Lecture 1 Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament

Lecture 1: Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament APTS-BIB509 What do we mean by “Introduction”? • Einführung – Survey of the biblical material. • Einleitung – Introduction as a technical word in Biblical Studies. Here, such issues as authorship, history of research, critical / analytical theories, structural analysis are dealt with. “Introduction”? • The Greek term Eivsagwgh, was first used by a monk named Adrianus (ca. 440 AD) and the German technical term Einleitung was use by J. D. Michaelis (1750). • “Introductions” have been used by the Christian and Jewish communities for early days. [Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An Introduction, §1] Important “Introductions” • R. K Harrison, Introduction to the Old Testament, 1969. • O. Eissfeldt, The Old Testament: An Introduction, 1965. • S. R. Driver, An Introduction to the Literature of the Old Testament, 1891, 1913. • B. S. Childs, Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture, 1979. Why Study the O.T. Anyway? 1. Is the Canonicity and/or Authority of the OT negated by the existence of the NT? – Rom 10.4; Gal 3.10-4.7 – 2 Tim 3.15-7; Matt 5.17 Why Study the O.T. Anyway? 2. The Problem with Dispensationalism: 2.1 Division of the Bible into eras in which God dealt differently with his people (5 in OT; 2 in NT). 2.2 A 3 Fold Interpretative Keys: 2.2.1 The distinction between Israel and the Church. 2.2.2 The usage of a system of literal hermeneutics. 2.2.3 The belief that the underlying purpose of God in the world is to produce His glory. [Feinberg, J. S. "Salvation in the Old Testament," in Tradition & Testament, 44-45] Why Study the O.T. Anyway? 3. Problems with the Historical Critical Methodology: 3.1 The method has a distancing effect. 3.2 Positivistic view of history. 3.3 Tends to oversimplify the difference between now and the ancient periods Why Study the O.T. Anyway? 3.4 The method produces conflicting results. 3.5 Does not always recover "original thought," i.e., "Authorial Intent"! 3.6 Tends to be atomistic & disintegrative. 3.7 Difficult communicate 3.8 Principle of Analogue is problematic [Nations, A. L., “Historical Criticism and the Current Methodological Crisis,” SJT 36 (1983), 59-71] Problems to Overcome in OT Study 1. Seeing the OT as "Our Scripture," not just Israel's 1.1 The early Church lived by the OT scriptures, therefore it should not seen as the "Hebrew Scriptures", but the "Church's Bible." 1.2 It is Important to read the OT as scripture just as the NT. Problems to Overcome in OT Study 2. Two dangers: 2.1 Avoiding Christianizing the OT: especially Christologizing the OT. 2.2 Avoid the Idea of NT superceding the OT 2.2.1 Marcion who thought that the OT God was an inferior God. 2.2.2 Bultmann a modern version of Marcion 2.2.3 Dispensationalism Problems to Overcome in OT Study 3. Letting the OT have a quasiindependent status independence in relationship 3.1 A Trinitarian faith does not have to be Christomonistic. 3.2 Two communities of faith co-exist in the mystery of God's Election. (Rom 9-11) [See Anderson, Bernhard W., Contours of Old Testament Theology, 3-15 for the general ideas presented here.] Problems to Overcome in OT Study 3.3 Theological witness of the OT can supplement those of the NT. 3.3.1 NT presupposes OT theology: Theologies of Creation & Ecology; Expostulation with God 3.3.2 OT Supplements the NT: Calvin & governmental institutions; the larger frame of Theology Proper. What is Exegesis? What did the text mean? 1. OT language 2. Establishing the best text - Text Criticism 3. Literary Criticism - type of genre, etc. 4. Manner of Composition - single/composite 5. Character of Text - oral tradition; layers of meaning. 6. Cultural Milieu - Geography; Climate; Archaeology; Inst. of An. Is. 7. World Thought - text of ANE 8. Ancient Israelite Psychology What is Hermeneutics? What does the text mean? 1. Hearing the text in the Theology of both O.T. and the N.T. 2. History of Interpretation Church History. 3. Critical Theological view on all levels > Systematic/Dogmatic Theology. 