Showing papers on "Exegesis published in 1985"

Biblical Interpretation in Ancient Israel

Abstract: Part 1 Scribal comments and corrections: the role of scribes in the transmission of biblical literature lexical and explicative comments pious revisions and theological addenda. Part 2 Legal exegesis: the scope and content of biblical law as a factor in the emergence of exegesis legal exegesis with verbatim, paraphrastic, or pseudo-citations in historical sources legal exegesis with covert citations in historical sources legal exegesis and explication in the Pentateuchal legal corpora. Part 3 Aggadic exegesis: preliminary considerations aggadic exegesis of legal traditions in the prophetic literature aggadic transformations of non-legal Pentateuchal traditions aggadic exegesis in historiographical literature. Part 4 Mantological exegesis: the shape and nature of mantological material as factors for exegesis the mantological exegesis of dreams, visions, and omens the mantological exegesis of oracles generic transformations. Epilogue.

The Epistle to the Galatians : a commentary on the Greek text

Abstract: F.F. Bruce's study on the Epistle to the Galations is a contribution to The New International Greek Testament Commentary, a series based on the UBS Greek New Testament, which strives to provide thorough exegesis of the text that is sensitive to theological themes as well as to the details of historical, linguistic, and textual context.

Messianism and Septuagint

Abstract: In his book on Royal Messianism, J. Coppens ascertains that the Septuagint shows signs of a developing messianism. When trying to defend the thesis of the "messianizing" character of the LXX, one should avoid arbitrary selections of proof texts. One should not overlook the many passages in the Greek version where a "messianizing" translation might have been expected but where it is not given. Indeed, many Hebrew texts receiving a messianic interpretation in the Targumim are translated literally by the LXX without any added messianic exegesis. The most pronounced messianic interpretation in the Greek text is probably due to Christian influence. The interpretation of the clause largely depends on the options of the exegete faced with the problems of textual and literary criticism in this verse and in the oracle as a whole. This is true for both the MT and the LXX. Keywords: God; Hebrew text; J. Coppens; literary criticism; Royal Messianism; Septuagint

The Politics of Paradise: Augustine's Exegesis of Genesis 1–3 Versus that of John Chrysostom*

Abstract: Is a human being capable of self-government? Christians who defied the Roman government that hounded them as criminals emphatically answered yes. Early Christian spokesmen, like Jews before them and the American colonists long after, claimed to find in the biblical creation account divine sanction for declaring their independence from governments they considered corrupt and arbitrary. Unlike its Babylonian counterpart, the Hebrew creation account of Genesis 1 indicates that God gave the power of earthly rule to adam—not to the king or emperor, but simply to “mankind” (and some even thought this might include women). Most Christian apologists from the first through the fourth centuries would have agreed with Gregory of Nyssa who, following the lead of rabbinic tradition, explains that after God created the world “as a royal dwelling place for the future king” he made humanity “as a being fit to exercise royal rule” by making it “the living image of the universal King.”

Muhammad and Joseph: A Study of Koranic Narrative

Abstract: THE twelfth si~ra of the Koran is unique. It is the only one of the lengthy chapters which develops a single theme. The unity of the theme's treatment indicates, moreover, that, unlike the other chapters of any length, this one is not, for the most part, a composite. It is, therefore, the Koran's longest continuous narrative. In telling the story of Joseph, the son of the Hebrew patriarch Jacob, it is also the Koran's most comprehensive treatment of any specifically biblical subject. The Joseph story in the Koran follows the basic outline of the Genesis narrative, although it is not identical to it.' It begins with young Joseph's dream of the sun, moon, and stars, rather than his birth. It ends with Joseph's reunion, in Egypt, with his aged father and does not portray, as Genesis does, the further relations with his brothers and his death. Within the parallel sections of the two versions there are marked differences but, with few exceptions, they are not incompatible. The purpose of this study is to examine the Joseph story in the context of Muhammad's prophetic mission. During the late Meccan period, Joseph became a relevant and significant model for Muhammad. A careful exegesis of this story, then, should provide an insight into the Prophet's developing consciousness of the role he was to play in the divine plan.

