Meditating on Scripture

11/30/04

TH 291

Introduction

• Augustine probably preached every day
• Black was trained in historical-critical method but is definitely concerned with the nourishment (tends to soul) by scripture
• idea: pay attention to pre-modern commentaries for ways that scripture nourishes people

Clifton Black - Introduction

• history of scriptual interpretation
• reading behind significant figures of the church (Augustine, Anselm, Aquinas, Luther, Calvin)
• 20^th century biblical scholarship is not theologically-focused
• Enlightenment – brought good and not so good things
• separation of academia from church gave the academic world free reign
• Aquinas – recovery of Aristotle saw beginning of this
• Augustine
• if lived in age of historical criticism was normal, he would have neither embraced with open arms or neglect it. He would have asked how can it be baptized so that we can better know God?
• Augustine – if we were perfect, then we would not need scripture
• disposition to be teachable, moldable by the Holy Spirit
• not to approach scripture with hermeutic of suspicion – what dirty secrets can we find?
• barely any scholars talk in this way now, but Augustine was a scholar
• patristic interpretation
• 18^th century historical criticism – focus on the first category
• other senses do exist but tend to get cut out of the historical-critical enterprise
• mid-18^th century onward – when other senses of Scripture were disregarded, they were replaced with atheological senses
• examples – Johannine exegesis of late 20^th century has been trying to find the Johannine community (social pressures, religious dynamic) that provided the Gospel of John.
• the more ambitious the theories, the more allegorical they become
• all of the gospels it is guesswork as to the audience
• Jesus said X, it is message from Johannine community to opposition – that is one example
• * exegetical interpretation sets the pace, not the Scripture itself
• Biblical studies – repackage questions in order to bracket out questions
• historical-criticism must be used with care
• scholars didn’t discover history in the 18^th century
• fine scholars knew that there were historical issues
• Luther – 15^th century – I don’t see a clear chronlogy of events. I see a string of stories. He is a form critic 500 years before we have a name for it.

Questions and Answers

1. Spiritual exegesis vs Academic exegesis?

· issue: privatization – unless it means something to me then it doesn’t mean anything

· issue: small groups come up with weird stuff because it doesn’t come out of a wider theological context

· privatizm – where is your ecclesiality in that?

· American Christianity

· Habits of the Heart (me and God)

2. Example authors and scholars who do exegesis separate from historical-critical method but is still academically grounded?

· New Interpretor’s Bible – tried to find people that were schooled in mainline scholarship as it is done in the world today

o 1950s separated the work – one for exegesis, one for application

o new interpretor’s bible – combined exegesis and commentary for each scholar

o designed for people who preach and teach in the church

3. Will Biblical scholars become bored with historical-critical tradition?

· some already are bored

· miss the point – we end up focusing on “me” in our gender, cultural, social areas instead of focusing on God

· human triumphalism will eventually fail or it will not serve to nourish

4. Will post-modern thinking force us to go back to pre-modern or can we build upon what we have come through?

· build upon

· take the best

5. d