scholarly journals Lessons from the Early Church for Today’s Evangelical Christianity

Kairos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-90
Author(s):  
Ervin Budiselić
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Early Church ◽  
Evangelical Christianity ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Historical Process ◽  
Rule Of Faith ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

Presuming that within Evangelical Christianity there is a crisis of biblical interpretation, this article seeks to address the issue, especially since Evangelicals view the existence of the church as closely connected to the proclamation of the Truth. Starting with a position that Evangelical hermeneutics is not born in a vacuum, but is the result of a historical process, the first part of the article introduces the problem of sola and solo scriptura, pointing out some problematic issues that need to be addressed. In the second part, the article discusses patristic hermeneutics, especially: a) the relationship between Scripture and tradition embodied in regula fidei and; b) theological presuppositions which gave birth to allegorical and literal interpretations of Scripture in Alexandria and Antioch. In the last part of the article, based on lessons from the patristic era, certain revisions of the Evangelical practice of the interpretation of Scripture are suggested. Particularly, Evangelicals may continue to hold the Bible as the single infallible source for Christian doctrine, continue to develop the historical-grammatical method particularly in respect to the issue of the analogy of faith in exegetical process, but also must recognize that the Bible cannot in toto play the role of the rule of faith or the analogy of faith. Something else must also come into play, and that “something” would definitely be the recovery of the patristic period “as a kind of doctrinal canon.”

Ecological Hermeneutics and Jeremiah

2021 ◽  
pp. 636-647
Author(s):  
Kristel Clayville
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Ethics ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Specific Role ◽  
The Bible ◽  
History Of ◽  
Ethical Thinking ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter provides an overview of the relationship between ethics and the Bible, then turns to focus on the specific role of environmental ethics in biblical interpretation and the development of ecological hermeneutics. After this brief history of ethical thinking in and with the Bible, the chapter offers a critical summary of various interpretive typologies that scholars have developed to describe the Israelite relationship to land in the Bible. Building on this background, this chapter offers an analysis of Jeremiah that is informed by ecological hermeneutics. This reading focuses on the role of the land in the Israelite imaginary, the loss of land as punishment, the natural versus unnatural as a diagnostic for moral purity, and reading from the perspective of the land.

Typology and the Christian Use of the Old Testament

1976 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-157
Author(s):  
David L. Baker
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Early Church ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Scholarship ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Relationship

It is necessary first of all to consider what is meant by the word ‘typology’. There is a world of difference between the use of τ⋯πoς (‘type’) in the Bible and many of the fanciful interpretations which were called ‘types’ in the early Church, or between the use of typology in modern biblical scholarship and in modern church life. Two main conceptions of typology are to be found today. Recently a number of biblical scholars, notably Gerhard von Rad, have used the term to describe the interpretation of history involved in the ‘promise-fulfilment’ approach to the relationship between the Testaments. Alongside this there are those who perpetuate fanciful kinds of biblical interpretation closely related to allegory and symbolism, referring to them as typology. The place of typology in the Christian use of the Old Testament depends entirely therefore on what is meant by the word.

Examining the Role of the Reader: A Necessary Task for Catholic Biblical Interpretation

Horizons ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 28-55
Author(s):  
Gilberto A. Ruiz
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Biblical Studies ◽  
Japanese American ◽  
Recent Discussion ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Role Of The Reader ◽  
The Church

Thanks to the explosion of methods and hermeneutical frameworks that have surfaced in biblical studies since the 1970s, the discipline looks very different today than when Catholic scholars were first openly permitted to engage it. Among these approaches are those that foreground the complex role the real flesh-and-blood reader plays in interpretation. Recent discussion on what makes biblical interpretation “Catholic” reveals it to be a contested topic. Through an analysis of the Pontifical Biblical Commission'sThe Interpretation of the Bible in the Churchand Frank M. Yamada's article “What Does Manzanar Have to Do with Eden? A Japanese American Interpretation of Genesis 2–3,” the present article enters the discussion over what constitutes Catholic biblical interpretation to argue that it must integrate hermeneutical approaches that foreground real readers within the context of lived realities.

