When the reformers began to use the Scripture as a critical norm to flush out biases and problems in the development of the church, the Catholic Church was prompted to reflect on the question of its own position on the authority of the Bible. The understanding of Scripture and tradition became especially apparent at the First Vatican Council of 1869/70. This Council formulated two decrees, one on the Catholic Faith and the other on the Pope. Karl Rahner formulated the idea of sacred writers before anyone had even thought of Second Vatican Council in 1958. The Council had committed itself to a reform process that would put Scripture back into the centre of the church's life and mission. Liberation theology was a significant development which arose in the wake of the Second Vatican Council.

This chapter explores some distinctive characteristics and interests of Bible's reception history. It discusses the relationship between reception history and Wirkungsgeschichte. Reception history focuses on the reader or interpreter, how they receive the text in their particular historical and cultural setting. It is possible to distinguish between reception historians who conduct their work within particular theological and ecclesial traditions, those who treat the study of a book's reception as a means to a better understanding of its original meaning, and others who want to keep the parameters and potential for meanings as broad as possible. Theological openness to the key exegetical traditions of Judaism and Christianity and their classic exegetes, represents one major strand within reception history. The Blackwell Companion to the Bible and Culture, edited by John Sawyer, is indicative of the wide potential of another strand in reception history. A visit to a Gothic cathedral can be an exercise in reception history.