GLOBAL INTERPRETATIONS OF
CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES
RLST 206 DIV/REL 3845
Jan 24, 2011
Today
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a) 3:10 Contemporary Models for the Interpretation
of Scriptures: “INCULTURATION HERMENEUTICS”
b) 4:00 Presentation of Readings of Scripture in
Nigeria:
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Luke by Annie Wong and Colossians by Mark Wells
c) 4:15 Group Discussion (examples of Inculturation):
 Luke: Leader: Adesewa Adelekun
 Colossians: Leader: Ben Pflederer
c) 4:55. Comments on discussion
d) 5:00 Lecture: Classical Models for the
Interpretation of Scriptures: JEWISH
INTERPRETATIONS OF SCRIPTURE: Pharisees,
Midrash, Targum
Today Group # 1 LUKE
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Leader (her reading vs. GBC): Adesewa Adelekun
 Annie Wong (presenter of GBC)
 Wendy Aluoch
 Basye Holland
 Lakendra Scott
 Anna Keith
 Jessica Nieto
Today Group # 2 COLOSSIANS
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Leader (his reading vs. GBC): Ben Pflederer
 Mark Wells (presenter of GBC)
 Anna McReynolds
 Iris Ankrom-Critenden
 Matthew Calderwood
 Arlonzo Williams
 Chance Dillon
 Erin Higgins
 Jordan Nelson
 Taylor Schomp
Welcome to some of you… Finally!
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Hope you found helful Julian Bond’s last week lecture
Why study Global Interpretations of Scripture?
Because there are many interpretations of the same
Scripture out there, and the VERY COMMON
ATTITUDE IS
Of course, our own interpretation –and that of our
church, whatever it might be—is right
And all the other interpretations are wrong, heretical,
meaningless, not faithful to the text; if they disagree
with us… because they are ignorant, naïve, stupid,
from an inferior culture (a non-Western culture)…
>>> Sunday Feb. 13: replacing
Monday Jan 17
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Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church; attending the
“The Divine Liturgy” (10 AM worship service)
followed by a question/answer period with the Priest,
Fr. Gregory Hohnholteither
meeting at 9:30 AM to about noon
in preparation of our discussion of Greek
Orthodox interpretations of the Gospel of John
and Hebrews
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church 4905 Franklin
Pike Nashville, TN 37220 Cars?
Why study Global Interpretations of
Christian Scriptures? Appendix # 1 A & B
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(See end of the syllabus) Three Parts
A. To learn about distinctive interpretations of the
Bible as Christian Scriptures around the world.
B. To Learn What is involved in any “interpretation of
Scriptures.” How it is related to:
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a) the believers’ vision of life, structured by religious
experience and culture;
b) their concerns in the concrete social, economic,
political reality of their life-context, thus their “ideology”
c) their view of what is most significant in the biblical
text.
Why study Global Interpretations of
Christian Scriptures? Appendix # 1 C
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C- To recognize that Christian believers and scholars
are always making a choice among several
possibilities of relating the teaching of the Bible:
to their cultures (from “total separation” to
“inculturation”)
to their religious experiences (from ardent spiritual
experiences to total lack of such experience in a
secular life; sacramental/liturgical);
to their life contexts (from concerns for the needs of
people every where to concerns exclusively limited to
people close to us— inter(con)textual and
liberation interpretation).
by choosing as most significant one or another
aspect of each biblical text. Analytical choice
Scripture = A Word-to-Live-by
Believers’ readings of Scripture are necessarily
incarnated, and thus inculturated. = Word-tolive-by
 So >>> a great diversity of interpretations of the
same Biblical texts as living Scripture by
Christians from many traditions and many
cultures, including from the Southern
Hemisphere where the majority of Christians
are.
 With the Cambridge Dictionary of Christianity,
learn about 2.367 billion readers of the Bible
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Quiz! (Numbers from World Christian Encyclopedia,
David Barrett, ed. (Oxford 2001, updated on line)
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Knowing that the world population is now about
6.5 billion people
What are the four top religions in the world today
(2009)?
Alphabetical order: Buddhism, Christianity,
Hinduism, Islam.
Buddhist = about 400 million
Hindus = about 900 million
Islam = about 1.5 billion (with “b”)
Christianity = about 2.3 billion; no tiny
minority! … we ignore Christians in other
parts of the world!
