Pope Benedict and "Hard Scriptures"

 It seems to me that too many people assume a fundamentalist view of Scripture, that ignores genre, ignores allegorical readings, ignores the entire tradition of interpretation, and instead proposes that every bit of the Bible is intended as a History Text book, and must be accepted or rejected as such.  There are Christians who try to maintain this position, though it is untenable; and there are non-believers (many of them former Christians) who use this as their reason for rejecting the faith. 

This video examines some of Pope Benedict's writings and his engagement with difficult and dark passages in Scripture.  Of course, he's not the only one to do this, or offer this approach.  It is well-attested in the universal tradition.  Just read, for example, C.S. Lewis' Reflections on the Psalms for some very similar thoughts from another brilliant Christian thinker who was well-grounded in the tradition (Lewis was, of course, an Anglican - nuanced approaches to Scripture are not only found among Roman Catholics).

If you struggle with the Bible, or what it means to accept it as "the Word of the Lord" - this video could be of great help to you.