This multi-volume set (two more volumes are forthcoming) probes into the history of Jewish and Christian interpretation of the Tanak and the New Testament from a decidedly moderate-to-liberal point of view. The editors have included helpful summative essays at the beginning of each volume that survey the contents of that volume in some detail. The various chapters, then, are written by a variety of specialists and cover such diverse subjects as inter-textual exegesis, the Septuagint, the Targumim and Midrash, the formation of the canon, medieval exegesis in Jewish and Christian contexts, Eastern Orthodox exegesis, and Reformation exegesis in Catholic and Protestant communities.
While these volumes are laudable and somewhat unique in their scope and erudition, the decidedly moderate-to-liberal bent of the editors and authors renders them of limited use for advancement in the study of the interplay between interpretation and proclamation. Specifically, the disposition of the editors is that the canon of Scripture, in its development and transmission, is primarily, if not totally, the product of human effort and genius. Thus, they assert that there is an inherent diversity of meaning in the Scripture itself which leads them, for example, to affirm Marcion as one who saw what was actually present in Scripture.
On the one hand, we may acknowledge that more conservative scholars at times downplay the impact that socio-cultural phenomena had on the formation and transmission of the canon, but on the other hand, we must reject the notion that these phenomena loomed so large in that process. God has indeed revealed himself through nature, the prophets, and preeminently in Christ (Ps 19:1-5; Heb 1:1-4), and he is thus primarily responsible for the revelation, reception, formation, and transmission of the canon. Fundamentally, the Bible is revelation rather than tradition. This we whole-heartedly affirm, and this the editors of these volumes seem to deny or at least ignore.
No comments:
Post a Comment