Articles on History of Christianity
of CDC
Africa
Asia Europe
Latin
America
Middle
East:
Syria
North
America
South
Pacific &
Australia
389

M
312
M
511
M
>5
M
260
M
25
M
531
M
CDC Article History of Christianity
in Latin America (c511 M, growing)
CDC History of C. in Europe (with Eastern Europe &
Russia) 2000: c531 M (going down)
CDC History of C. in Africa (2000) c389 M
1/2 Charismatics/Renewalists and AICs. (growing fast)
CDC History of C. in Asia
(c312 M, growing fast)
CDC History of C. in North America
(c260 M, stable; move to Independents)
CDC History of C. in South Pacific &
Australia (c25 M, stable)
CDC History of C. in the Middle East:
Syriac Christianity > 5 M (going down)
Articles on Denominations and their worship
2.367 billion Christians/readers of the Bible
Roman Catholics
1.150 billion
Protestants
471 M
Independents
357 M
Orthodox
275 M
Angli
cans
86 M
Othe
r
28 M
Nigeria (1 of 150 entries on
Christianity in…)
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History of Christianity in Nigeria 2000 statistics:
111.5 million (M)
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Based on World Christian Encyclopedia, 2001.
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Main Ethnic Groups: Yoruba, 17.5%; Hausa, 17.2%,
Igbo, 13.3%, Toroobe Fulani, 4.9%, Yerwa Kanuri, 3.0%
Christians, 51 M, 45.9%
 Independents =AICs, 21 M; Anglicans, 20 M;
Protestants, 14 M; Roman Catholics, 13.4 M; (17 M
doubly affiliated)
Muslims, 49 M, 43.9%;
African Religionists, 11 M, 9.8%.
Why study Global Interpretations of
Christian Scriptures? A)
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To learn about distinctive interpretations of the
Bible as Christian Scriptures around the world.
Why? (Why not simply Western scholarly
interpretations?)
a) Because most of the readers of the Bible are
Christian believers who read these texts as
SCRIPTURE —a fact that one cannot afford to
bracket-out be it in religious studies, critical studies of
the Bible, or in theology;
b) Because 2/3 of Christian readers of the Bible are
in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Oceania, as well
as in Eastern Europe and the Middle East
Only 1/3 of the readers of the Bible are in Western
Europe and North America
Learning from distinctive interpretations of
the Bible around the world is possible
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We can and have to learn from African, Asian, Latin
American readings of the Bible
Because there is NO literal meaning of the Bible
Because there is NO literal reading (aka
fundamental/literal interpretation of the Bible)
Rather than speaking of “THE literal interpretation” of
a text
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as if there was only one,
throughout this semester you will have to become
specific and explain the nature or character of each
specific “literal interpretation”… INCLUDING OURS
Becoming self-conscious about the
contextual character of our interpretations
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1) “reading with ordinary readers”
2) paying attention to the ways in which our readings
“affect certain groups of people”
2) studying the history of reception of biblical texts
(early Jewish receptions; in the New Testament; and
later through history up to today),
4) “breaking biblical texts” (using traditional ways of
reading, particular to each culture);
ALL Interpretations of Scripture
are Contextual
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Reading Scripture for believers = discerning a
‘Word-to-live-by” …. Relating this text to their
contexts
4 WAYS INTERPRETATIONS ARE CONTEXTUAL:
1) Inculturation (examples from African scholars);
2) Liberation (examples from Latin American scholars)
3) Inter(con)textual (examples from Asian scholars);
4) Sacramental/liturgical (examples from Eastern
Orthodox scholars).
Learning about distinctive interpretations
of the Bible around the world is necessary
Nothing wrong with adopting “what the text obviously
means” for us PROVIDED that we recognize that we
have implicitly chosen an interpretation
 FOR THIS, we need other interpretations, from
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Other cultural contexts,
Other socio-economic contexts
Other religious contexts
THESE “OTHER” INTERPRETATIONS (if we respect
them) HELP US recognize that “what the text obviously
means” (aka = its literal meaning) for us is an
interpretation.
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choosing certain aspects of the text as most significant for us
And ignoring other aspects of the text… which are “obviously”
the most significant for people in other contexts.
