The Ethical Turn in Biblical Studies

Church History, 2006

Scottish Journal of Theology, 1997

Religions, 2019

This special issue of Religions focuses on seven of the most important formal methods used to interpret the New Testament today. Several of the articles also touch on Old Testament/Hebrew Bible interpretation. In line with the multiplicity of methods for interpretation of texts in the humanities in general, biblical study has never before seen so many different methods. This situation poses both opportunities and challenges for scholars and students alike. This issue contains contributions by a mix of established scholars and younger scholars who have recently demonstrated their expertise in a certain method. Some articles will be easily accessible only to biblical scholars, but most will be accessible and instructive for beginning-and intermediate-level students of the Bible. I hope that the free-access essays offered here will become required reading in many universities and seminaries. The readership statistics displayed with each article, with information about how they have been read since their online publication here, show that they already have a wide appeal. I want to thank these authors for their contribution to this issue and for working so well with me and indirectly with the anonymous peer reviewers. Here, adapted from their abstracts, are brief introductions to their articles. Michele A. Connolly's article, "Antipodean and Biblical Encounter: Postcolonial Vernacular Hermeneutics in Novel Form," gives a post-secular exploration of what the Bible offers to modern-day Australia. She maintains that Australian culture, despite its secularity, has a capacity for spiritual awareness in ways that resonate with the Bible. Connolly employs R. S. Sugirtharajah's concept of "vernacular hermeneutics" to show that a contemporary Australian novel, The Shepherd's Hut by Tim Winton, expresses an Australian spirituality saturated with the images and values of the New Testament, but in a non-religious literary form that needs interpretation for a secular audience. Connolly's creative and fascinating article speaks not only to the Australian context but can serve as a model for the intersection of postcolonial biblical criticism and contemporary literature from many parts of the post-Christian world. "A Deep-Language Mathematical Analysis of Gospels, Acts and Revelation," by Emilio Matricciani and Liberato De Caro, offers a different kind of statistical analysis of the New Testament than scholars may be familiar with. It uses mathematical methods developed for studying what the authors call deep-language parameters of literary texts, for example, the number of words per sentence, the number of characters per word, the number of words between interpunctions (punctuation within sentences), and the number of interpunctions per sentence. Matricciani and De Caro consider, in concert with generally-accepted conclusions of New Testament scholarship, the full texts of the canonical Gospels, Acts and Revelation, then the Gospel passages attributable to the triple tradition (Matthew, Mark and Luke), to the double tradition (Matthew and Luke), to the single tradition in Matthew and Luke, and to the Q source. The results confirm and reinforce some common conclusions about the Gospels, Acts, Revelation, and Q source, but the authors show that they cast some new light on the capacity of the short-term memory of the readers/listeners of these texts. The authors posit that these New Testament writings fit very well in the larger Greek literature of the time. For readers unaccustomed to using

The literary approach to the Hebrew bible can and should take its own stature seriously by reflecting every now and then upon its own underpinnings. It takes the stand that the bible is literature and does not want to waste its energy on the option of "the bible as literature". The latter option regards literariness as just one aspect of the bible among many, like the religiohistorical, the historical, the moral or the theological aspects, and implies that the reader is free either to pay attention to the literary properties of the text or to pass over them in an attempt to come to grips with "the real contents". Up-to-date text research, however, no longer believes that we are justified in imposing a dichotomy of form and content upon the texts and that we are able to discard the literary quality like a piece of clothing. More and more close analyses are becoming available nowadays that show us how units of almost any genre in the bible are shaped as artifacts and that the ancient authors used their literary skill at any given level of composition. From this we may infer that the prose writers and the poets of hymns and laments, wisdom and love poetry considered the well-polished and very carefully designed literary text as the most powerful form of language and as the most effective way of communicating what they wanted to convey to their audience.

Journal of Adventist Mission Studies, 2005

2020

When two of Jesus’ disciples were on their way to Emmaus, sadly discussing the events of the last three days, they were clearly dealing with a hermeneutical problem. They were not able to interpret Scriptures correctly concerning the death and resurrection of their Lord. As Jesus joined them on their way, he helped them as a true hermeneut, “[interpreting] to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself” (Luke 24:13-28). This small incident demonstrates several crucial aspects concerning biblical hermeneutics: (a) the Bible needs to be interpreted; (b) Christ is to be found in all of Scripture; (c) although we can be familiar with Scripture, we can fail to understand or apply it correctly; (d) personal and cultural biases can distort Scripture (Luke 24:21a); (e) man on his own is unable to interpret Scripture correctly without divine help; and (f) Scripture is God’s infallible word. Biblical hermeneutics, therefore, are serious business, possibly resulting in either confusion and misunderstanding, or in healthy faith and guidance (Luke 24:32). Herein lies the problem. Although Scripture testifies of its own infallibility and divine inspiration (2 Tim. 3:16), there is no “cookbook-recipe-like” specification of how correct hermeneutics should be conducted. Therefore, because culture affects all attempts at interpretation, many methods have been developed and applied since the beginning of Biblical hermeneutics; some better, and some worse. Ramm (1970) emphasized: "There is no profit to us if God has spoken and we do not know what He has said“ and concludes “that we need to know the correct method of Biblical interpretation so that we do not confuse the voice of God with the voice of man". This essay is concerned with the development of how evangelicalism interprets the Bible from the Enlightenment to the present. It is quite useful to also investigate this from the Reformation onwards to the emergence of Evangelicalism, since these developments in Biblical hermeneutics are the beginning of Evangelicalism's attempt to interpret Scriptures. The essay will then continue with a short introduction on the Enlightenment, followed by a presentation of four scholars who were important for Biblical criticism. After that, the developments in the 19th and 20th Centuries will be investigated. The study of hermeneutics is not an exact science and its developments are diverse and manifold. Therefore, it is only possible to present a limited survey. However, the main key data will be presented.