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Church History ◽  
Critical Study ◽  
Christian Identity ◽  
Early Christian ◽  
The Bible ◽  
God's Word ◽  
Sacred Scripture ◽  
The Church

The Bible was the lifeblood of virtually every aspect of the life of the early churches. The essays in this Handbook explore a wide array of themes related to the reception, canonization, interpretation, uses, and legacies of the Bible in early Christianity. A first group of studies examines the material text transmitted, translated, and invested with authority, and the very conceptualization of sacred Scripture as God’s word for the Church. A second group looks at the culture and disciplines or science of interpretation in representative exegetical traditions. A third group of essays addresses the remarkably diverse literary and non-literary modes of interpretation, while a fourth group canvasses the communal background and foreground of early Christian interpretation, where the Bible was paramount in shaping normative Christian identity. A fifth group assesses the determinative role of the Bible in major developments and theological controversies in the life of the churches. A sixth group returns to interpretation proper and samples how certain abiding motifs from within scriptural revelation were treated by major Christian expositors. A seventh and final group of studies follows up by examining how early Christian exegesis was retrieved and critically evaluated in later periods of church history. Along the way, readers will be oriented to the major resources for, and issues in, the critical study of early Christian biblical interpretation.

scholarly journals " 'n Oop en vry teologiese debat met werklike diepgang"

2001 ◽  
Vol 57 (1/2) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. G. Van Aarde
Keyword(s):  
New Testament ◽  
Critical Evaluation ◽  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Bible Translation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
University Of Pretoria ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
The University ◽  
The Church

"An in-depth open theological discussion". This article reflects a conversation between Andries G van Aarde and Gert Pelser. G M M Pelser was professor of New Testament at the University of Pretoria from 1972 to 2001. The following issues were discussed: the influence of the Reformation and Aufldirung on Biblical interpretation; methodology of exegesis; the role of extra-canonical writings; a canon in the canon; the use of the Bible at the university and in the church; Bible translation; the interrelationship between theology and culture; a critical evaluation of the ''peoples' church" ("volkskerk"); "the church as corpus permixtum; ministry rather than office; confessionalism; Pauline themes; the theological heritage of Rudolf Bultmann.

Rembrandt Reads the Gospels: Form, Context and Theological Responsibility in New Testament Interpretation

1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-413 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clive Marsh
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
Christian Theology ◽  
Christian Doctrine ◽  
Constructive Theology ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biblical Scholar ◽  
Road Story ◽  
The Church

Art is part of the history of the church, and relates to spirituality and to the practical expression of Christian faith. It illustrates theological loci and biblical themes. Often, the art which fulfils this function does so with the conscious intent of the artist; sometimes not. Attempts have been made, however, to argue that art not only illustrates theology, but also contributes to it. Even so, systematic theologians and biblical scholars — when they do talk to each other — still converse on the basis of largely word-centred approaches to their tasks. I am neither systematic theologian nor biblical scholar, precisely because I attempt to keep a foot in both camps. I am even less of an art critic. Yet it is clear that in the world of art there is a whole area of exploration yet to be ventured into not only historically (have we really sufficiently explored how biblical interpretation and doctrinal theology have been influenced by art?) but also from the perspective of constructive theology (what contribution can art past and present make to the very reformulation and expansion of Christian doctrine?). This paper offers a brief reading of three paintings by Rembrandt, of the Emmaus Road story in Luke 24.13–35. The theological significance of the changing interpretations of the passage is drawn out and the implications of the use of the paintings, in terms of the creative use of the Bible in Christian theology.

scholarly journals Communities of faith as texts in the process of biblical interpretation

1999 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-92
Author(s):  
L. Jonker
Keyword(s):  
Biblical Interpretation ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Biblical Texts ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Special Responsibility ◽  
The Church ◽  
Modern Perspective

In this article the author illustrates that the relationship between the Bible and the Church could also be described from the post-modern perspective of intertextuality. He argues that communities of faith are texts in an all-encompassing network of textuality. However, these texts, as all other texts, are involved in clusters of related texts that show an affinity with one another. Within these clusters the related texts become more prominent and significant than texts “further away” in the network of textuality. He uses this view to argue that the Church, along with the Synagogue, has a special responsibility in the process of interpretation of the written biblical texts. He also argues that all the approaches that biblical scholars have utilized through the ages, when viewed as different perspectives on the network of textuality, could assist in our reading of communities of faith as texts.

