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Title: 2'1 History of Interpretation


1
2.1 History of Interpretation
  • OT/HB Hermeneutics - 2006

2
1. History of the History of Exegesis
  • 1.1 "The Reformation's understanding of the
    biblical text, the influence of the
    Enlightenment, the rise of the historical-critical
    method, all combined to eliminate the history of
    exegesis from the biblical scholar's repertoire
    except in a very restricted sense. Until recently
    most of the histories of exegesis that have
    appeared in the last hundred years have concerned
    themselves with the history of the critical
    period, that is covering the period of
    approximately the 19th and 20th centuries."
    Cahill, "The History of Exegesis and Our
    Theological Future"

3
1. History of the History of Exegesis
  • ". . . a history of exegesis is seen in the
    emergence of catenae, first in the Greek-speaking
    East and then in the Latin-speaking West. Early
    medieval biblical commentary is characterized by
    the respectful repetition of the opinions of the
    Fathers, though this does not necessarily
    inhibit the expression of personal insight and
    opinion."
  • "Gradually, we see the glossed biblical text
    come into being, resulting in the marvelous
    Glossa ordinaria of the High Middle Ages. In a
    sense this represents the canonization of the
    history of exegesis. . . . "

4
1. History of the History of Exegesis
  • "A similar manifestation of the status of the
    history of exegesis is Pope Urban IV's
    commissioning of Thomas Aquinas in the middle of
    the 13th century to produce what would come to be
    known as the Catena aurea, a special sort of
    continuous commentary on the text of the Four
    Gospels drawn from the writings of the Latin and
    Greek Fathers."

5
1. History of the History of Exegesis
  • 1.2 "While interest in the history of exegesis is
    not an entirely new phenomenon, today's degree of
    enthusiasm for the subject is something that
    needs to be accounted for. Some would say that
    the smouldering embers were fanned into flame by
    the winds of dissatisfaction disillusionment
    with the predominance of the historical-critical
    method in biblical studies."
  • However Cahill points out that the
    dissatisfaction may be based on something other
    than sound criticism.
  • Postmodernism "I recognize it as an influence
    profoundly affecting all intellectual,
    hermeneutical, and even pastoral activity.
    Postmodern theology is an accurate articulation
    of the way the world is. Postmodernism at the
    very least signals a dissatisfaction."

6
1. History of the History of Exegesis
  • 1.3 Why study the History of Exegesis /
    Interpretation?
  • Negatively
  • 1. "Knowing the history of exegesis will help us
    to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past."
  • 2. "Use the ancient commentators in so far as
    they share our historical-critical methods."
  • 3. "Check the older exegetes to see if they have
    seen something that we missed."
  • 4. "The history of exegesis is important because
    of 'the superiority of pre-critical exegesis'."
  • 5. "Patristic exegesis is better because it is
    more spiritual."

7
1. History of the History of Exegesis
  • Positively
  • 1. ". . . an interest in the history of exegesis
    does not repudiate the historical-critical
    method. It does not and cannot replace that
    method."
  • 2. "It is the historical-critical method that can
    control and challenge extreme relativities and
    irrationality, just as it control the
    relativities, often very disconcerting, exposed
    by the history of exegesis. Historical-critical
    analysis will ensure that the virtues of
    postmodernism, including, for example, hard-nosed
    challenging of facile dogmatism, will be
    preserved and its weaknesses, for example the
    tendency to irrationality, curbed."

8
1. History of the History of Exegesis
  • 3. "An essential element in the proposed program
    is that no period is to be rated better and none
    worse than any other in an a priori manner. The
    history of exegesis allows all to speak though
    without any guarantee of eventual endorsement.
    The particular contribution in a specific area
    may and must be rated on its merits."

9
From Biblical to Late Jewish Antiquity
  • Inner-Biblical Jewish Interpretative Influences

10
1. Before Scripture
  • 1.1 "There was not always a Bible.... Thus the
    time of the Bible was a time when the Bible was
    not yet there. It is ironic that we use the term
    biblical studies to designate our work on this
    period. Biblical faith, the faith of the men of
    the Bible, was not in its own nature a scriptural
    religion." Barr, Holy Scripture Canon,
    Authority, Criticism, 1

11
1. Before Scripture
  • 1.2 "Within the Bible itself religion was not a
    scriptural religion in the sense that it later,
    and especially after the Reformation, became
    normal to supposed."
  • "The actual relations between faith, creative
    originality, and the formation of traditions
    (eventually to become scripture) were different.
    In the Bible faith was not controlled by
    scripture rather, scripture derived from faith.
    Thus the attitudes of passive acceptance of
    scriptural control, which Protestantism often
    inculcated into its people, were substantially
    different in quality from the attitudes which the
    men of the Bible themselves maintained."
  • "In this respect the traditional view of the
    Bible contained serious inner contradictions in
    particular, it encouraged the reader to read into
    the words of scripture meanings that were not
    there at all."

12
2. Inner-Biblical Exegesis
  • 2.1 Michael Fishbane has argued that the first
    steps toward exegesis begins in the Scriptures
    themselves
  • 1. "The Hebrew Bible (HB) is thus a thick texture
    of traditions received and produced over many
    generations. In the process, a complex dynamic
    between tradition (traditum) and transmission
    (traditio) developed since every act of
    traditio selected, revised, and reconstituted the
    overall traditum. To be sure, the contrast
    between authoritative traditum and ongoing
    traditio is most clear at the close of ancient
    Israelite literature."