Religion and Theology, 2005

churches are renamed and there are quite a few 'Community Churches' these days -not to mention churches that follow the example of 'Willow Creek' and introduce 'cell churches' in their congregations. Christianity in the US has indeed become the trend-setter. But whether this is good for Christianity is another question. Chapter 4 discusses four issues that are important in the future development of Christianity. These issues are (1) the threat of fundamentalism; (2) the relationship between Christianity and Islam; (3) the future of ecumenism; and (4) English as the lingua franca of global Christianity. Chapter 5 concerns the future of Christianity. I cannot find any fault with McGrath's predictions that Roman Catholicism, Pentecostalism, Evangelicalism and Eastern Orthodoxy will grow. However, he does not discuss the possibility of a new reformation within Western Christianity. The last chapter discusses the issue of academic theology challenging the ideas of ordinary Christians. This, according to McGrath, is not good for the life of the church. Theology should support the ideas of ordinary Christians. Theology should not be practised for the sake of theology itself. It should be for the sake of the church. I was a bit baffled by this chapter. According to me, those theologians who discuss the untenability of the traditional doctrines are playing the type of role that McGrath assigns to 'organic theologians', but he himself does not recognise them as such. It is a fact that these scholars are mostly biblical scholars and not systematic theologians. McGrath wrote the following in the preface to his book: 'All is not well in the household of faith of the west, supremely the mainline Protestant denominations.' The book gives a good overview of this crisis and should be read by all who are interested in the future of Christianity. But, do not expect to learn something about the new reformation and the role that biblical scholars the world over are playing at this movement.

means to teach the Bible.

Review & Expositor, 1999

An article on the history of New Testament studies in the twentieth century must necessarily be selective. Hence, the following topical narrative leaves out a number of things, such as discussion of the interpretation history of individual New Testament writings, the significance of archaeology for New Testament interpretation, and the evolution of text criticism, to mention just a few areas of oversight. I have judged the following to be the most deserving of treatment here: the changing social location of the discipline, the quest for the historical Jesus, Pauline studies, the development of new interpretive methods and approaches, early Christian writings and their environment, and the history of the concept of a "New Testament." I won't argue with anyone who says I have left out something significant. Changing Social Locations of the Discipline Wayne Meeks, reflecting in 1994 on how the discipline of New Testament Studies had changed during his lifetime, recalls his first visit to the Society of Biblical Literature Annual Meeting around 1962: We met in the classrooms of Union Theological Seminary in New York and slept in its dormitories Papers were read in large sessions, OT in one big room, NT in another We waited for the great men to speak-Cadbury, Enslin, Knox, Wilder, Schubert, Minear, and the rest-to see if they would cut some brash young scholar down to size. There must have been a few women present, but they were not conspicuous. The club was small and its reason for existence seemed clear.' At the beginning of the twentieth century, biblical studies was a men's club led by a few great lights, composed chiefly of scholar churchmen, overwhelmingly

The unexamined faith is not worth believing! 493 people have bookmarked my original copy that only had the intro and ONE chapter. So, I might not have been clear enough that YOU CAN BUY THE WHOLE BOOK.. I have decided to update this FREE PREVIEW to include FOUR CHAPTERS. Send $10 to [email protected] through Paypal. The cost for anyone living in developing countries is $2. Send payment via Paypal to [email protected]. THIS IS A FREE PREVIEW of FOUR CHAPTERS! YOU CAN PURCHASE THE COMPLETE VOLUME FOR $10. [email protected] through Paypal. 493 people have bookmarked my original copy that only had the intro and ONE chapter. So, I might not have been clear enough that YOU CAN BUY THE WHOLE BOOK. Send payment via Paypal to [email protected]. It was oringinally going to be published by Hendrickson,. Al-though it aims was to provide the historical background and context, I also sought to explain for an evangelical there is a significant difference when it comes to matters of faith and be-liefs, it did not fit the more conservative view of one reviewer who found it too challenging to his faith. I'm not sure if it is helpful to supply his exact words that reflected his inadequacy :), but willing to share if you ask. EXAMINATION POLICY As an examination policy, I would agree to ship to someone teaching a course for free. If adopted, then I would want $7.50 per student for up to 15 students and $5.00 per student for 16+. I can be contacted through my email: [email protected]. What's Inside? While most introduction to the Bible or the Old/New Testament may have at most a paragraph or small section, I have complete chapters for: -The Septuagint -The Pseudepigrapha -The Dead Sea Scrolls Including such chapters is a better way to explain the change and differences between the Old and the New and it developed historically, Other highlights include: -Maps, Tables and Diagrams -Numerous Photos -Various Text Boxes-providing additional information, Further Reflections, and Questions with some discussion to engage readers. Thus, it is not just historical and critical in nature, it also raises questions of theology.. Random Examples-Doublets, The Gilgamesh Epic Why was Miriam the only one punished? History and Historiography, the Persian Influence on the Demonic and the Origins of the Devil, 4QMMT and the Scriptures, Diagram illustrating the Original Text through versions to modern Protestant, Catholic Greek Orthodox Bibles, The Jesus Seminar, Daniel 7:13, NT Writers cited from the Greek, Critical and Conservative scholars, Faith and Critical Inquiry, Not all opinions are the same, and Does it matter if Paul did not write the disputed letters? When the book is opened, there is a map, table, photo or etc. in almost every case when you turn a page through the volume. In some cases there are more than one. The Hyper-linked Table of Contents should work after downloading. The free preciew on my site timmclay.com will load into Adobe and work.