Old Testament Introduction

1
Old TestamentIntroduction

• History
• Methodology

2
Critical Study of the O.T.
3
Critical Study of the O.T.

• History of Research
• Origen (c. 185-254)
• Commentaries
• Hexapla

4
Critical Study of the O.T.
From http//www.tetragrammaton.org/tetrafig11.gif
5
Critical Study of the O.T.

• History of Research
• Jerome (c. 347-420)
• Translations and commentaries

6
Critical Study of the O.T.

• History of Research
• Augustine (c. 354-430))
• 7 days of creation

7
Critical Study of the O.T.

• History of Research
• Protestant reformers
• Martin Luther
• sola scriptura

8
Critical Study of the O.T.

• History of Research
• Protestant reformers
• John Calvin
• waters above the heavens

9
Critical Study of the O.T.

• History of Research
• Nineteenth Century Following
• Biblical Scholarship moved out of the umbrella of
  church authority.
• Critical scholars of the 18th and 19th centuries
  did not cease to be people of faith who believed
  in authoritative scripture.

10
Critical Study of the O.T.

• History of Research
• Eichhorn, Einleitung in das Alte Testament
  (1780-1783)
• De Wette, 1806-1807, the laws of the OT had grown
  up over centuries
• Rogerson called this a radical turn in critical
  scholarship that has affected the discipline ever
  since.

11
Critical Study of the O.T.

• History of Research
• Julius Wellhausen
• Prolegomena to the History of Israel

12
Critical Study of the O.T.

• Faith, Fundamentalism, Critical Methods
• Does Critical study of the OT preclude faith in
  God, Jesus, and the truth of scripture?

13
Critical Study of the O.T.

• Faith, Fundamentalism, Critical Methods
• Everyone falls on a
  continuum of
  literalness

14
Critical Study of the O.T.

• The Bible is primarily a book of faith, not
  history or science! ??

15
Critical StudyMethods

• World behind the Text
• Historical Criticism
• Textual Criticism
• Redaction Criticism
• Source Criticism
• Form Criticism

16
Critical StudyMethods

• World of the Text
• Canonical Criticism
• Narrative Criticism
• Rhetorical Criticism
• Modern Cultural Methodologies
• Liberation
• Feminist

17
Critical StudyMethods

• World in front of the text
• Reader-Response Criticism

18
Methods

• A Missional Reading

19
History Historiography
20
History Historiography

• The OT does not contain
• the
• history of ancient Israel!

21
History Historiography

• Historiography
• Western assumptions of history writing
• Chronological
• Systematic
• Objective

22
History Historiography

• The reality is that
• History writing is both exclusive interpretive

• Orwell, 1984
• Who controls the past, controls the future
• Who controls the present controls the past.

23
Archaeology Chronology

• Has archaeology proven the Bible to be true?
• The walls of Jericho
• The Dead Sea Scrolls

24
Archaeology Chronology

• In every instance where the findings of
  archaeology pertain to the Biblical record, the
  archaeological evidence confirms, sometimes in
  detailed fashion, the historical accuracy of
  Scripture. In those instances where the
  archaeological findings seem to be at variance
  with the Bible, the discrepancy lies with the
  archaeological evidence, i.e., improper
  interpretation, lack of evidence, etc.not with
  the Bible (Bryant Wood, http//www.christiananswe
  rs. net/archaeology/).

25
Archaeology Chronology

• Preachers (and seminary professors!) do not need
  to produce more controversy or drive a greater
  wedge between themselves and the scientific and
  academic community at large.

26
World View of OT
27
World View of OT

• Boundaries
• God is holy, set apart by an invisible boundary.

28
World View of OT

• Magic
• Gideons fleece, casting lots, sacred
  prostitution, and dancing prophets

29
World View of OT

• Social Organization
• Tribe and Family
• Nation

30
OT Theology

• Biblical theology
• progressive revelation or winding quest
• W. Eichrodt
• Gerhard von Rad
• Biblical Theology Movement