13
2. Inner-Biblical Exegesis
  • 2. ". . . the canonical corpus contains a vast
    range of annotations, adaptations, and comments
    on earlier traditions. We call this
    'Inner-Biblical Exegesis'."
  • 3. Scribes ". . . the scribal traditio
    transmitted each traditum to new groups and
    times. It was in the context of this copying that
    clarifications (of words and terms) and other
    considerations (bearing on the theological tone
    or legal consistency) were often introduced. The
    class primarily responsible for such matters were
    the scribes a title attested over centuries for
    different groups."
  • 4. Fishbane's genre divisions Legal, Aggadic
    Mantological

14
3. Collected Works - Canon
  • 3.1 The Era of Pluriformity
  • The period 250 BCE 100 CE was an era when the
    Scriptures were pluriform.
  • The "proto-Masoretic," "proto-Samaritan
    Pentateuch," Old Greek with its Hebrew Vorlage,
    the Greek translational emendations, Targumic
    beginnings, rewritten Bibles, possibly sectarian
    versions (?)
  • Some OT scholars have argued that the "all/every"
    scripture of 2 Timothy 3.16 referred to the
    pluriform state of the Scriptures.

15
3. Collected Works - Canon
  • 3.2 Was a Canon developing?
  • "Use of the Greek term "canon" comes from New
    Testament studies. It is typical of a Christian
    view of the Bible and in addition belongs to a
    very late period in the history of the formation
    of the NT canon, the 4th cent. CE." Julio
    Trebolle Barrera, The Jewish Bible and the
    Christian Bible An Introduction to the History
    of the Bible
  • Jewish scholar, Sid Z. Leiman argues that the
    whole Bible must have been complete by 150 BCE.
  • Roger Beckwith argues that it was during the
    Maccabean period, i.e., 164 BCE.
  • Sundberg Barton Only the Torah closed, while
    Barton argues that the Prophets, etc. were open
    in the NT period.

16
3. Collected Works - Canon
  • 3.3 Different Approaches to the so-called Canon
  • Qumran Community
  • Pharisees
  • Sadducees Samaritans
  • Septuagint with what F. F. Bruce called the
    Septuagint Plus
  • What was the role of the Rewritten Bibles?

17
3. Collected Works - Canon
  • 3.4 What does this Canon Development Mean?
  • The early Christians view the OT as Holy
    Scripture into the second century. However
    problems such as a new Jewish translation to
    rival the Septuagint Marcion and Gnostic
    rejection the OT, forced a renewed thought.
  • ". . . a Christian problematic of the Old and New
    Testament, each isolated from the other, simply
    does not exist. From the outset Christian faith
    puts the question - which engages us to this
    moment - as to how the two Testaments belong
    together."

18
4. Early Jewish Exegesis
  • 4.1 Qumran
  • 1. In everyday life the Qumran community showed
    signs of strict Torah observance and a commitment
    to Scriptural study.
  • 2. Their primary means of exegesis was the
    Pesher
  • 2.1 Timothy Lim has identified 15 text that are
    considered "continuous pesher," "thematic
    pesherim," and other technical works that may be
    considered "pesher."

19
4. Early Jewish Exegesis
  • 2.2 "A type of biblical interpretation found in
    the Qumran scrolls in which selected biblical
    texts are applied to the contemporary sectarian
    setting by means of various literary devices, the
    word pesher (pl. pesharim) may refer either to
    the employment of the technique itself or to a
    genre comprised of a series of such
    interpretations." Berrin

20
4. Early Jewish Exegesis
  • 4.2 Philo of Alexandria
  • 1. Aristobulus as a predecessor of Philo
    (180-145 BCE)
  • Although the literal meaning is primary,
    Aristobulus saw it necessary to use metaphorical
    interpretation at times and argued that the text
    could have multiple meanings.
  • 2. Philo (10 BCE 45 CE)
  • Philo cites the Torah as primary, although his
    Scripture includes the prophets hagiographa.
  • Since he uses the Greek Bible, Sirach and the
    Wisdom of Solomon are quoted.

21
4.2.1 Philo, On the Migration of Abraham
  • There are some who, because they consider the
    literal laws to be symbols of things that pertain
    to the intellect, are extremely attentive to the
    latter but flippantly make light of the former. I
    for one would blame those who treat the literal
    meaning so lightly. For it is necessary to take
    care with both both a more accurate
    investigation of the unseen meanings and to be
    beyond reproach in the way you preserve the
    visible aspects of the text.
  • But instead such individuals act as if they live
    privately in a desert alone or like they have
    become disembodied souls. they do not recognize
    city or village or house or human company at all.
    They overlook what seems important to most people
    and search out the naked truth itself for its own
    sake.
  • The sacred word teaches them to concentrate on
    good reputation and not to abandon anything from
    the customs that were set down by divinely
    inspired men greater than those of our time.
    Certainly the seventh day is a teaching about the
    power of the one who was not created and about
    the passivity of that which is created. But we
    should not abandon those things that have been
    put into force as laws for the seventh day.

22
4. Early Jewish Exegesis
  • 4.2.2 Summary of Philo's Hermeneutics
  • "In this crucial passage, Philo as it were
    summarizes his attitude as an exegete. The
    symbolical, though higher and more important,
    practically never invalidates the literal.
    (Exceptionally, Philo discards the literal
    meaning altogether or allows it only a limited
    role). Philo combines literal and symbolical
    methods of exegesis, stressing symbolism against
    literalists and the literal sense against
    over-spiritualization." Borgen

23
4. Early Jewish Exegesis
  • ". . . Philo's use of "literal" and allegorical
    interpretations represents an extreme exploration
    of what we called the 'symbolic link'. The basic
    rule is things which have something in common
    are ipso facto a reference to each other. Thus
    the whole cosmos becomes a universe of
    cross-references. For modern readers wanting to
    understand Philo it is crucial to free themselves
    from the monopoly of causal thinking which has
    become undisputed since the great successes of
    experimental science. But in ancient thought -
    and in poetry of all times-things may be
    interconnected by a relationship of meaning
    without acting on each other." Siegert