Why study Global Interpretations of
Christian Scriptures? B)
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B. To gain a solid understanding of:
1) What is involved in any “interpretation of
Scriptures.” How it is related to:
a) their view of what is most significant in the biblical
text. [Analytical Choices = A]
b) the believers’ vision of life, structured by religious
experience and culture; [Hermeneutical,
Theological Choices = H]
b) their concerns and commitments in the concrete
social, economic, political reality of their life-context,
and thus to their “ideology” [Contextual Choices =
C]
A text (Luke or Colossians) is a
complex discourse
Acknowledging What a Text Is
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A text (Luke or Colossians) is a complex discourse:
 1) What an author/speaker wants to say to an
audience (to do something; convey pieces of
information, knowledge; e.g., propositional truth;
views, ideas) – intention of author/speaker
 2) What an author/speaker says out of her/his heart
(convictions, passion) (what drives the person to
speak, to do something; un-intentional; subconscious)
 3) What the author/speaker says in order to
communicate – to be convincing--to an audience
(using the language & views of the intended
audience; rhetoric )
Acknowledging What a Text Is
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Intended message;
 Convictions (self-evident truths that motivate
the speaker)—not necessarily the intended
message
 Other views – carried out by the language
used to communicate = common language
with the hearers, images, figures of speech;
world views, which the speaker expects the
hearers to know, and possible share
TEXTUAL CHOICES
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A Text/Discourse = Several Potential
Meanings
 Example: Lecture at Vanderbilt in 1986 by a
white South-African scholar.
 Intentional message: clearly expressed by
the argument: join us in the struggle against
apartheid and racism in South Africa; this is
what many of us heard.
 But is it the only message? The true one?
TEXTUAL CHOICES
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But the African-American students heard a
very different message.
 To convince us: emphasized the plight of
black Africans, describing them as child-like, in
need of education, so that they will move away
from their backward culture.
 the demeaning metaphors and other figures of
speech
 Convey racism
TEXTUAL CHOICES
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Which is most important? As Word to
live by
The Intentional message?
 The Unintentional message?
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Same thing for any religious texts:
The Intentional message? E.g. Paul writing
to Corinthians
 The Unintentional message? His
convictions/faith
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We have a choice.
Text, Religious experience, Life
Textual choices
Hermeneutical
Theological
Choices
Contextual
choices
Inculturation: Contextual Choice
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An interpretation is spontaneously chosen
because “it makes sense in our culture”
 Which culture?
 For several of us in this room = EuropeanAmerican middle class culture; for others,
African-American, Nigerian, etc.
 Is this wrong? No. We need to make
sense of biblical text in our culture
Inculturation
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The Biblical texts and the “gospel” have always been
“understood” in terms of a culture
In terms of High culture—literature, art, famous
persons; great philosophers; politicians; etc
First in terms of Jewish common cultures: daily-life;
view of the world
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Also/mainly in terms of Hellenistic common
cultures
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Plural: Sadducees, Pharisees, Apocalyptic , Zealots
Plural: philosophy of the street; stoicism; and neo-Platonism;
multi-cultural,
This is appropriate: the Bible is itself cultural.
Justin Ukpong
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“Inculturation
hermeneutics: An
African Approach”
pp. 17-32 in Dietrich
& Luz, ed. The Bible
in a World Context.
Inculturation: Justin Ukpong
Step 2
The Inculturation mode of reading is “a
contextual hermeneutic methodology that
seeks to make any community of ordinary
people and their sociocultural context the
subject of interpretation of the Bible…
 “The goal is sociocultural transformation
focusing on a variety of situations and issues.”
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Justin Ukpong, “Inculturation Hermeneutics,” pp. 18-18 in
The Bible in a World Context
What needs to be interpreted is the concrete
life-context of the readers… the Bible is a
means (a tool) to interpret one’s life context.
Inculturation: Justin Ukpong
Step 1
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Step 1 in Studying the inculturation of the
Bible:
 “Appraising the cultural-human dimension of
the Bible in respect of its attitude to, and
evaluation of, “other” peoples and cultures
 The Bible is not (culturally and ideologically)
an innocent text.
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a) appropriation of certain religious traditions;
b) in terms of a particular religious experience;
c) for a certain context (including culture, ideology),
because of needs
Inculturation: Justin Ukpong
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It is God’s Word in human language, which implies
human culture with its ideology, worldview, orientation,
perspective, values, and disvalues that are intertwined
with the Word of God.
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Step 2
Ancient Near Eastern Context (Israel)
Jewish context
Hellenistic context
Step 2: “Reading the Bible to appropriate its message
for a contemporary context.