Preaching the Word

Abstract: Preachers' keys to the Bible In a treatise on the art of preaching devised by a Dominican in the late Middle Ages nine methods of expanding the subject-matter of a sermon are suggested: concordance of authorities, discussion of words, explanation of the properties of things, multiplication of senses, the use of analogies with things in the natural world, pointing out opposites, making comparisons, interpretation of names, multiplication of synonyms. These are all, as we have seen, techniques in common use in exegesis and their adaptation for the purposes of preaching underlines the exegetical nature of preaching as it had developed on patristic models in the earlier Middle Ages. The homilies of Augustine and Gregory the Great were systematic, if highly varied, commentaries on selected books of the Bible. Guibert of Nogent and Bernard of Clairvaux took the book of Genesis or the Song of Songs in a similar way and interpreted it for their listeners piece by piece. Gregory the Great had made much of the comparison of one text with another drawn from elsewhere in Scripture, the examination of the variety of meanings a word may have, the use of analogies with the natural world, the multiplication of senses – many of the devices our Dominican author recommends, but used freely as they seemed to be needed. A glance at the advice given by Humbert of Romans earlier in the history of the Order on the materials with which the preacher should familiarise himself, gives a picture of the variety of matter which proved to be relevant and at the same time the academic pressure which the preaching purpose of their studies put on mendicant students of the Bible:

Principles of Patristic Exegesis: Romans 9–11 in Origen, John Chrysostom, and Augustine. By Peter Gorday. Studies in the Bible and Early Christianity 4. New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 1983. xvii + 403 pp. $59.95.

Abstract: deemed \"heretical.\" He views Origen as one of only two Christian theologians (Paul being the other) who, at an uncertain moment in the church's development, presented \"an all-encompassing religious vision\" (p. 8) that both interpreted religious experience for his contemporaries and shaped the entire later Christian tradition. Origen's subtle response to the problems posed by Gnosticism, Platonism, and Judaism was that of a thinker for whom \"take it on faith\" was an unsatisfactory answer. Trigg shows how the chill austerity of Origen's asceticism was raised up into a larger vision of God's patient beneficence that (for Origen) assured the ultimate salvation of the universe. The grandeur of Origen's optimistic faith is presented in a stirring but simple fashion in Trigg's highly readable book. Although the book is organized chronologically, the reader is presented with much more than a sketch of Origen's life, for Trigg skillfully weaves into his narrative a wealth of detail on subjects as diverse as the economy of Alexandria and controversies over the dating of Easter. Especially commendable is the author's concentration on Origen's biblical scholarship and commentaries, usually less familiar to American and British students than his theological and apologetic works. A concluding chapter which briefly summarizes the influence of Origen (and the fate of his reputation) from the third century onward illustrates Trigg's premise that \"we must understand Origen to understand the development of Christian thought\" (p. 245). The coherence and clarity of the book fittingly complements Trigg's theme, the coherence of Origen's thought.

Tradition et modernité au XVIIe siècle. L'exégèse biblique des protestants français

Abstract: Tradition and Modernity on the 17th Century : Biblical Exegesis of the French Protestants ; ; The rapid change from a classical-medieval culture to "modern" culture can only be understood if one takes into account scientific and political practises in the early seventeenth century (1620-1670). Based on a study of the exegetical work of the "Saumur group", the author shows how such practises modified the awareness of Western scholars in their understanding of the Bible. On the one hand, efforts to clarify the literal meaning of the Scriptures resulted in showing that the sacred texts also possessed its own history and which history alone could explain. On the other hand, the appeal to natural law as a basis for peaceful coexistence between rival Christian churches minimized the value of political models contained in the Old Testament and Apocalypse and limited these prophetic texts to a mere historical explanation. In order to understand the origins and consequences of this evolution, which gathered speed during the Enlightenment, it is essential to combine the history of the science of texts with that of mentalities.

“hoe kun je de heidenen verplichten alsjoden televen?”: paulus en de torah in galaten 2,11–21

Abstract: The exegesis of Gal. 2,11–21 is plagued by three problems, which resist the efforts of the specialists to solve them. The first problem is the meaning of “through the law”, when Paul states in v. 1...