24
Allegorical Exegesis
  • "The chief goal of allegory is to extract the
    profound spiritual sense hidden in the wording of
    a literary production inspired by the Logos, and
    to lay it open to man's understanding.
    Hellenistic Judaism, just as Judaism in the
    Palestinian motherland, set out from the
    inspiration of its Holy Scriptures, and, as the
    example of Philo of Alexandria indicates, made
    expert use of the allegorical method. From that
    point, the allegorization of texts makes its way
    to the New Testament, as shown by Galatians
    4.21-31 and for example, Hebrews 3.6. It is not
    surprising, therefore, that allegory was at once
    taken up in the church and to a degree actually
    gained the mastery." Stuhlmacher

25
4. Early Jewish Exegesis
  • 4.3 Josephus
  • 4.3.1 The Nature of the Bible Josephus Used
  • "The nature of his Vorlage is a huge and still
    unsettled problem some thing that he used
    primarily Greek texts throughout others find
    more evidence of a Semitic source in the early
    books, and so surmise that he only later opted
    for the Greek - perhaps through the weariness of
    translation." Mason Kraft
  • É. Nodet has argued that Josephus utilized a
    Hebrew source that could have been similar to the
    Vorlage of the LXX, along with a Greek text,
    which we may consider as part of the pluriform
    witnesses, for his work on the Pentateuch and
    that it could have been one that came from the
    Jerusalem Temple.
  • Josephus may, in some instances, have consulted
    a Hebrew text or Aramaic targum, but the evidence
    for such Semitic sources, and particularly for
    the use of targum, is slender at best." Attridge

26
4. Early Jewish Exegesis
  • 4.3.2 Rewritten Scriptures
  • 1. "Many of the non-scriptural details in
    Josephus's paraphrase are paralleled in various
    re-writings of Scripture from the Second Temple
    period, such as Jubilees and the Liber
    antiquitatum biblicarum erroneously attributed to
    Philo. Josephus may have used such materials or
    may have relied on oral traditions familiar from
    his youth in Jerusalem or form diaspora
    exegetical traditions. It is clear in any case
    that he was not a slave to any particular
    exegetical tradition, but used a variety of
    sources with a good deal of flexibility."
    Attridge

27
4. Early Jewish Exegesis
  • 2. "Josephus elaborates his sources in various
    ways. He condenses and systematizes non-narrative
    material, such as the legal sections of the
    Pentateuch (3224-86, 419-301), promising a
    fuller treatment of such matters in a planned,
    but never published, work 'On Customs and Causes'
    (3223, 4198, cf. 125, 20268). Similarly,
    prophetic books generally receive very summary
    treatment. Narrative material, suitable as it is
    for Josephus' historical aims, receives more of
    his attention, and he expands it in several
    regular ways." Attridge

28
5. Samaritans their Interpretation
  • 5.1 "The antagonism between Samaritans and Jews
    is reflected in Scriptural exegesis. The tenth
    commandment of the Samaritan Pentateuch (SP),
    which counts the Masoretic commandments as nine
    and adds a composition of Deut 1129-30 and
    272-7 to Exod 2017 (and to Deut 518), is an
    injunction to worship on Mt. Gerizim. In Deut
    1129-30, it is charged that when the Hebrew
    enter the Promised Land, they should set a
    blessing for keeping the law upon Mt. Gerizim and
    a curse for disobeying it on Mt. Ebal. Deut 27
    describes the rite in more detail. According to
    the MT text, the blessing shall be pronounced on
    Mt. Gerizim (2712), but stones inscribed with
    the Law and an altar are to be erected on Mt.
    Ebal (274-5). In the SP, however, Mt. Gerizim is
    the place for th altar and the stones." Fossum

29
5. Samaritans their Interpretation
  • 5.2 "The canon of the Samaritans is the
    Pentateuch alone. For the Jews around the turn of
    our era, the Prophets and the Writings certainly
    did not have the same claim to authority as the
    Torah, so the rejection of the Prophets and the
    Writings on the part of the Samaritans does not
    have to be regarded as being bound up with the
    schism. Like the Samaritans, the Jewish group of
    the Sadducees accepted the Pentateuch only. On
    the other hand, the rejection of the Prophets
    found in the addition to Exod 2018 (SP, v.21 a)
    is clearly anti-Jewish. Here the Samaritans add
    Deut 528b-31 and 1818-22. The latter passage,
    which contains the prophecy of the advent of a
    Prophet like Moses and a warning against false
    prophets, splits the former." Fossum

30
6. Hillel's Middoth
  • 6.1 "Hillel is attributed with seven rules for
    scriptural interpretation, so-called middoth. In
    the beginning of the second century CE, Rabbi
    Ishmael increased the number to thirteen. Later
    we hear about no less than thirty-two middoth."
    Fossum
  • 1. Rule of "light and heavy," is simply an
    application of the ordinary argument "from less
    to greater."
  • 2. Rule of "equivalence," infers a relation
    between two subjects from the occurrence of
    identical expressions.