This involves engaging a biblical text in dialogue with a
contemporary contextual experience so as to
appropriate its message in today’s context”
Tersa Okure, SHCJ
Inculturation: Teresa Okure
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Reading Colossians as a means to make sense of her
present life-context in Nigeria
The Lordship of Christ and the Uniqueness of Christ
as Lord and Savior
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Can be understood as a doctrine
And the rest of Colossians can be understood as a moral
teaching
Or can be a window or corrective lenses through
which one can make sense of one’s life-context
 The issue is not Jesus’ Lordship in itself (a doctrine)
 But the conviction that Jesus is Lord of the world in
which we live (in her case Nigeria)
Inculturation: Teresa Okure
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Her community of ordinary people (the divided
churches in Nigeria) is the sociocultural context
which is the subject of interpretation of her
interpretation of Colossians
Colossians changes for her the way to see the
concrete situation in Nigeria, and of the diversity of
churches there.
Because it demands to recognize that Christ IS LORD
of this context… whether or not people recognize him
as Lord is irrelevant = Christ IS LORD.
For believers, the question is: What does it mean fo
live in a context where Christ IS actually Lord?
Assessing the INCULTURATION
H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (1951)
Christ/Scripture against Culture.
 The Christ/Scripture of Culture.
 Christ/Scripture above Culture.
 Christ/Scripture and Culture in
Paradox.
 Christ/Scripture the Transformer of
Culture.
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Christ/Scripture and Culture
Script
against
Culture
Script
above
Culture
Script
Of
Culture
Script &
Culture in
Paradox
Script
transforms
Culture
Culture Tanner, Kathryn. Theories of
Culture: A New Agenda for Theology. 1997
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Traditional/sociological view: culture is a human
civilization characterized by a certain posited vision of the
ideal life (cosmos ; essence) and ideal values (nomos, and
ideology as fixed)
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Issue: identifying the truly civilized culture (Western culture);
assessing it/refining it; then enforcing it in one’s life, and on
anybody else. Peter Berger, The Sacred Canopy (1967)
Anthropological conception: culture is the vision of life
and values (ideology) presupposed by a particular people’s
practice of everyday life.
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Issue: understanding the culture lived by a people; assessing
it; then eventually helping the people to develop a better way
of life for themselves..
Assessing the INCULTURATION
H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (1951)
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Christ/Scripture against Culture. Christianity is an
alternative to the existing culture; converts must
choose either to follow Christ/Scripture or to remain in
the “evil world” or “paganism.”
The Christ/Scripture of Culture. Christ as “Son of
God” [Scripture as both Divine Word] and “Son of
man” [S = Human Word] that affirms the cultural and
religious heritage of peoples. The gospel = the
fulfillment of culture, not a threat to it (Matt 5–7)
Scripture, the “word for all cultures” helps people
discern and live according to God’s will in the context
of their respective cultural and religious traditions.
Assessing the INCULTURATION
H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (1951)
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Christ/Scripture above Culture = distinction
between the heavenly city and earthly city (Augustine),
Christianity = transcendentalist; “salvation” in heaven
and the future; the needs and demands of the present
are irrelevant.
Christ/Scripture and Culture in Paradox.
Christ/Scripture is BOTH identified with AND
contrasted with culture. The church is in the world,
though it is not of the world (Protestant Reformation;
Luther). But when is Christ/Scripture in support of or
against culture? (Missionaries: in support of our
culture; against native cultures.)
Assessing the INCULTURATION
H. Richard Niebuhr, Christ and Culture (1951)
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Christ/Scripture the Transformer of Culture.
Christ/the Word makes all things new (Rev. 21:5).
Conversion = a challenge for converts to change their
ways and become new beings (e.g. Paul = from
“persecutor” to “apostle”).
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“Transformation” presupposes that the earlier way of life is
not abandoned, but transformed through the adoption of
new insights and commitments.
Problem with Mission: Ingredients of transformation are most
often taken from the culture of the missionaries. African elite
blamed the modern Christian missionary enterprise for the
cultural alienation of Africans.