Philosophical Exegesis in Historical Perspective: The Case of the Binding of Isaac

Abstract: As it surveys Jewish philosophers’ readings of Genesis 22 from Saadya to Isaac Arama, Seymour Feldman’s ‘The Binding of Isaac: A Test-Case of Divine Foreknowledge’ aptly demonstrates how biblical exegesis served the needs of medieval rationalists.1 Jewish thinkers exploited the account of God’s testing of Abraham as an appropriate context within which to focus on the theological dilemma of divine omniscience vs. human freedom, and they invariably interpreted the biblical story to suit their respective arguments on the issue. Professor Feldman’s essay not only sheds light on Jewish formulations of the doctrine of divine foreknowledge, but also illuminates the important affinity between the medieval religious philosopher and the Bible. We have before us a valuable illustration of the omnipresent spectre of Scripture in the medieval mind and the preoccupation of even the rationalist with the sacred folk literature of his people.2

Unity and Diversity in Luther's Biblical Exegesis: Psalm 51 As a Test-Case

Abstract: Most of the standard treatments of Martin Luther's biblical exegesis move deductively: general propositions are enunciated (e.g., Holy Scripture as its own interpreter; all correct interpretation standing under the rule of the analogy of faith, construed Christocentrically) and are then supported with extracts from the Weimar Ausgabe or Luther's Works. Genuinely instructive as such a procedure can be, its total effect is often a rather ‘flat’ or undifferentiated presentation of Luther's biblical interpretation throughout his career. Perhaps some of the dimensions of the subject — the unity and diversity, the constancy and development — would become clearer were we to adopt a more inductive procedure: to examine, compare, and contrast three different specimens of Luther's exegesis of a single text.

Guibert of Nogent and Gregory the Great on Preaching and Exegesis

Abstract: 0 MANY MEDIAEVAL SCHOLARS Gregory the he Great was Gregorius ntJster, rather as Virgil among he Roman poets was the familiar Virgilius noster.1 He became perhaps the most significant single influence upon the detailed working out in the West of the system of interpretation adumbrated in the writings of Origen and Augustine and involving literal, allegorical and moral senses and the ana.gogical sense. Gregory also supplied a vast stock of material for interpreting specific texts, from which scholars borrowed freely for a millenium.2 Gregory became something of a patron for Guibert of Nogent towards the end of the eleventh century, when his mother sent him to school with his harsh and insistent tutor on the feast day of Gregory himself .3 Guibert speaks of other Fathers, too: Jerome, Gregory Nazianzus, Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea.4 But Gregory the Great remained a special influence upon him, not least because, as he explains, Gregory was instrumental in helping him make the change of habit in his reading which turned him from a secular to a Christian scholar.5 He says that Gregory holds the keys of the 'art' of exegesis; all its traditional rules are set out in its commentaries

The exegesis of Romans 5:12 among the Greek Fathers and its implications for the doctrine of original sin: the 5th-12th centuries

Abstract: Fin| les Peres et theologiens grecs n'ont pas la doctrine du peche originel telle qu'elle fut elaboree en Occident| leur interpretation de Romains 5, 12 est tres variee

The Binding of Isaac: A Test-Case of Divine Foreknowledge

Abstract: The commentary is a particular favorable mode of Jewish literary expression. Shortly after the last biblical book, The Book of Daniel, had been written, the Commentary on the Book of Habbakuk was composed; this work, which is perhaps the first known biblical commentary, was discovered several decades ago amongst the Dead Sea scrolls of the Qumran library.1 Not too long afterwards the roots of biblical exegesis were firmly entrenched both in Judea and in Jewish Alexandria. In the latter community a type of exegesis emerged whose first specimen was to be the progenitor of a genre which will have a long and diverse career: the philosophical commentary. Philo of Alexandria wrote more than a score of books in the form of biblical commentaries, in which both the language and ideas of Greek philosophy were used to explain the biblical text. In Judea, however, a different mode of biblical exegesis was being developed. Instead of seeing the Bible as the source of esoteric philosophical meanings, the Rabbis used and read the biblical text for legal and homiletical instruction. Eventually a whole body of rabbinical midrash upon the Bible was created that has served as a paradigm for a different type of commentary.2 In this essay I shall focus on the style of exegesis introduced by Philo, but I shall make use of several medieval examples of this philosophical mode of biblical commentary.

Is There a Place for Theology in the Exegesis of the Hebrew Bible

Abstract: Les presupposes theologiques dans la pratique exegetique. L'A. examine successivement l'exegese de: Origene, Jerome, Andre de Saint-Victor, Herbert de Bosham, Richard Simon. Il esquisse les caracteristiques de l'Ecole scandinave et fait part enfin de ses reflexions personnelles, en tant que commentateur du livre de Jeremie.