Verbum Domini builds on the Second Vatican Council's Dogmatic Constitution 'Dei Verbum' and also other documents on Scripture - notably the three issued by the Pontifical Biblical Comission in the last two decades - 'The Interpretion of the Bible iin the Church (1993) 'The Jewish people and their Sacred Scriptures in the Christian Bible' (2001) and 'The Bible and Morality' (2008). All three of these documents endorse a responsible use of modern scholarly study of the Scriptures, and this endorsement is lifted to a higher level in this document.

Verbum Domini also clearly situates Scripture in the eclesial and faith context in which it belongs, doing more than any of the previous documents to indicate specifically how the various contexts in which Scripture is used - in the liturgy, in personal prayer, and in theological study - can and must be integrated with one another.

Essential reading for any Catholic student of theology, and profitable reading for any Catholic, indeed any Christian, who wants to gain a deeper understanding of Scripture

What about the other 1/2 star? Well its slight weakness is that it perhaps tries to cover too broad a base at times, and therefore seems soewhat superficial in its analysis. But frankly, if it had tried to do justice to everything it covered, it have been much longer! ( )