History of Reading the OT

Chart of Theological Events and Eras

 ● Typology
○ Earlier events are types/patterns
for later events
Pre-Critical ● The ‘Fourfold Sense’ of
Scripture
Interpretation ○
○
Literal/historical
Allegorical
○ Anagogical/spiritual
● The ‘fourfold sense’ of Scripture
● Biblical story = History ○ Tropological/moral
● Truth is in the story ● Systematic/Dogmatic Approach
○ Focuses on propositional truths
○ Seeks a tightly knit and unified
system
 Mind = the thought or concept to be
communicated. Meaning.
Basic Word = the vehicle for the thought.

Distinctions —-------------------------------------------------

Sign/sense = the word, gesture, etc.

Mind vs. word distinction
Literal sense vs. referent itself.

Referent = the thing indicated by the

sign.
 Major hermeneutical questions:

● What is the relationship between the

sense and referent of a text?

Late Antiquity ● Is the meaning bound by the literal

sense? Or found beyond it?

Late 3rd through 4th centuries ● What does one do with ‘difficult’
aspects of the text?
● Is communion with the Spirit
necessary to understand scripture?
Referent(s) of Scripture Literal sense = Obvious
1
surface meaning. What the
‘sign’ plainly indicates. (e.g. there is a talking snake
in Gen 3)
Is meaning
restricted to (or by)
the plain/literal Allegorical sense = A meaning deeper than (above?
behind?) the literal meaning.
referent?
● Moral (the snake is pleasures of the senses)
● Spiritual (the snake is the devil/satan/adversary)

1
Important! “Literal” for them does not necessarily indicate historicity
 Example of Differences
Example in Hauser/Watson HBI vol.1 p.344
Jesus and feeding the 5000

Origen John Chrysostom

It is a story that symbolizes spiritual feeding It is a story about Christ’s two natures and
instruction in virtue.
The desert-place is the person without the law
and word of God Christ looks to heaven to show he is of the
Father (divine), while using existing food to
The loaves and fish represent the Logos and
multiply rather than create from nothing (human)
Scripture
The meal is simple, evenly distributed, and only
The disciples are to feed the ‘hungry’ masses
given after they are hungry, teaching them
with rational ‘food’
temperance, patience, and charity.
Philo’s Allegorical Method
The “snake” Jacob’s ‘ladder’ - Gen 28:12

The snake in Gen 3 represents sensual The ladder/stairs in the dream symbolize the
pleasure, “for lust is as twisted and variously human soul…
shaped as the movement of the snake.” (Leg.
2.71-76) “whose foot is virtually earthly and fleshly, while
its head is at the same time the heavenly and
So, what about the snake in Num 21:8? How purest spirit. The entire ladder, unbroken from
can healing come from it? top to bottom, represents the words of God”
(Somn. 1.147)
It is made of sturdy bronze, which represents
prudence, which “is resilient and incapable of
being cut, because it exists in the beloved of
God” (Leg. 2.79,81)
Isn’t allegory arbitrary, subjective interpretation?

Questions for us:

● Do we agree that there is a deeper, spiritual meaning to texts?
○ If so, to what degree does that meaning go beyond the plain
sense of the passage?
● What is necessary for someone to see the spiritual sense?
● Should any scripture be kept from the spiritually immature?
They agree that...

Scripture is inspired by God and, thus, carries

significant authority for theology. It is a unity.
The text-form is important. They evaluated
translations, sifted manuscripts, and engaged in
forms of text-criticism.
There are difficulties in the biblical text: moral,
logical, textual, etc. These difficulties drive the
reader to seek a meaning beyond the surface.
Medieval “Fourfold
Sense”
Chart of Theological Events and Eras
 Early Medieval
Exegesis (6th-12th c)
Characterized by a trust in
the Church’s tradition as a
primary authority in
interpretation.

This tradition grows with

each generation of
interpreters faithfully
adding to, and passing on,
that tradition.
 Liturgy: much of the interpretation
happened in homilies. Liturgy often based
in typology.

