different ways in different contexts.

Heyman pointed out that while for people who grew up learning that this was common newspaper terminology, there was probably little misunderstanding, but for someone who may have learned perfect English, but is not familiar with the vernacular and colloquialisms of the language, this could be a confusing statement.

This can be further extrapolated into the Bible on a very basic level and on a deeper, more intensive level as well.

Heyman pointed out that for Catholics it is common to end a Bible reading with the statement “the word of God.” Which Heyman was quick to pint out the confusion that is inherent in that phrase.

“Did we just read more than one word,” Heyman said. “So which one is the word of God. As Catholics we don't believe that all the words are the word of God, not every individual word.”

Heyman said that Jesus didn't speak English for one; it is believed that he spoke Aramaic, a language closely related to Hebrew.

Heyman also pointed out that it is not believed that Jesus took pen to paper. The words and stories that have made their way to the Bible have been translated from original texts in various other languages and were also written by other parties, such as the gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.

“Jesus became the word of God incarnate,” Heyman said. “Jesus was the word made flesh. We believe that the gospels were written by other people using their own skills and creativity, but with the inspiration God breathed into them.”

Heyman pointed out some of the inaccuracies in the Bible, such as the genealogy of Joseph, which varies from one book to another.

He said that before the Enlightenment, it was accepted that there were differences and things that might have seemed inaccurate, but that after the Enlightenment period, people began to look at the Bible in more literal terms and were looking for a definitive answer through the book's text.

Heyman referenced Origen of Alexandria from the third century who said that the scripture existed on two levels - the literal and the more metaphorical.

Origen also stated, according to Heyman, that God could not be contained in just one book, which is why there are four gospels and that there are differences in the stories.

“On the one level, you have love your enemy,” Heyman said. “And on the other, you have cut your hand off if it does something bad. Maybe this really means something else than to cut your hand off; there is the metaphor, the figurative, the spiritual.

Heyman said it was from the German Protestants that the idea became more acceptable to look at the texts in a more literal light and to try to find its true meanings, to look at the paradoxes in the Bible and be able to come to accept these differences in the stories, but to not lose sight of its meaning and value.

He said it was during Vatican II that a doctrine was determined to help reconcile the changing interpretations of the Bible and which has since helped determine that way in which many read the book today.

“We often say this in Bible study,” Heyman said. “We aren't looking at what it means so much as how it means or how it is meant. In the Bible, there might be errors of fact, but there are no errors in the truth. The Bible teaches faithfully and without error the truth which God for the sake of our salvation wished to see confided in the scriptures. That is why the Bible stays important because of the beauty of the text and its ability to continue to convey so much meaning.”