The new Science, Reason, and Faith Catholic Study Bible

By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio - articles - email ) | Aug 10, 2026

Fr. Robert Spitzer, who has done so much to reconcile faith and reason, has now collaborated with Our Sunday Visitor to produce a new Catholic Study Bible entitled Science, Reason and Faith Catholic Study Bible. The Biblical text itself is the well-known Catholic edition of the Revised Standard Version. What makes this Bible unique are the chapters and bibliography provided before the Old Testament and the New Testament, respectively, and various introductions and explanatory notes (highlighted in blue) throughout the Biblical text, which discuss the various scientific and historical questions raised by that text.

Readers should be aware that Fr. Spitzer at least occasionally highlights a legitimate interpretation of a text which fits more rather than less closely within our modern scientific understanding, and which therefore may reduce the necessary scope of a seeming miracle, especially as described in an ancient culture which lacked what we now call a “scientific understanding”. A case in point is the side note on Joshua 10:12-14, the passage which recounts how Joshua invoked God to make the sun stand still, so that Joshua could complete the destruction of the enemies of Israel. In this case, the side note begins, “Evidently, the sun and the moon did not stand still. If that happened, the earth would have ceased to rotate on its own axis, causing complete destruction of the ocean and land, ending the whole of civilization.” Accordingly, the note goes on to suggest alternative understandings of the observed phenomenon.

But this is a case which, however congenial the interpretation may be to those concerned with the violation of scientific laws, and even acknowledging that an interpretation that asserts the literal cessation or reversal of the rotation of the earth is not required by the text and may well be false, nonetheless places a limitation on God’s power by stating: “If that happened, the earth would have ceased to rotate on its own axis, causing complete destruction of the ocean and land, ending the whole of civilization.” The note goes on to cite other less dramatic (and certainly potentially legitimate) interpretations of the text, such as that of the thoroughly Catholic physicist Fr. Stanley Jaki, who posited an atmospheric phenomenon that blocked solar and lunar radiation. This is a proposed legitimate understanding of the text which is possible in natural terms, altering the miracle to what we might call a benign control over natural phenomena, as opposed to a suspension of the cosmic order God had already established through His creation.

The potential problem with this sort of speculation is that, while it could be correct, it is hardly necessary that it be correct to preserve our understanding of the veracity of the text. Obviously, the God who created all that is and who set the elements of the universe in ordered motion through the properties He “built in” to these elements, could just as easily suspend that motion as desired while preventing the corresponding destructive natural consequences. After all, it is precisely such a suspension of the natural order, through intentional alteration or reversal, which constitutes a miracle. Nonetheless, the reader can certainly acknowledge the possibility of legitimate textual interpretations which do not require such an impressively radical Divine suspension of the natural order.

And this is precisely the point that may be most appreciated by those who choose to use this Bible partly because they are uncomfortable with any sort of constant emphasis on God’s miraculous intervention—which they have never witnessed and have trouble imagining—and so want to achieve a more precise understanding of the nature and limits of these claims. Questions arise: Which specific claims and which particular Biblical interpretations are essential parts of the Catholic Faith, and which are not? How does what I have learned through my own secular studies contribute to my understanding of the Biblical text?

A point about this edition

Most notes and comments, of course, are less controversial to those who have no trouble accepting miracles. I did not select this particular example to denigrate the value of Fr. Spitzer’s interpretive skills when it comes to explaining so many aspects of the Old and New Testament texts in ways that will make that text more accessible to more readers. After all, Fr. Spitzer does not deny the miraculous. Rather, he insists upon it only when it is a genuine requirement of the text. We certainly do not find notes explaining away (or reducing the impact of) the miracles of Christ, or any other miraculous phenomena which the text does not permit the reader to deny. There is no explanatory note on the healing of the paralytic in chapter six of John’s Gospel, for example, and there is only an explanation and amplification of the hymn to the Divinity and Incarnation of Christ with which John’s Gospel opens. The point in Joshua’s case is rather that a rare natural phenomenon may well be adequate to explain the meaning of the text. In other words, what we see at times is a cautious interpretation of an ancient text which permits a greater understanding of when a natural phenomenon may be at work, or when science or history can shed additional light, or when the text simply will not accommodate a non-miraculous explanation.

This, clearly, is a strategic interpretive decision. Especially when reading an ancient text created in a non-scientific and even a more poetic culture, Catholic Biblical interpretation must be aware of the contextual worldview of both the author of the text and those involved in the experience, the better to keep all legitimate possibilities in mind. It is typically safer to ascribe to natural phenomena whatever natural phenomena can explain, and to make only those claims for direct supernatural intervention which cannot be denied without denying the honesty of the text itself. For those who doubt the miraculous, this approach may remove stumbling blocks, though of course there is always a danger of swallowing a camel while straining out a gnat (Mt 23:24). But any reader can benefit from an understanding of the Biblical text which insists on a radical suspension of the natural order only when no other interpretation of the text is reasonably possible—or, to put it another way, which insists only upon the minimum miracle necessary to fairly understand the text.

After all, signs and wonders are not the essence of Faith. The Science, Reason, and Faith Study Bible has been published precisely to clarify how science, reason and faith can be effectively combined in the study of the sacred text. But it is also perfectly legitimate for different readers (including scholars) to vary in their interpretation of ancient texts which were written in very different cultures from our own. It is only very seldom that we have particular magisterial statements which guarantee one particular understanding of a Biblical passage to the exclusion of others. Otherwise, the richness of the text is better appreciated by considering all the possibilities.

Inquiry, doubt and Bible collecting

For whom, then, is this edition of the Bible primarily intended? Well, for anyone who thinks (or fears) that Divine Revelation negates human science or, more frequently, that human science negates Divine Revelation—and for anyone who wants to more fully grasp all the possibilities of those texts which appear to include miraculous elements. As the introduction states, the purpose “is to respond to the major questions arising out of the dialogue between the Bible and modern science, history, and scriptural interpretation.” Fr. Spitzer contends that “the seeming irreconcilable differences between these…pursuits come more from misunderstanding than reality. Most of them are attributable to the fallacy of making Scripture do science, and science interpret divine revelation” (p. 9).

And then there are people like me, people who dislike turning down any opportunity to have a new edition of a Bible that provides either a different translation or different kinds of interpretive tools. It is always useful to have a variety of editions on hand, especially to take advantage of commentaries and notes which emphasize fresh aspects or competitive interpretations of the text. The Science, Reason, and Faith Study Bible passes the test of an approved Catholic translation along with unique introductions, commentaries, and notes, carefully vetted with the Imprimatur of the Church.

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Science, Reason, and Faith Catholic Study Bible (Fr. Robert Spitzer). Our Sunday Visitor, 2025. 2059 pp. $44.95 paper.

Related title from 2023 which covers the same issues independently of the Biblical text: Fr. Robert Spitzer, Science, Reason, and Faith: Discovering the Bible. Our Sunday Visitor, 2023. 360 pp. $34.95 paper.