Contexts of Monastic vows: lives of the monks steeped

in scripture. Lectio divina “sacred reading”
Interpretation is a slow, repetitious, vocalized reading of
the Bible with prayer.
Early Medieval Exegesis Schools/Universities: Liberal arts
(6th-12th c) important: the trivium—grammar, dialectic
(the study of the logical development of
thought and argumentation), and rhetoric
(the study of language and its effect)
 The Bible is not a dead artifact, but a
sacred, living word.

The Bible speaks to a salvation history

Common Assumptions
The Bible is a unified book.
Early Medieval Exegesis The Bible is a complex and sophisticated
(6th-12th c) text, requiring equally sophisticated
methods.
 Historical/literal - tells what happened.
Note: “History” is salvation history
Quadriga Tropological - morality and the believer’s
relationship with God
(“Fourfold Sense”)
Allegorical - the theological meaning
Early Medieval Exegesis pertaining to Christ and the Church
(6th-12th c)
Anagogical - points to the ultimate,
heavenly reality at the end of time
 littera gesta docet -- The letter teaches events
quid credas allegoria -- allegory what you should believe
quid agas tropologia -- tropology what you should do
quo tendas anagogia -- anagogy where you should aim.
From the opening of Nicholas of Lyra’s postilla (a running commentary, ordinarily composed as lectures)
 Gregory was sick for much of his life and thus
found it appropriate to interpret Job.

Proceeds verse-by-verse. Most of the commentary

is structured according to three of the ‘senses’

Literal reading - Job is exemplary and righteous in

Commentary on Job everything in Job 1

Allegorical - Job, as the righteous sufferer, is a type

Gregory the Great (c.540-604) of Christ.
(Pope Gregory I) Tropological - There are two types of people: 1)
people focused on this world of transitory things
and never look higher, and 2) those who long for
their Creator and the life above.
Scholasticism
(12th-17th c.)
A movement in European
universities focusing on a rational,
logical, and systematic approaches
to scripture

Later Scholasticism paralleled the

rise of humanism

Criticized (maybe unfairly) for being

pedantic.
 A move away from direct interpretation of
Scripture to a more systematic theology
Theology is “queen of Dialectic is a primary method - The
the sciences” questions and answers themselves
became the focus
Scholasticism (12th-17th c.)
As theological questions became the
focus, they were organized into
systematically presented works.
Renaissance Humanism
(15th/16th c)
It was a return to the culture, rhetoric,
philosophy, etc. of classical antiquity. “ad
fontes”
Censored
They were attempting, much like antiquity, to
create an “eloquent” and virtuous society.

This could be accomplished in study of the

humanities: grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history,
and moral philosophy.
The Reformation
(16th c)
Followed on the heels of scholasticism and the
renaissance.

Gutenberg’s printing press (c.1436) and vernacular

translation put the Bible in the hands of the laity.

Reformers appealed to a clear reading of scripture

to challenge what they believed were incorrect
teachings of the church.

Breakdown in the trust of tradition as interpretive

authority.
 ● Reformers thought medieval
interpreters overcomplicated God’s
Word.
The Reformation: ● Scripture is its own interpreter.
A Denial of Tradition Tradition not needed.
● Division of “literal” sense into
literal-historical and literal-prophetic -
Martin Luther (1483-1546)
i.e. what it meant in history vs. how it
Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560) refers to Christ
John Calvin (1509-1564)
● Human author (inspired by Spirit)
prioritized - context becomes key
 1. Scripture is plain and clear for
everyone.
2. Scripture is christocentric.
The Anabaptist
3. Discontinuity b/t the OT and the NT.
Reformation 4. The Holy Spirit is necessary for
interpretation.
Six Key Beliefs
5. Interpretation is properly done in
community.
6. Interpretation must be applied to life.
Rise of Modernity and
Historical Criticism
 The Reformation broke
Modernity and biblical interpretation away
Biblical Criticism from church tradition.