31
6. Hillel's Middoth
  • 3. Rule of "extension from the special to the
    general."
  • 4. The fourth rule was the explanation of two
    passages by a third.
  • 5. The fifth rule was inference from general to
    special cases.
  • 6. The sixth was explanation from the analogy of
    other passages.
  • 7. The seventh was the application of inferences
    which were self-evident. See Farrar

32
7. Mishnah
  • 7.1 Pre-History
  • 1. No Rabbis before the destruction of the Second
    Temple, leaders of renown are known as Pharisees.
  • 2. The Rabbis are not considered "scribes."
  • 3. The Rabbis replaced the Jewish leadership in
    the wake of a post-Bar Kokhba vacuum.
  • 4. The Rabbinic movement may be considered
    basically non-apocalyptic over against early
    Christianity and the Bar Kokhba debacle.
  • 5. Rabbinic hermeneutics seems to have been
    influence by Hellenism in their analytical
    methodologies. See David Daube, HUCA 22

33
7. Mishnah
  • 7.2 Quotations of Scripture
  • ". . . the simple fact is that the Mishnah
    quotes Scripture relatively rarely. To be
    precise, I count a total of approximately 265
    quotations of Scripture in the Mishnah (excluding
    references to liturgical recitation of Scripture
    and (excluding tractate ?Aboth). There are 517
    chapters in the entire Mishnah (again, excluding
    ?Aboth), meaning that Scripture is quoted only
    slightly more than once every two chapters."
    Kraemer
  • The Mishnah tends to quote Scripture to support
    an argument and not as the subject of exposition.
  • "The rabbis in the Mishnah (as later) do not
    insist upon literal or simple readings of
    Scripture, and their interpretations are
    sometimes quite inventive. . . . The Hillelites
    are less bound by the literal meaning of the
    words, whereas the Shammaites seem to require a
    more literal application of what the words say."

34
7. Mishnah
  • "Perhaps the most overarching principle
    informing rabbinic readings of Scripture, already
    in evidence at this stage, is the assumption
    that, divinely inspired as they are, all of
    Scripture's words, and even individual scriptural
    features, are meaningful." Kraemer

35
Midrash as Interpretative Method
  • "The term Midrash (plural, Midrashim) is used by
    modern scholars in a bewildering variety of ways.
    In the following pages, we use. . . . the term
    only in its traditional senses, to refer either
    to (1) a rabbinic interpretation, virtually
    always of a scriptural word, phrase, or verse,
    which searches, or ferrets out, a meaning which
    is not immediately obvious upon first encounter
    with the text (2) a compilation of such
    interpretations (3) the totality of all rabbinic
    compilations of such interpretations and (4) the
    act of interpreting Scripture in the manner
    described above. We rely on the context to
    establish clearly which meaning we intend."
    Kalmin
  • It is debatable whether Midrash is present in the
    Mishnah.
  • The Midrashic literature co-mingles with a
    proof-texting methodology.

36
8. The Talmud
  • 8.1 "The voluminous body of talmudic literature -
    the Oral Law - is essentially a compilation of
    hermeneutic, interpretative, and analytic
    exegesis of the Bible - the Written Law.
    According to rabbinic tradition, Moses not only
    received the Oral Law on Mount Sinai, but also
    the definitive explanation of the meaning buried
    in the Torah's compact and cryptic literary
    style." Zimel

37
8. The Talmud
  • 8.2 "The Mishnah, Sifra, Yerushalmi, and Bavli
    repeat themselves endlessly, because, they say
    the same thing (respectively) about many things.
    It is that same thing - that is, the
    hermeneutics - that in the Mishnah sets forth one
    set of categories, in Sifra, an account of the
    right modes of taxic conceptualization, in the
    Yerushalmi, an altogether different set of
    categories, and in the Bavli, a vast
    re-presentation of the received categorical
    structure and system, now in a theological
    formulation. The agendum of hermeneutics
    encompasses the issue of the author's - in
    theological context, God's -original meaning in
    revealing the Torah and yields the secular
    question, what do we think the original writer or
    compiler of a given document meant by saying
    things in one way, rather than in some other, and
    how does a single program of thought and
    expression govern the document as a whole."
    Neusner

38
5 Hermeneutical Rule of Bavli
  • 1. Defining the Torah and the Context for Meaning
  • "The Torah consists of free-standing statements,
    sentences, sometimes formed into paragraphs, more
    often not and we are to read these sentences
    both on their own - for what they say - and also
    in the context created by the entirety of the
    Torah, oral and written."

39
5 Hermeneutical Rule of Bavli
  • 2. Specifying the Rule for Making Sense of the
    Torah
  • "The first is that the Torah is perfect and
    flawless. The second is that the wording of the
    Torah yields meaning. The third is that the Torah
    contains, and can contain, nothing contradictory,
    incoherent, or otherwise contrary to common
    sense. The fourth is that the Torah can contain
    no statement that is redundant, banal, silly or
    stupid. The fifth is that our sages of blessed
    memory when they state teachings of the Torah
    stand for these same traits of language and
    intellect sound purpose, sound reasoning, sound
    result, in neat sentences."

40
5 Hermeneutical Rule of Bavli
  • 3. Identifying the Correct Medium of Discourse,
    which is the dialectical argument.
  • "Since our principal affirmation is that the
    Torah is perfect, and the primary challenge to
    that affirmation derives from the named
    classifications of imperfection, the proper mode
    of analytical speech is argument. That is because
    if we seek flaws, we come in a combative spirit
    proof and conflict, not truth and consequence.
    Only by challenging the Torah sentence by
    sentence, at every plausible point of
    imperfection, are we going to show in the
    infinity of detailed cases the governing fact of
    perfection."

41
5 Hermeneutical Rule of Bavli
  • 4. The Harmony of What is Subject to Dispute, the
    Unity and Integrity of Truth.
  • "Finding what is rational and coherent the final
    principle of hermeneutics is to uncover the
    rationality of dispute. Once our commitment is to
    sustained conflict of intellect, it must follow
    that our goal can only be the demonstration of
    three propositions, everywhere meant to govern
    1 disputes give evidence of rationality,
    meaning, each party has a valid, established
    principle in mind 2 disputes are subject to
    resolution 3 truth wins out."

42
5 Hermeneutical Rule of Bavli
  • 5. Knowing God through the theology expressed in
    hermeneutics.
  • "Finally, in a protracted quest for the unity of
    the truth, detailed demonstration that beneath
    the laws is law, with a few wholly coherent
    principles inherent in the many, diverse rules
    and their cases - in that sustained quest, which
    defines the premise and the goal of all talmudic
    discourse the second Talmud's writers maintain,
    is where humanity meets God in mind, in
    intellect, where that meeting takes place in
    accord with rules of reason that govern God and
    humanity alike."

