What constitutes a "valid" interpretation of the Bible? [View all]

[guillaumeb]

In Christianity, there are varying views.

One view, the hierarchical view, holds that only the Church hierarchy can determine what is the acceptable interpretation of the Bible, or verses in the Bible.

In the RCC, for example, the tradition in which I was educated, the following passages might help to understand how the RCC advises theists to read the Bible.

Know what the Bible is – and what it isn't. The Bible is the story of God's relationship with the people he has called to himself. It is not intended to be read as history text, a science book, or a political manifesto. In the Bible, God teaches us the truths that we need for the sake of our salvation.

http://www.usccb.org/bible/understanding-the-bible/index.cfm

And in that vein,

Granted that the expression of faith, such as it is found in the sacred Scripture acknowledged by all, has had to renew itself continually in order to meet new situations, which explains the "rereadings" of many of the biblical texts, the interpretation of the Bible should likewise involve an aspect of creativity; it ought also to confront new questions so as to respond to them out of the Bible.
Granted that tensions can exist in the relationship between various texts of sacred Scripture, interpretation must necessarily show a certain pluralism. No single interpretation can exhaust the meaning of the whole, which is a symphony of many voices. Thus, the interpretation of one particular text has to avoid seeking to dominate at the expense of others.

http://catholic-resources.org/ChurchDocs/PBC_Interp3.htm

And also:

At Catholic Answers, we get questions all the time like, "What is the Catholic position on this Scripture passage?" Many people seem to have the idea that the Catholic Church has an official interpretation of every passage of Scripture. It isn’t true.
First, Scripture has more than one level of meaning. The two basic levels are the literal and the spiritual senses, the latter of which may contain up to three different kinds of meanings, depending on whether it foreshadows something in the New Testament, something at the end of time, or what moral lesson it may teach. Since the literal sense and the subdivisions of the spiritual sense can each be ambiguous (that is, they can carry more than one meaning by the author’s design), the multiplicity of meanings would guarantee that a commentary on the meaning of Scripture would run into the millions of propositions.

https://www.catholic.com/magazine/print-edition/the-limits-of-scripture-interpretation

The Pope does, of course, make certain pronouncements, speaking ex cathedra, on matters of faith and morals.