Today Group # 1 LUKE
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Leader (her reading vs. GBC): Adesewa Adelekun
 Annie Wong (presenter of GBC)
 Wendy Aluoch
 Basye Holland
 Lakendra Scott
 Anna Keith
 Jessica Nieto
Today Group # 2 COLOSSIANS
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Leader (his reading vs. GBC): Ben Pflederer
 Mark Wells (presenter of GBC)
 Anna McReynolds
 Iris Ankrom-Critenden
 Matthew Calderwood
 Arlonzo Williams
 Chance Dillon
 Erin Higgins
 Jordan Nelson
 Taylor Schomp
JUSTICE
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true justice has its source in God, is inherent in the Divine
Nature – the Triune God (Orthodox)
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justice is the kind of relation that exists between the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit, and between God and creation and
Jesus Christ and the world
Humans can only approximate this (divine) justice
interhuman justice as divine command (HB Prophets):
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distributive justice (tsedeq) e.g. a redistribution of wealth as
a condition of divinely mandated distributive justice; fairness;
the vindication of the wrongly accused or the violated and
vulnerable (mishpat). retribution amid wrongdoing, and an
impartial treatment of all persons in all settings (womanist
justice)
Justice vs unbridled avarice and arrogance of the powerful
JUSTICE
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Justice in NT = dikaiosyne (translated as both “justice” and
“righteousness” or justification)
Both individual’s relation to God (= righteousness, justification)
And Social relations = Individuals relations with others (= justice)
= characteristic of a good society
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distributive justice (tsedeq) e.g. a redistribution of wealth (cf. rich
young man and Jesus)
the vindication of the wrongly accused or the violated and vulnerable
(mishpat).
Justice vs. human incapacity for justice , sin
Retributive justice = God’s punishment of sinful humanity …
overcome by divine mercy through Christ
Justice vs. cruel, selfish, unkind, oppressive, exploitative, or
callous toward others (African & Latin American views of Justice)
JUSTICE
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Justice through the law: forensic justice
resolves the apparent contradiction between justice
and mercy --- the judge may pronounce the verdict
that a guilty person is to be regarded as if innocent
 Justice beyond the law understood to be social
justice that takes the form of welcoming and
making an individual commitment to the other.
 Latino/a Justice: the creation of relationships that
enable people to fulfill their humanity (as children of
God) (part of the “preferential option for the poor”)
Mission (CDC; Phan)
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Mission as Proclamation and Witness to Save
Souls.
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Mission as Planting the Church.
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Primarily Matt 28:19–20.
Luke 14:23. In this parable, the master orders his
servants to go to the roads and country lanes and bring
everybody to the banquet so that his house may be full.
Mission as Serving God’s Kingdom of Truth,
Love, and Justice.
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Luke 4:18–19, Jesus’ mission of preaching the good
news to the poor, releasing captives, giving sight to the
blind, setting the oppressed free
Mission (CDC; Phan, Veronis)
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Mission as Dialogue. Mission as reflecting the mystery of God’s
incarnation. (Phan)
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John 1, Matt 1-3; Luke 1-2. The dialogue is fourfold: dialogue of life, which entails
living with people of non-Christian faiths; of action (collaborating with them in
projects of peace and justice); of theological exchange (learning from their different
beliefs and practices); and of religious experience (praying with them) … all this as
a way of finding the most effective way to carry out God’s mission amid cultural
diversity, religious pluralism, and massive poverty
Mission as create indigenous Eucharistic communities (= which
experience God’s loving presence) while respecting the indigenous
culture, using the local language (Veronis; Orthodox)
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Eucharist = great joyfulness in the presence of God, “who ever loves humankind,”
Prayer, experience of God’s loving presence is essential “The theologian is the
one who prays, and the one who prays is a theologian.” (Orthodox Church;
Demetrios Trakatellis)
Offering translations of Holy Scripture and the Divine Liturgy, creating an alphabet
and writing system when necessary, and training indigenous leaders
FAITH (CDC)
1. Faith as Faithfulness. God’s (Christ’s) faithfulness
to God’s promises and Human faithfulness to God
 2. Faith as Trust: as trusting God
 3. Faith as Believing a Speaker’s Words (“Believing
That”); believing in the words of Scripture
 4. Faith as leading to true Knowledge “Believing in
order to understand ” (Augustine) or “faith seeking
understanding” (Anselm)
 5. Faith as Movement toward, and Experience of,
God. (“believing in” God or Christ)
 6. Faith as Gift (from God) that puts believers in the
right relationship with God
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Jesus and the Canaanite Woman
Matthew 15:21-28 & Its Contextual Interpretation
 21 Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and
Sidon. 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came
out and started shouting, "Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David;
my daughter is tormented by a demon.“ 23 But he did not
answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying,
"Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.“ 24 He
answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel.“ 25 But she came and knelt before him, saying, "Lord,
help me.“ 26 He answered, "It is not fair to take the children's
food and throw it to the dogs.“ 27 She said, "Yes, Lord, yet even
the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.“ 28
Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Let it be
done for you as you wish." And her daughter was healed
instantly.