43
9. Targum
  • "Within rabbinic literature, it is the
    Palestinian Targum which we propose as a starting
    point. This text cannot be considered a version,
    but belongs to a very different genre it is much
    closer to Midrash, properly speaking, than to a
    version. It even is probable that it originally
    was a homiletic midrash, or simply a series of
    homilies on Scripture, read in the synagogue
    after the public reading of the Torah . . . .
    During the study of the Jerusalem Targum, it
    became obvious to us that this Targum lies at the
    base of later aggadic tradition, that by serving
    as an immediate extension of scripture given, it
    acts as a sort of hinge, a bridge between the
    Bible and later rabbinic literature, and that it
    represents the starting point, not of the
    midrashic genre as such (which is already present
    in biblical literature), but of Midrash, properly
    so-called, all of whose structure and themes it
    already contains." R. Bloch

44
9. Targum
  • 9.1 Definition "The word targum signifies
    translation and derives from the verb tirgem
    meaning to translate, to explain, or to read
    out (compare Ezra 47) it is a denominative of
    turgeman ( interpreter) to which an Akkadian
    origin is generally attributed." Le Déaut
  • 9.2 Reason "The origin of the Targum is to be
    explained by a double necessity that of
    promoting a knowledge of the Torah among the
    people and, consequently, that of expounding this
    knowledge in a language known to all." Le Déaut

45
9. Targum
  • 9.3 Exegesis "The targum is invariably
    declarative rather than argumentative it never
    cites sources, and it never provides exegetical
    logic. The wide diversity between various
    targums, and the fact that mutually contradictory
    elements may be found within the same targum
    testify to a dynamic conception of interpretation
    that resisted the dogmatic pressures to impose a
    single, 'official' reading and interpretation of
    Scripture. To force this variegated text into a
    dogmatic mould would be procrustean ex
    definitione, for in the Judaism(s) of late
    Antiquity there were neither dogmatic credal
    formulae nor authorities empowered to promulgate
    them. The targum reflects an eclectic use of
    sources, variant purposes to which its midrash
    was put, and flexibility of the genre itself."
    Levine

46
9. Targum
  • "In many respects the targum continues the
    earlier scribal tradition of glosses marginalia
    later incorporated into the biblical text itself.
    Their functions were a) to resolve textual
    difficulties by interpreting obscure words or
    simplifying syntax, b) to harmonize conflicting
    texts, c) to reconcile the biblical text with
    accepted tradition, d) to incorporate specifics
    of Pharisaic-rabbinic Judaism into the text, e)
    to provide specificity to historical, juridical
    or religious allusions, f) to either strengthen
    or mitigate the force of a scriptural passage."
    Levine

47
From the New Testament to the Medieval Church
48
1. New Testament
  • 1.1 "The New Testament authors did not consider
    themselves as writers who provided the holy
    Scripture of Israel with a new conclusion that
    supposedly included an ultimate validity because
    they were proclaiming an ultimately valid
    message. They were firmly convinced, however,
    that their writings had final authority."
    Hübner
  • 1.2 "For the New Testament authors the Scripture
    of Israel was not the Old Testament. The correct
    formulation can only be the New Testament
    authors were theologically dealing with the
    Scripture of Israel which for them exclusively
    was holy Scripture and, thus, the literal word of
    God announcing Christ by divine authority."
    Hübner

49
2. NT Septuagint
  • 2.1 " The problem of the historical and
    theological relation of Old Testament and New
    Testament is, to a large extent, understood as
    the relation between the Biblia Hebraica and the
    Novum Testamentum Graece. It is symptomatic that
    in academic education, the Hebrew original text
    of the Old Testament receives a lot of attention
    in contrast to the Septuagint, the Greek
    translation produced in the Egyptian Alexandria.
    But during the process of translation a certain
    shift occurred toward Hellenistic thinking Based
    on this translation, a considerable Hellenizing
    of the Old Testament cannot be denied, even if
    the extent may be debatable. In the Septuagint
    the spiritual attitude of Hellenistic Judaism in
    the diaspora is expressed one may refer to its
    greater emphasis on universalism." Hübner

50
3. Paul
  • 3.1 ". . . Isaiah 28 (25) Psalms 20 (20)
    Deuteronomy 15 (13) Genesis 15 (12) Exodus 5
    (5) Hosea 4 (3) Leviticus 4 (2) Proverbs 3
    (3) 3 Kings 2 (2) Job 2 (2) Habakkuk 2 (1)
    Malachi 1 (1 Joel 1 (1) furthermore 4 (3)
    quotations which cannot be identified with
    certainty."
  • 3.2 "For him, the Old Testament is the word of
    God which he, indeed, by virtue of the Holy
    Spirit bestowed upon him by God, understands as
    the word of God in messianic promises."
  • 3.3 ". . . Paul could adopt Old Testament
    passages for central issues of his theological
    argumentation in such a way that the
    christological understanding of Old Testament
    passages does not mean denying, but expanding its
    original meaning. Thus Paul places the Old
    Testament passage with its genuinely literal
    meaning in a larger, qualitatively different,
    theological grid. The original literal meaning is
    not negated, but newly understood within the new
    situation of salvation, and thus within a newly
    created reality."

