Where do Catholics believe the historical narrative of the Bible begins? I heard on the Relevant Radio recently that the Genesis account of the deluge is prehistorical.  Meaning, it wasn't really recorded in histories the way other more specific accounts of historical events were.

But, where exactly does the Bible's historical content begin for Catholics?



Here's the radio broadcast of Go Ask Your Father I was listening to.
The problem with that question is that it makes a very difficult assumption: that the Church has an official position as to when the historical begins. Frankly, it doesn't.

The Church's view of Genesis can be best summed up by, "it means what it means." Yes, that is tautology, but it is necessarily so &mdash; we know that the Bible is 100% accurate in faith and morals as intended by the author, but it is very difficult to narrow down the theology beyond that. Further, it is not impossible for the author to make an error in matters historical as history is not strictly limited by faith and morals. (Placement of the Medes in the book of Daniel, for example, is generally considered an anachronism, but it does make sense if taken more symbollically).

On a personal note: I view the histories as starting with the book of Joshua and continuing from there. For, while there is definitely som mytho-symbolic content in Judges, my reading is that, overall, the concern of the documents is the historical progression of the nation. Yes, that does omit the entire pentateuch, but, while I will not deny that there is most certainly history in those documents, picking apart history from legend in those five is a bit tricky.