Canons to the Left of Him: Brevard Childs, his Critics, and the Future of Old Testament Theology

1997 ◽  
Vol 50 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Provan
Keyword(s):  
Old Testament ◽  
18Th Century ◽  
Biblical Theology ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
The Bible ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Probable Origin ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church

It is well known that the seeds from which the modern discipline of OT theology grew are already found in 17th and 18th century discussion of the relationship between Bible and Church, which tended to drive a wedge between the two, regarding canon in historical rather than theological terms; stressing the difference between what is transient and particular in the Bible and what is universal and of abiding significance; and placing the task of deciding which is which upon the shoulders of the individual reader rather than upon the church. Free investigation of the Bible, unfettered by church tradition and theology, was to be the way ahead. OT theology finds its roots more particularly in the 18th century discussion of the nature of and the relationship between Biblical Theology and Dogmatic Theology, and in particular in Gabler's classic theoreticalstatementof their nature and relationship. The first book which may strictly be called an OT theology appeared in 1796: an historical discussion of the ideas to be found in the OT, with an emphasis on their probable origin and the stages through which Hebrew religious thought had passed, compared and contrasted with the beliefs of other ancient peoples, and evaluated from the point of view of rationalistic religion. Here we find the unreserved acceptance of Gabler's principle that OT theology must in the first instance be a descriptive and historical discipline, freed from dogmatic constraints and resistant to the premature merging of OT and NT — a principle which in the succeeding century was accepted by writers across the whole theological spectrum, including those of orthodox and conservative inclination.

‘This Romish business’ - Ritual Innovation and Parish Life in Later Nineteenth-Century Lincolnshire

1999 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 384-395
Author(s):  
R. W. Ambler
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Church Of England ◽  
The State ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Holy Communion ◽  
Parish Church ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
The Church ◽  
Mixing Water

In February 1889 Edward King, Bishop of Lincoln, appeared before the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury charged with illegal practices in worship. The immediate occasion for these proceedings was the manner in which he celebrated Holy Communion at the Lincoln parish church of St Peter at Gowts on Sunday 4 December 1887. He was cited on six specific charges: the use of lighted candles on the altar; mixing water with the communion wine; adopting an eastward-facing position with his back to the congregation during the consecration; permitting the Agnus Dei to be sung after the consecration; making the sign of the cross at the absolution and benediction, and taking part in ablution by pouring water and wine into the chalice and paten after communion. Two Sundays later King had repeated some of these acts during a service at Lincoln Cathedral. As well as its intrinsic importance in defining the legality of the acts with which he was charged, the Bishop’s trial raised issues of considerable importance relating to the nature and exercise of authority within the Church of England and its relationship with the state. The acts for which King was tried had a further significance since the ways in which these and other innovations in worship were perceived, as well as the spirit in which they were ventured, also reflected the fundamental shifts which were taking place in the role of the Church of England at parish level in the second half of the nineteenth century. Their study in a local context such as Lincolnshire, part of King’s diocese, provides the opportunity to examine the relationship between changes in worship and developments in parish life in the period.

To Network or Not to Network

2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 376-398
Author(s):  
Nigel Smith
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Holy Spirit ◽  
Word Of God ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Literal Truth ◽  
Literary Art ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract This article contrasts hostility toward visual and literary art in English radical Puritanism before the late seventeenth century with the central role of art for Dutch Mennonites, many involved in the commercial prosperity of Amsterdam. Both 1620s Mennonites and 1650s–1660s Quakers debated the relationship between literal truth of the Bible and claims for the power of a personally felt Holy Spirit. This was the intra-Mennonite “Two-Word Dispute,” and for Quakers an opportunity to attack Puritans who argued that the Bible was literally the Word of God, not the “light within.” Mennonites like Jan Theunisz and Quakers like Samuel Fisher made extensive use of learning, festive subversion and poetry. Texts from the earlier dispute were republished in order to traduce the Quakers when they came to Amsterdam in the 1650s and discovered openness to conversation but not conversion.

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