Jean Colombe’s Artistic Interpretation:
Assess its inculturation

Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry,
(15th century)
 Above, Jesus turns away from the Canaanite
woman who implores him despite the scorn of
the apostles;
 in a house at the right we see a woman trying
to comfort the little girl who is sick tormented
by a demon. It might have been inconceivable
for Colombe to imagine the mother leaving her
ill child alone, thus the companion.
Jean Colombe’s Artistic
Interpretation

The text is a quotation of Psalm 25: it may
represent the words of the woman. It begins
with v. 6: “Remember, O LORD, your tender
mercies and your loving kindnesses, for they
are from of old” and ends with v. 22: “Redeem
Israel, O God, out of all its anguishes.”
 In the smaller miniature below, the Canaanite
kneels before Jesus, who is touched by the
perseverance of her faith and makes a gesture
of consent; the apostles now seem to share
their master's feelings.
Assessing the INCULTURATION:
Which one?
Christ/Scripture against Culture.
 The Christ/Scripture of Culture.
 Christ/Scripture above Culture.
 Christ/Scripture and Culture in
Paradox.
 Christ/Scripture the Transformer of
Culture.
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Text, Religious experience, Life
Inculturation?

Contextual choices: concrete life-context;
power/authority structure; ideology; etc.
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Theological – Hermeneutical choices: on
the basis of our (positive or negative)
religious experience
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One aspect of inculturation.
Another aspect of inculturation.
Textual choices = choosing what is most
significant in the text
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Most significant … for this context)
Today Group # 1 LUKE
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Leader: Julie Franks
Dustin Frye
Luis Menendez
Yolanda Marie Archibald
Ho Donng Hwang
Bridgett Green
Febbie Dickerson
Devin Williams
Matt Samples
Jean Xiao
Ezra Chu
Today Group # 2 COLOSSIANS
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Leader: Tamesha Derico
Scribe: Lauren Ross
Katye Stone
Jill Schock
Lori-Jene Brazier
Mike Kiggins
Ali Sevilla
Colette Jackson
Allison Morris
Imani Ellis
Rebecca Faulkner
Allie Kovar
Lee Perkins
Global Interpretation of
Christian Scriptures
Classical Models of Interpretation
of Scripture: Pharisaic/Rabbinic
interpretation of Scripture
COVENANT as Jewish
Hermeneutical-Theological Frame
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1.
2.
Pharisees (Rabbinic Judaism in formation)
Apocalyptic groups (Zealots, Qumran)
Sadducees
Shared Basic Conviction: We are the
Chosen People of God . . .
Shared Basic questions/concerns: How to
remain the Chosen People? How to be the
Chosen People? Why?
Jewish Interpretations of Scriptures
EARLY RABBINIC/PHARISEES VIEW
OF SCRIPTURE
 Interpret Scripture = Tanakh = Torah
Prophets/Nebiim Writings/Ketoubim
 Explicit views of Scripture = Torah
« defile the hands” = sacred text; what is
read; the writings
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Early Rabbinic/Pharisees: Explicit
Views Of Scripture
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Why is Scripture sacred? Torah is the
complete, final, immutable revelation :
“everything is revealed on Mount Sinai”
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in the world to come God teaches Torah.
= Wisdom (Prov 8:22ff) with God at the
creation; blueprint of creation = God’s
Wisdom.
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More than the written text.
= before and beyond the written text.
Given to Israel = God giving himself to
Israel
Early Rabbinic/Pharisees: Explicit
Views Of Scripture
to recite or read Torah = being in the
Presence Shekinah [G’D] “where two or
three are gathered and exchange words
of Torah the Shekinah is with them.
 thus Torah = surrogate of the Temple
 taking the yoke of Torah = taking the
yoke of Heaven [G’D]
 Torah = water (gratis, priceless, brings
life) wine; fire, wife
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Early Rabbinic/Pharisees View Of
Scripture (1)
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IN SYNAGOGUE and IN SCHOOL
In Synagogue
Cycle of readings; Torah (seder) prophets
(haftarah) (verbal tallying)
 Translation = Targum
 Homilies; stringing texts together (pearls)… a
text, interpreting another text, interpreting
another text…. Back to the first text.