51
4. Mark, Matthew, Lukan John
  • 4.1 Mark "We cannot consider highly enough the
    fact that the Gospel of Mark starts with an Old
    Testament quotation which, as a fulfilment
    quotation, is the theological heading of the
    oldest Gospel."
  • 4.2 Matthew
  • "Regarding its basic concept, the Gospel of Mark
    is more determined by the Old Testament than
    generally assumed. The Gospel of Matthew,
    however, is indisputably the synoptic writing
    whose theological concept is specifically
    expressed in its Old Testament quotations."
  • "At the most we may ask whether the
    evangelist's approach sometimes is typological
    as, for instance, in Matt 215 where he quotes
    Hos 111 as the Son of God, Jesus has
    typologically superceeded Israel which was the
    first son of God."
  • "Regarding the Old Testament adoption by the New
    Testament, the theology of Matthew is
    characterized by a second kind of fulfilment
    besides the christologically interpreted
    fulfilment of the prophets' promises the
    fulfillment of the law which, in Matthew, plays a
    very important role."

52
4. Mark, Matthew, Lukan John
  • 4.3 Lukan
  • "That the evangelist did recognize the text as
    the text of the Septuagint in the hymns can be
    seen in Acts. His phrasing there being naturally
    freer than in the Gospel, he received from the
    Septuagint as his holy Scripture regarding "the
    language material - to present the holy
    apostolic period, in particular in Palestine"."
  • "We can state that the question whether
    something is in accordance with Scripture is an
    essential and central element of the theology of
    the Gospel of Luke. It finds its clear expression
    in the quotations from Scripture and in the
    programmatic, redactional statements of the
    evangelist mentioned above."
  • "Scripture and Scripture interpretation
    necessarily belong together. Only with Christian
    interpretation is Scripture understandable
    Scripture. Also Luke points out that preaching
    and Scripture interpretation are specific to the
    adoption of the Old Testament in the New. Only
    comprehended Scripture is God? holy Scripture!"

53
4. Mark, Matthew, Lukan John
  • 4.4 John
  • "We encounter literal correspondence to the text
    of the Septuagint (however only four exact
    quotations from the Septuagint). Yet
    modifications of this text are clear. Sometimes
    the evangelist possibly referred to the Hebrew
    original, but at other instances neither the
    Septuagint nor the Hebrew Bible can be identified
    as the main influence. It is not always clear
    which passage of the Old Testament was consulted.
    . . ."
  • ". . . we are to conclude that he adopted the
    text of the Septuagint where it fit his
    theological concept, but that he considerably
    changed the text at his own discretion where, for
    the sake of the theological statement, he
    considered it as appropriate, if not as
    inevitable. Therefore by modification of the Old
    Testament text, the evangelist expresses his
    theological or, more precisely, his
    christological concept."

54
5. Hebrews Revelation
  • 5.1 Hebrews "The author of Hebrews, first of
    all, has a christological intention when he
    quotes God speaking. In the context of an
    argumentation of this kind, the function of these
    quotations is to provide proof from Scripture. In
    the other New Testament writings we encounter the
    proof from Scripture as the written word of God
    yet in Hebrews, even though quotations are - of
    course! -written down, we find the proof of the
    spoken word of God. For the author it is beyond
    question that what God says is theologically
    indisputable and, therefore, cannot be
    questioned."
  • 5.2 Revelation "The Revelation of John does not
    have a single formal quotation from the Old
    Testament, but yet like no other book of the New
    Testament it is influenced by the Old Testament
    in terms of language and content. The last book
    of the New Testament can only be fully
    comprehended in its spiritual, religious, and
    theological structure if its content is
    understood in the language of the Old Testament
    and its intentions. In the New Testament, no
    other book is influenced so thoroughly by the Old
    Testament as Revelation, not even the Epistles to
    the Romans or to the Galatians."

55
4 Evangelical Models
  • 1. The full human intent school (W. C. Kaiser,
    Jr.) holds that all that is asserted in the OT
    passage must have been part of the human authors
    intended meaning.
  • 2. The divine intent - human words school (S. L.
    Johnson, J. I. Packer, E. E. Johnson) holds that
    all that is asserted in the OT passage must have
    been intended by God if not by the human author.
  • 3. The historical progress of revelation and
    Jewish hermeneutic school (E. E. Elish, R.
    Longenecker, W. Dunnett) uses historical factors
    in assessing the relationship of OT to NT. The
    event is the key dynamic that leads to the
    realization of the prophetic meaning.
  • 4. The canonical approach and NT priority school
    (B. K. Waltke) holds that the texts intention
    became deeper and clearer as the parameters of
    the canon were expanded. thus the OT is to be
    reread ultimately in the light of the NT.

56
Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. Doing Old Testament
Theology Today
  • 1. "First, one must remember that, compared to
    the OT, the NT has a narrower focus. It is does
    not set aside, revise, or update the OT rather,
    its primary preoccupation is to interpret the
    significance of the Christ-event and to set up
    the fledgling Christian church on a solid
    footing. . . . the point is that the NT does not
    see itself as replacement of the OT, so that
    latter retains full authority for Christians."
  • 2. "Second, however, a well-intentioned desire to
    retain the value of the OT and the unity of the
    testaments should not blind one to the glaring
    differences between them. That is, besides
    fulfilling the OT, the NT goes beyond it."
  • 3. "Most important, Jesus does more that simply
    fulfill OT prophetic hopes - He actually exceeds
    their expectations by radically reforming
    Israels religion and by inaugurating a new era
    of Gods dealings with humanity."

57
Robert L. Hubbard, Jr. Doing Old Testament
Theology Today
  • 4. "Fourth, the principle of analogy is the key
    link that unites the testaments. In other words,
    both share analogous concepts with each other-
    e.g., a self-revealing creator-God, a people of
    God, gifts given to them by God, concepts of
    salvation, etc."
  • 5. Fifth and finally, one must define how Jesus
    Christ relates to the OT since He is the heart of
    the NT. Obviously, Christians regard Him as the
    fulfillment of some OT theological ideas. . . .
    On the other hand, Christ provides a new, final
    interpretive key for the Bible. Christians view
    everything within the Bible from the point of
    view of Christ."

