I daresay that the gradual decomposition of scripture, its dissolution in more and more specialized and negative criticism, is a result of its alienation from the eucharist and practically from the Church herself as an experience of a spiritual reality. And in its own turn, this same alienation deprived the sacrament of its evangelical content, converting it into a self-contained and self-sufficient means of sanctification. The scriptures and the Church are reduced here to the category of two formal *authorities*, two "sources of the faith"--as they are called in the scholastic treatises, for which the only question is which authority is the higher: which "interprets" which.As a matter of fact, by its own logic, this approach demands a further contraction, a further "reduction." For if we proclaim holy scripture to be the supreme authority for teaching the faith in the Church, then what is the criterion of scripture? Sooner or later it becomes biblical science i.e., in the final analysis, naked reason. But if, on the other hand, we proclaim the Church to be the definitive, highest and inspired interpreter of scripture, then through whom, where and how is this interpretation brought about? And however we answer this question, this organ or authority in fact proves to be standing over the scriptures, as an *outside* authority.