(eventually written down = Midrash)
 Targum = same thing as homilies… explain
the text, in terms of other texts.
Early Rabbinic/Pharisees:
Synagogue (2) Haggadic interpretations
Some Hermeneutical principles:
 1) Everything is meaningful in Scripture;
 2) Scripture is to be explained by Scripture;
 3) Synthetic view of scripture and of sacred
history/ “telescoping” “ There is no before and after
in scripture” (one of 32 middoth rules): ex: nights of
creation, of Abraham (covenant, Gen 15), of Aqedah
(sacrifice of Isaac), of Passover, eschatological night
of Messiah
 = sacred history is closed: God acted/revealed in
the past, the sacred past of sacred history; will
act/reveal in the future; in between there is no new
revelation Everything is revealed on Mt Sinai
Early Rabbinic/Pharisees:
Synagogue (2) Haggadic interpretations
Some Hermeneutical principles (continued):
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4) Theological developments in Targum =not
systematic theology = haggadah = (sacred) stories
= a listening to scripture
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5) Some actualization of scripture = circle of
scripture interpreting scripture is broken – but
primarily halakic (back to this later)
Early Rabbinic/Pharisees: Synagogue
(4) Liturgical Haggadah
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All liturgy = scripture = participating in liturgy
(prayers, songs, readings, translations/targums,
homilies) = entering Scripture
 Entering Torah = being constituted as the people
of God
 = example of Passover Seder = we went out of
Egypt
 We are the people of Israel described in Scripture
Early Rabbinic/Pharisees:
Covenant
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Covenant:
 a) God’s intervention, redemption from
slavery = election;= haggadah (past)
 b) Vocation: people of priest for the
nations; haggadah = sanctification of the
Name
 C) Law = how to walk: halakah
Early Rabbinic/Pharisees: School:
Halakah Sanctification of the Name
 Oral
Torah = living tradition=
harmonize Torah and life
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Beyond the written Biblical Text (as Torah
was with God, before the creation)
Gezeroth = teaching independent from
Scripture
 Takkanoth = teaching radically changing
the teaching of Torah = Prosbul of Hillel
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 Sanctification
of the Name
Early Rabbinic/Pharisees: School:
Halakah Sanctification of the Name
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Making a fence around Torah
 Always changing and growing tradition:
Mishnah, Talmud; reinterpreted in terms of
the new situations in life;
 Here Revelation, Scripture = open; on
going; discerning what is God’s will = how to
sanctify the name today
 Being faithful = adapting, changing…
COVENANT (Exodus 19 & 20) as
Hermeneutical/Theological Frame:
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For Pharisees and Rabbis:
Election (as the Chosen People of God) = God’s
freeing the People from bondage = saved from
bondage = done; closed revelation
Vocation (to be a people of priests = Sanctification of
the Name) closed revelation
Law = Way to walk… How to fulfill this vocation (to
sanctify the Name) open = always new ways for
new contexts (inculturation)
Exodus 19:3-6
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3 "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob,
and tell the Israelites: 4 You have seen what
I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on
eagles' wings and brought you to myself. 5
Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep
my covenant, you shall be my treasured
possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the
whole earth is mine, 6 but you shall be for me
a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These
are the words that you shall speak to the
Israelites."
Exodus 20:1-4
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1 Then God spoke all these words: 2 I
am the LORD your God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of slavery; 3 you shall have no
other gods before me. 4 You shall not
make for yourself an idol,
Pharisees
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Pharisees = One Covenant
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Election: complete = everything has been
revealed on Mount Sinai (Oral and Written Torah)
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Haggadah: Closed sacred history Liturgy;
interpreting Scripture by Scripture (Midrash)
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Halakah: needs to be reinterpreted again and
again (Mishnah, Talmud, constantly interpreted in
terms of social, cultural situation)
Apocalyptic people: e.g. Qumran
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Apocalyptic = New Covenant (people still in bondage)
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Election: God is electing, choosing a remnant/a new
faithful people = new interventions of God
 Typology; Prophecy are fulfilled
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Haggadah = Open sacred history, ongoing activity of God ,
establishing and reestablishing the covenant through
choosing/calling a new people, through interventions of
power
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Halakah = Very strict; AS BY PRIEST IN THE TEMPLE