58
Patristics
  • Early Church to Augustine

59
1. Introduction
  • 1.1 "In many respects, Christian literature of
    the period 30-250 CE may be said to be one single
    large commentary on the Scriptures, the Hebrew
    Bible. Judaism was a religion of the holy
    Scriptures." Skaraune
  • "The exegesis of the primitive Christian Church
    was a direct and unself-conscious continuation of
    the type of exegesis practised by ancient Judaism
    in its later period. . . ." Hanson
  • 1.2 Three Main types
  • 1. Proof-text the idea is proving that Jesus is
    the Messiah
  • 2. The Paraenetic Homily.
  • 3. Biblical antiquities.

60
2. Marcion
  • 2.1 "To the heresiologists of later centuries,
    Marcion was the most formidable heretic of the 2d
    century CE. His teaching sprang from a radical
    emphasis upon the discontinuity between
    Christianity and Judaism. The God of Jesus, he
    asserted, was not the same as the God of the
    Hebrew Scriptures. While this ditheism was an
    important element of Marcionism, theological
    innovation was not Marcions hallmark. In fact,
    he was a radical Paulinist who rejected the OT
    writings and organized a church with strong
    ascetic tendencies. The scripture of his church
    comprised one gospel (a version of Luke), ten
    letters of Paul (not including the Pastorals and
    Hebrews), and his own work entitled Antitheses
    - a catalog of contradictions between the
    teaching of Jesus and that of the OT."

61
2. Marcion
  • 2.2 "While not all scholars agree that Marcion
    forced the creation of the Christian canon, we
    cannot deny that his was the first. His influence
    in this matter is manifest in the composition of
    the NT canon that was later to emerge. . . . It
    should be noted that the primary difference
    between Marcions canon and the Christian canon
    is that the former is singular and the latter
    plural." Clabeaux
  • "A conscious step in the direction of diversity
    was taken by anti-Marcionite Christians of the 2d
    and 4th centuries. The vociferous insistence of
    anti-Marcionite Christianity on the validity of
    the OT within the canon is a point which should
    not be missed in our time."

62
2. Marcion
  • 2.3 "The OT set forth, in Marcion's view, not the
    good God of Jesus Christ, but a second divinity,
    the inferior demiurge who made the world . . . .
    The OT promises by this deity refer not to the
    Christians' Christ, but to a warlike messiah whom
    Jews rightly expect. Marcion therefore solved the
    problem of relating the Testaments by cutting the
    knot. . . . It is noteworthy that Marcion,
    eschewing symbolic interpretation, assessed the
    OT as no more than just, but true. He and his
    followers characteristically noted weaknesses and
    inconsistencies in the OT, but their position
    could be presented so as to set the Christian
    above the Jew, but the Jew still well above the
    gentile, with regard to divine illumination."
    Horbury

63
3. Typological Exegesis
  • 3.1 The Method
  • "The spiritual sense (Rev. 11.8) was discerned
    especially by recognition of types and allegories
    (Rom. 5.14, Gal. 4.24). Typology can be said to
    differ from allegorical interpretation in that it
    takes seriously the historical setting of an OT
    law or event type and antitype identify some
    correspondence between different stages in a
    sacred history, whereas allegory elicits timeless
    truth form beneath the veil of the biblical
    letter, which may be regarded as having no
    reference to history." Horbury

64
3. Typological Exegesis
  • 3.2 Irenaeus
  • 1. "For every prophecy, before it comes about, is
    an enigma and a contradiction to men but when
    the time comes, and what was prophesied takes
    place, it receives a most certain exegesis. And
    therefore when the Law is read by Jews at the
    present time, it is like a myth for they do not
    have explanation of everything, which is the
    coming of the Son of God as man. But when it is
    ready by Christians, it is a treasure, hidden in
    the field but revealed by the cross of Christ. .
    . . The true exegesis was taught by the Lord
    himself after his resurrection."

65
3. Typological Exegesis
  • 2. "Irenaeus also formulated the principle that
    obscure passages should be interpreted in the
    light of clear ones. In taking some early Gnostic
    Christian heretics to task for focusing on the
    obscure, he says If anything is clear in
    Scripture, it is that there is only one God who
    created the world through his Word. This is an
    article of scriptural faith which the Gnostics
    denied most vehemently."

66
3. Typological Exegesis
  • 3. "Irenaeus, in his battles against groups on
    the fringes of Christianity who had perverted its
    main teachings, also introduced the idea of
    authoritative exegesis. The true meaning of
    Scripture is invested in the church, where
    apostolic authority was preserved. Although part
    of what he said was true (the church is invested
    with the knowledge of Scriptures meaning), this
    began a long tradition of finding authoritative
    meanings in the early church leaders rather than
    in careful exegesis of the biblical text itself,
    which culminated after the Reformation in the
    Council of Trents affirmations of ecclesiastical
    infallibility." McCartney Clayton

67
4. Allegorical Exegesis
  • 4.1 The Method
  • "The ecclesiastical interpretation of scripture
    which was to draw on this canon of Old and New
    Testament and lift from it the biblical witness
    to truth in service to the church now required a
    method which would penetrate to this spiritual
    witness and at the same time effectually bind the
    biblical literature with the communitys faith.
    This method lay ready to hand in the shape of the
    theory of the multiple or, better,
    multi-dimensional sense of scripture and the
    so-called allegorical exposition yielding this
    sense. Allegorical interpretation was shaped
    since the third century BC in the centers of
    Hellenistic learning, Alexandria and Pergamum . .
    . ." Stuhlmacher

68
4. Allegorical Exegesis
  • 4.2 Clement of Alexandria
  • 1. "Criteria. Clement briefly mentions the
    criteria of interpretation. First, those common
    to all men should be considered. Then comes the
    technical criteria acquired by education. Most
    important, however, are the moral criteria
    avoidance of self-conceit, readiness to
    persevere, and energy of soul to take the canon
    of truth from the truth itself."

