"Behind" the Text: History and Biblical Interpretation

by Editors Craig Bartholomew, C. Stephen Evans, Mary Healy, Murray Rae

• ISBN13: 9780310234142
• ISBN10: 031023414X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-12-01
• Publisher: Zondervan

Summary

Christianity believes in a God who acts in history. The Bible tells us the story of God's actions in Israel, culminating in the ministry of Jesus of Nazareth and the spreading of the gospel from Jerusalem to Rome. The issue of history is thus unavoidable when it comes to reading the Bible Volume 4 of the Scripture and Hermeneutics Series looks at how history has dominated biblical studies under the guise of historical criticism. This book explores ways in which different views of history influence interpretation. It considers the implications of a theology of history for biblical exegesis, and in several case studies it relates these insights to particular texts. "Few topics are more central to the task of biblical interpretation than history, and few books open up the subject in so illuminating and thought-provoking a manner as this splendid collection of essays and responses." Hugh Williamson, Regius Professor of Hebrew, University of Oxford, England ". . . breaks new ground in its interdisciplinary examination of the methodology, presuppositions, practices and purposes of biblical hermeneutics, with a special emphasis on the relation of faith and history." Eleonore Stump, Robert J. Henle Professor of Philosophy, Saint Louis University, United States "This volume holds great promise for the full-fledged academic recovery of the Bible as Scripture. It embodies an unusual combination of world-class scholarship, historic Christian orthodoxy, bold challenges to conventional wisdom, and the launching of fresh new ideas." Al Wolters, Professor of Religion and Theology, Redeemer University College, Ontario, Canada "The essays presented here respect the need and fruitfulness of a critical historiography while beginning the much-needed process of correcting the philosophical tenets underlying much modern and postmodern biblical research. The result is a book that mediates a faith understanding, both theoretical and practical, of how to read the Bible authentically as a Christian today." Francis Martin, Chair, Catholic-Jewish Theological Studies, John Paul II Cultural Center, Washington, D.C. Not only is history central to the biblical story, but from a Christian perspective history revolves around Jesus Christ. All roads of human activity before Christ lead up to him, and all roads after Christ connect with him. A concern with history and God's action in it is a central characteristic of the Bible. The Bible furnishes us with an account of God's interactions with people and with the nation of Israel that stretches down the timeline from creation to the early church. It tells us of real men, women, and children, real circumstances and events, real cultures, places, languages, and worldviews. And it shows us God at work in human affairs, revealing his character and heart through his activities. "Behind" the Text examines the correlation between history and the Bible. For the scholar, student, and informed reader of the Bible, this volume highlights the importance of history for biblical interpretation, and looks at how history has and should influence interpretation.