● Biblical story ≠? History

● Truth is behind the story Now, anyone could
determine what it means.
 The Enlightenment was a MASSIVE
Modernity and worldview shift

Biblical Criticism Connected with philosophy of Rene

Descartes (i.e. the “I think therefore
I am” guy)
The Enlightenment Agency was no longer seen as a
17th/18th c. part of the cosmos
Compare worldviews
Pre-Enlightenment View of the World Enlightenment View of the World

The physical world is infused with the The physical and spiritual realities are
spiritual separate. Only material can affect
material
Causes may be physical or spiritual
The cosmos is agentless and
The material world could be
mechanical
sacramental
Everything operates by predictable
Agency is inherent in the cosmos,
cause-and-effect relationships
working it to its telos.
God’s actions become “supernatural”
Of course God acts in the world.
(i.e. not natural)
Consequences for Biblical Study
1. The source of knowledge - it was in revelation, but now in history.

2. The focus of knowledge: was an emphasis on the religious, but now in the secular and the
humanistic

3. The extent of knowledge: all questions could be asked and the world got much bigger. There
are dinosaur bones and other galaxies.

4. The dissemination of knowledge: the printing press made possible a wide dissemination of
texts and knowledge.

5. The historically based nature of knowledge: much of the Bible was no longer seen as
timeless teaching, but as culturally bound. The best way to interpret is to view it primarily in
the context of production.
Is truth located in the Bible or not???

The term “literal” changed from meaning “plain sense” to meaning

“historical”.
Truth was not longer found in Scripture, but in “history” behind it.
Trust in scripture then depended on whether or not it accurately
depicted history.
Modern Biblical Criticism
Postmodernity
 Postmodern Experience took center stage over
Scripture, tradition, and even
Hermeneutics reason.
● Distrust of metanarratives
Hermeneutics in a ● Truth determined by individuals
human-centered world and small communities.
 ● Post-structural
Postmodernity ● Reader-response
● History is not ‘my’ story ● Reception history
● Distrust of metanarrative
● Truth is determined by context and the
community/individual
Overly Simplified History

“Pre-Critical” Modernity and “Critical” Postmodernity

Interpretation Thinking
● Bible/History is not
● The ‘fourfold sense’ ● Biblical story ≠? ‘my’ story
of Scripture History -> truth ● Distrust of
● Biblical story = ● Truth is behind the metanarrative
Truth = usually story ● Truth is determined
history by context and the
● Truth is in the story community/individual
How to read it?
● Should we read it?
○ Marcion of Sinope (1st-2nd c.) - says do not read it. Branded a
heretic.

● Patristics through Medieval - literal, typological, allegorical, tropological,

anagogical - look for Christ in the text.
○ Pre-critical - read text as a unity. Assume “salvation history”.

● Historical-critical era - historicity and unity no longer assumed

○ Focus on history of the text, not history in the text.
○ Theories assumed about how text came to be. Methods develop to
support theories.

● Postmodern era - reject it entirely as barbaric, ethnocentric, violent, and

oppressive literature.
Understanding of Scripture
Major Choices in
Questions: Where is revelation?
Biblical Theology The text? Or in history?

1. Text or Event At stake?

2. Criticism or Canon
3. Descriptive or Confessional
4. Diachronic or Synchronic
Major Choices in Questions: Do we take the text as it
is? Or do we reconstruct earlier
Biblical Theology forms? Does the composition
history matter for interpretation?
1. Text or Event
2. Criticism or Canon At stake?
3. Descriptive or Confessional
4. Diachronic or Synchronic
 Major Choices in Questions: Do we treat scripture
differently based on our faith? Or do
Biblical Theology we analyze scripture like any other
historical/hermeneutical exercise?
1. Text or Event
2. Criticism or Canon At stake?
3. Descriptive or Confessional
4. Diachronic or Synchronic
Major Choices in Questions: Does theology develop
Biblical Theology through history and scripture? Or is
scripture unified in its teaching?
1. Text or Event At stake?
2. Criticism or Canon
3. Descriptive or Confessional
4. Diachronic or Synchronic
 What do the following tools for
study tell us about our hermeneutic
and how we view Scripture?

Methodology 1.
2.
Word studies
Historical context
The procedures/steps we take in 3. Source criticism
our study of the Bible. 4. Reception history
5. You don’t need fancy methods.
Just read the Bible.