NT520 New Testament Introduction Sessions 3-4 Approaches to Understanding the New Testament: Models and Methods

Contours of the Current Discussion  Modernism and the Scientific Method The historical basis of all knowing Troeltsch  Principle of Skepticism  Principle of Analogy  Principle of Causation Historical Distance

The Location of Meaning  In History? (Behind the Text?)  On the Page? (In the Text?)  In the Reader or Reading Community? (In Front of the Text?)  In the Narrative of God’s Project?

“Word of God” - In History  Particularity of Biblical Materials 1 Cor 1:11: “It has been reported to me by people from Chloe…” 1 Cor 7:1: “Now concerning the matters about which you wrote…”

The Bible as Process Since many have undertaken to set down an orderly account of the events that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, I too decided, after investigating everything carefully from the very first, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, so that you may know the truth concerning the things about which you have been instructed. (Luke 1:1-4, NRSV)

The Bible as Process Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book. But these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that through believing you may have life in his name. (John 20:30-31, NRSV)

But there are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25, NRSV) The Bible as Process

The Nature of Inspiration?  Were the writers “robots”?  Were the writers inspired?  Was the church inspired?  Is the reader inspired?  Does the Bible become the Word of God?

Inspiration?  Affirm the Ongoing Activity of the Spirit  The Performative Word divine origin: certainty divine origin: ongoing relevance

Channel Idea Formation Encoding Transmission Reception Decoding Idea Reformation SenderReceiver Communication Theory and Biblical Interpretation

Models for Biblical Interpretation

Biblical Message Contemporary Message The Traditional Model

The Dogmatic Model Biblical Message Contemporary Message System

Biblical Context The Scientific Model Biblical Message Contemporary Message

Biblical Context Contemporary Context The Contextual Model Biblical Message Contemporary Message

The Discursive Model  “Discursive” is for “Discourse”  Coming Clean on Our Interests Rom 16:7  jIouniva, a   jIouniva   Consequences

Contemporary Context Biblical Context The Discursive Model Biblical Message Contemporary Message

More on the Discursive Model  Communities of Faith, the Holy Spirit, and Reading the Bible Self-Criticism and Community (With)Whom do you study? Hermeneutics of Analogy The Place of the Spirit

The Spirit and the Community The Discursive Model Biblical Message Contemporary Message Biblical Context Contemporary Context

Questions to Ask in Biblical Interpretation

What is it? (1)  Textual Criticism “The Original Text” Acts 8:37; 20:28 Mark 16:9-20 Probability Internal and External Evidence Metzger, A Textual Commentary

What is it? (2)  Which Translation? Literal: word-for-word Dynamic Equivalence: thought for thought “Free”

More Literal NAS NIV “Message” KJVNAB CEV TEV Williams RSVNEB/REB Phillips NRSV NJB NCV NLT Which Translation?

What is it? (3)  Genre Recognition A “recognizable” form of literature A “contract” NT: Biography, Historiography, Letters, Apocalypse Sub-Genres

What is it? (4)  What is the “thought unit”? A “Pericope” For example: Eph 5:21ff. The problem with chapters and verses Strategies and Arguments

What is the appropriate unit of text for purposes of study?  More than a verse, less than a chapter...usually!  A stretch of text that: has a unity has adequate size for interpretation of its parts has a sense of completeness text that is set off from the material around it by genre-specific textual markers

Some Textual Markers  Narrative change of geography or topography change of characters change of time change of literary form (?)  Letter connectives--e.g., “therefore” or “above all” direct address change of literary form  Apocalyptic (see narrative) change of vision: “Then I saw....”

What is the Co-Text?  Reading from Left to Right prospective development retrospective clarification

What is the Co-Text?  Word Studies: Use and Abuse “Can,” “Father” NOT THE DICTIONARY!!!! Historical: Virtual Co-Textual: Actual Words and “Domains”

What is the Context? Text Events Redaction Source Form Tradition Historical

What is the Context?  Historical Did it happen this way? In what setting is this message communicated?  Socio-Historical Perspectives “Near” (vs. “Distant”) Experience

Political Readings...  Liberationist Hermeneutics: “Reading the Bible from the ‘underside’”  Reading the Bible “from this place”

Political Readings…A Test Case  Feminist Exegesis Document the case against women Identify prophetic/liberating aspects Retrieve the critique of patriarchy Reconstruct biblical history

Between Reader and Text  Inactive Reading  Reactive Reading  Hyperactive Reading  Interactive Reading  Reading at the intersection of textual and readerly interests

The Importance of Theological and Spiritual Formation…. The Right Technique?  A Meaning-Making Machine?  Cultivating Sensibilities  “Good Readings”? Or “Good People Reading”?