Table of Contents

Contributors	xiii
Acknowledgements	xvi
Abbreviations	xvii
The Artists	xix
Exodus 1952-66 by Marc Chagall	xxi
Introduction	1	(1)
Craig G. Bartholomew
Introduction: Chagall's Exodus and the Swart-Benjamin Reworking	1	(1)
The Twists and Turns to the Present	2	(10)
Content of this Volume	12	(7)
Historical Criticism - Critical Assessments
Two (or More) Kinds of Scripture Scholarship	19	(39)
Alvin Plantinga
Scripture Divinely Inspired	20	(3)
Traditional Christian Biblical Commentary	23	(4)
Historical Biblical Criticism	27	(13)
Why Are Not Most Christians More Concerned?	40	(10)
Nothing to Be Concerned About	50	(5)
Concluding Coda	55	(3)
Warranted Biblical Interpretation: Alvin Plantinga's `Two (or More) Kinds of Scripture Scholarship'	58	(21)
Craig G. Bartholomew
Introduction	58	(1)
Philip Davies and Epistemology and Biblical Interpretation	59	(5)
Postmodernism, Classical Foundationalism and Biblical Interpretation	64	(2)
Plantinga and Warranted Christian Belief	66	(2)
Warranted Biblical Interpretation?	68	(3)
Quo Vadis?	71	(8)
A Warranted Version of Historical Biblical Criticism? A Response to Alvin Plantinga	79	(13)
Robert P. Gordon
The Principal Author	81	(3)
The Value of HBC	84	(4)
Whence Came HBC?	88	(1)
In Conclusion	89	(3)
Reason and Scripture Scholarship: A Response to Robert Gordon and Craig Bartholomew	92	(9)
Alvin Plantinga
Do You Want Us to Listen to You?	101	(30)
Peter van Inwagen
Introduction	101	(3)
Critical Studies of the New Testament and the User of the New Testament	104	(27)
Taking Soundings: History and the Authority of Scripture: A Response to Peter van Inwagen	131	(10)
Colin J.D. Greene
Introduction	131	(1)
Historical Reliability: What Does It Mean and How Should It Be Assessed?	132	(2)
Arguments Used to Circumvent the Difficulties Surrounding the Notion of Historical Reliability	134	(2)
Does the Authority of the New Testament Depend upon the Notion of Historical Reliability?	136	(5)
Which Conversation Shall We Have? Histry, Historicism and Historical Narrative in Theological Interpretation: A Response to Peter van Inwagen	141	(10)
Joel B. Green
`Users', `Critical Studies' and `History'	142	(3)
Reframing History	145	(6)
Historical Criticism of the Synoptic Gospels	151	(30)
William P. Alston
Introduction	151	(3)
The Criterion of Dissimilarity	154	(2)
Bultmann and the Jesus Seminar	156	(6)
A Critique of the Criterion of Dissimilarity	162	(9)
Other Uses of the Criterion	171	(1)
Arguments from Traditional Wisdom and Earlier Literature	172	(4)
Appeals to What Is Most Memorable	176	(3)
Conclusion	179	(2)
Behind, in Front of ... or Through the Text? The Christological Analogy and the Lost World of Biblical Truth	181	(15)
Mary E. Healy
Kant and the Failed Quest for Historical `Being-in-Itself'	182	(2)
The Mediating Function of Narrative	184	(3)
The Vertical Dimension of Biblical Narrative and Its Implications for Exegesis	187	(3)
Biblical Inspiration and the Christological Analogy	190	(6)
The Place of History in Catholic Exegesis: An Examination of the Pontifical Biblical Commission's The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church	196	(33)
Peter S. Williamson
Introduction	196	(4)
Catholic Exegesis and History	200	(9)
The Pontifical Biblical Commission and the Historical-Critical Method	209	(8)
Evaluation	217	(12)
Rethinking History
Knowing and Believing: Faith in the Past	229	(38)
Iain W. Provan
The Scientific Model of Historiography	231	(6)
The Scientific Model of Historiography Reviewed	237	(6)
Testimony, Tradition and the Past	243	(10)
Knowing about the History of Israel	253	(9)
Conclusion	262	(5)
Creation and Promise: Towards a Theology of History	267	(36)
Murray A. Rae
Introduction	267	(1)
Disengagement from History in Western Thought	268	(11)
History and Hermeneutics	279	(4)
Towards a Theology of History	283	(1)
The Doctrine of Creation	284	(3)
God at Work in Israel: Promise and Fulfilment	287	(8)
History and Hermeneutics Revisited	295	(8)
Tradition and History
The Conflict of Tradition and History	303	(17)
Walter Sundberg
Goethe's Observation	303	(1)
The Conflict of Tradition and History	304	(7)
Søren Kierkegaard	311	(9)
Tradition, Biblical Interpretation and Historical Truth	320	(19)
C. Stephen Evans
Is There Such a Thing as the Rule of Faith?	321	(3)
Is Interpreting by the Rule of Faith Consistent with Sola Scriptura?	324	(3)
Is Interpretation by the Rule of Faith Viciously Circular?	327	(12)
History and Narrative
Ricœur on History, Fiction, and Biblical Hermeneutics	339	(24)
Gregory J. Laughery
Introduction	339	(2)
History and Historical Discourse	341	(3)
Historical Discourse and Fictional Literature: The Turn to Literature	344	(8)
Historical Discourse, Fictional Literature and the Bible	352	(4)
Conclusion	356	(7)
(Pre) Figuration: Masterplot and Meaning in Biblical History	363	(34)
David Lyle Jeffrey
Narrative Structure, Historigraphy and World-View	365	(4)
Meaning and History	369	(4)
Biblical Metanarrative and Historiography	373	(9)
Vernacular Literary Undrstanding as Interpretation	382	(15)
History and Biblical Interpretation
Reconstructing and Interpreting Amos's Literary Prehistory: A Dialogue with Redaction Criticism	397	(46)
Karl Moller
From Amos's Ipsissima Verba to the Book's Literary Prehistory	398	(12)
Sherlock Holmes or Dr Watson? Some Reflections on the Quest for Amos's Literary Prehistory	410	(20)
Has the Handmaiden Overreached Herself?	430	(13)
What Lesson Will History Teach? The Book of the Twelve as History	443	(27)
Christopher R. Seitz
Context	443	(2)
Gerhard von Rad	445	(2)
The Twelve	447	(3)
Transition	450	(1)
How to Introduce the Prophets?	451	(3)
The Shape of the Twelve	454	(11)
Final Remarks	465	(5)
Divine Speaking as Godly Action in Old Testament Narrative: The Metaphysics of Exodus 14	470	(22)
Neil B. MacDonald
Introduction	470	(4)
Divine Speech the Key to God the Self-Determining Self: Karl Barth on the Priestly Creation Narrative	474	(7)
From Exodus to Promised Land: Yhwh the Judging yet Forbearing Divine Identity	481	(3)
The Reed Sea Narrative	484	(1)
Divine Speaking as Divine Action	485	(4)
Conclusion	489	(3)
Inhabiting the Story: The Use of the Bible in the Interpretation of History	492	(29)
Stephen I. Wright
Introduction	492	(3)
Inhabiting Biblical Narrative	495	(3)
Escaping the Anxieties of Interpretation	498	(8)
Figural Interpretation Today	506	(10)
Conclusion	516	(5)
University of Gloucestershire	521	(1)
The British and Foreign Bible Society	522	(2)
Baylor University	524	(1)
Scripture Index	525	(4)
Names Index	529	(8)
Subject Index	537