69
4. Allegorical Exegesis
  • 2. "Heretics. Surprisingly, perhaps, Clement
    agrees with Tertullian, not that scripture should
    be ruled off limits for heretics, but as least
    that it is barren for them. Heretics wrest
    scripture to suit their desires. Failing to take
    the canon of the truth from the truth and
    falsehood. While using scripture, they come to
    it with their own systems, picking out ambiguous
    phrases... plucking out a few scattered
    utterances, perverting the bare letter as it
    stands. They attend to the words alone, while
    they change the meaning, neither understanding
    them as they are spoken, nor even using in the
    natural sense such extracts as they adduce."

70
4. Allegorical Exegesis
  • 3. Hermeneutical Rules
  • 3.1 Nothing is literally true which is unworthy
    of God.
  • 3.2 No interpretation can be accepted which
    contradicts the Bible as a whole.
  • 3.3 Literal meaning is meant to excite interest
    in understanding deeper meaning. Bromiley
  • 4. Although Clement quoted more from the NT than
    the OT, he clearly recognized its Scriptural
    status in the Theodotian tradition of the
    Septuagint.
  • 4.1 Clement wrote, "There are four ways," he
    writes, "in which we can receive the meaning of
    the Law it may present a type it may show a
    symbol it may lay down a precept for right
    conduct it may pronounce a prophecy" (Strom.
    1.179.4)."

71
4. Allegorical Exegesis
  • 4.3 Origen
  • 1. Assumption 1 Scripture is divinely inspired.
    Therefore
  • 1.1 Its legal precepts are superior
  • 1.2 It is powerful in changing lives
  • 1.3 Biblical prophecy comes true
  • 1.4 Like Jesus, the Bible is divine but in human
    form
  • 1.5 The Bible contains hidden secrets.

72
4. Allegorical Exegesis
  • 2. Assumption 2 Scripture should be interpreted
    according to its nature. Therefore
  • 2.1 Not every text has a literal meaning, but
    every text does have a spiritual meaning.
  • 2.2 The spiritual meaning is not always plain or
    easily understood
  • 2.3 Scripture has a threefold meaning, a body
    (literal meaning), a soul (a psychical meaning
    relating to the will), and a spirit (spiritual
    meaning which speaks of Christ).
  • 2.4 The problems in Scripture are there to hinder
    us from being too enamored of the literal meaning.

73
4. Allegorical Exegesis
  • 3. Origen the OT
  • 3.1 "Origen's contribution to the Christian
    interpretation of the Old Testament was immense.
    He was the first Christian as far as we know to
    attempt to establish an accurate text of the LXX
    by reference to the external criterion of the
    Hebrew original. His production of the Hexapla is
    testimony to the importance he attached to his
    textual endeavours, and indirectly to the
    importance he attached to the OT itself." Paget
  • 3.2 "He was the first Christian to attempt to
    construct a systematic theory of hermeneutics.
    When interpreting the OT, more than any Christian
    writer before him, he saw it as appropriate to
    consult Jewish exegetes . . . ."
  • 3.3 "He was interested in bringing order to the
    discipline of OT exegesis, of establishing
    criteria by which to distinguish a good
    interpretation from a bad one."

74
4. Allegorical Exegesis
  • 3.4 "Origen saw the OT as much more than the
    foreshadowing of events in the NT. While it was a
    shadow of the good things to come, not all those
    good things had in fact come."
  • 3.5 "Origen wrote much more on the OT than the
    NT, and together with the evidence of the Hexapla
    this implies that he probably spent more time
    studying it. The reason for this lay partly in
    the fact that the OT was a much larger body of
    literature. Furthermore, it was a more difficult
    set of texts containing in it much that appeared
    strange and irrelevant. But in assessing why
    Origen wrote so much on the OT, we should not
    lose sight of the context out of which much of
    his extant exegesis emerged. Caesarea was a city
    with a large Jewish population, some of whom were
    Rabbis skilled in the interpretation of
    Scripture."

75
5. The Literal Sense
  • 5.1 Introduction
  • "The importance of types and allegories in second
    and third-century OT exegesis did not overwhelm
    more literal interpretation. It appeared
    negatively in Apelles, but more positively when
    the laws were viewed as having been mandatory in
    their times or indeed as still in force and
    literal interpretation of the promises was
    popular. Gen. 1-3 were likewise commonly taken
    literally, perhaps in rebuttal of gnostic views
    of the cosmogony as well as in accord with the
    hope for the last things. A Refutation of the
    Allegorists by the Egyptian bishop Nepos (about
    240) rebutted spiritualization of the millennium
    (Dan 7.18-27, Rev. 20.3-6), and Denys of
    Alexandria replied On Promises (Eusebius, History
    Eccl. 724, 1-3)." Horbury

76
5. The Literal Sense
  • 5.2 Antiochene School Theodore of Mopsuestia
  • 1. "Unless the NT actually cites the text it is
    not messianic. Allusion is not sufficient to
    establish a text as messianic. Even when the NT
    cites an OT text, it may be only illustrative
    rather than an indication of a messianic meaning
    . . . ." McCartney Clayton, 89-90
  • 2. NT does give indications of actual literal
    fulfilment of OT prophecy.

77
6. Thomas Aquinas
  • 6.1 4-Fold Interpretation
  • 1. Literal
  • 2. Spiritual allegorical moral anagogical
  • 6.2 Rule or Interpretation
  • 1. All Interpretation rests on the Literal
  • 2. We can argue only from the Literal
  • 3. Nothing essential is contained in the
    spiritual sense a passages which is not clearly
    expressed in the literal sense of another.
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