4. Correction and admonition by the text. Canon and Canonization 1. Flavius Josephus (c. AD 37- c. AD 100) appears to be the earliest extrabiblical witness to the OT canon 1.1 Division of Josephus‟ 22 Books: – Five Books of Moses: Gen; Exo; Lev; Num; Deut – Thirteen Books of the Prophets: Jos; Jud-Ru; 1&2 Sam; 1&2 Kgs; Isa; Jer-Lam; Eze; Twelve; Dan; Job; 1&2 Chr; Ezr-Neh; Est Canon and Canonization – Four Hymns and Precepts: Psa; Prov; SOS; Ecc 1.2 Also the 22 count was followed by: Melito, Origen, Eusebius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Jerome, and Augustine. Canon and Canonization 2. Ezra and the men of the Great Synagogue: – “The most prevalent answer in some circles was that of a sixteenth-century Jewish teacher named Elias Levita (d. AD 1549): Ezra and his associates, the men of the Great Synagogue, established both the correct text, the correct number, and the arrangement of the books of the Bible. But neither Scripture itself nor history gives us any warrant for linking Ezra or a „Great Synagogue‟ to a closing of the canon.” [Kaiser, Toward Rediscovering the Old Testament, 38] Canon and Canonization – “Neither is the tradition drawn from 4 Esdras 14 - which supposes that all the sacred books were burned with the temple in 586 BC, thereby necessitating that Ezra and his five companions rewrite them in forty days and forty nights- of much help either, for this too is completely and unsubstantiated by any external historical data.” [Kaiser, Toward Rediscovering the Old Testament, 38] Canon and Canonization 3. The Council of Jamnia (or Jabne, a town not far south of Joppa, close to the Mediterranean coast) – "Even in the frequently alleged work of the Council of Jamnia in its two meetings in AD 90 and 118 cannot be credited with declaring what is canonical and what is not.... This Jamnia hypothesis, concluded Jack P. Lewis, “appears to be one of those things that has come to be true due to frequent repetition of the assertion rather than to its being actually supported by evidence” (J. P. Lewis, “What Do We Mean by Jabneh?” Journal of Bible and Religion 32 (1964), 132).... Jamnia, however, gives no evidence of settling or even discussing the question of the canon." [Kaiser, 38] Canon and Canonization 4. Progressive Canonization Theory: – "Within the corpus of the writings themselves there is both the assertion of the writers that their writings have been received from and guided by the revelatory and inspiring work of the Holy Spirit and the assertion that what has been written was to be collected with the other books that had made a similar claim and were likewise treated as authoritative." [Kaiser, 39] 5. NT Witness: 5.1 Lk 24.44 “Law, Prophets and Psalms” as the three fold division of the Baba Bathra. 5.2 Matt 5.17; 7.12; 22.40; Acts 13.15 have “the Law and the Prophets” Canon and Canonization 5.3 Lk 24.27 has “Moses and all the Prophets” 5.4 Matt 23.34-35 6. Roger Beckwith: – The Old Testament Canon of the New Testament Church. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1985. – “Formation of the Hebrew Bible,” in Mikra, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1990, pp. 39-85. 7. Recent Influences of Qumran Studies. The Hebrew Canonical Order • Torah: Pentateuch • Prophets: –Former Prophets (Historical Book) –Later Prophets (Prophets) • Writings Textual Criticism • MT – Masoretic Text (Hebrew) • LXX – Septuagint (Greek) • Qumran – (Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic) • Samaritan Pentateuch - (Hebrew) • Vulgate - (Latin) • Aramaic Targum - (Aramaic) • Syriac Peshitta - (Syriac) Manuscripts Dating of Manuscripts & Traditions • Hebrew Bible – Dead Sea Scrolls: 200BCE-100CE (the whole canon except for Esther) – Cairo Codex: 827CE, Prophets – Leningrad Codex: 916CE, Prophets – Aleppo Codex: 930CE – Leningrad B19A: 1008-9CE Dating of Manuscripts & Traditions • Septuagint (LXX) – Tradition: 3rd Century BCE – Manuscripts: • Codex Alexandrius (A) – 5CE • Codex Sinaiticus (S or a) – 4CE • Codex Vaticanus (B) – 4CE Dating of Manuscripts & Traditions • Other Traditions & Manuscripts: – Samaritan Pentateuch – 400 BCE – Aramaic Targum – Syriac Peshitta – Latin Bible: • Old Latin - 150CE • Vulgate – 400CE [Emanuel Tov, Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible] Codex Cairensis: 827CE, Moshe ben Asher Aleppo Codex: Shelomo ben Buyaa, 930CE Aleppo Codex: Shelomo ben Buyaa, 930CE Codex 17, Firkowitsch Collection: 930CE Codex Leningrad B19A: 1008-9CE Codex Leningrad B19A: 1008-9CE Samaritan Pentateuch: 1215/6 Codex Vaticanus: LXX, 1209 Historical Criticism 1. History of Religions 2. Form Criticism 3. Tradition Criticism 4. Sociological Interpretation Literary Criticism 1. Source Criticism 2. Redaction Criticism 3. The New Literary Criticism 4. Rhetorical Criticism 5. Reader Response Criticism 6. Structuralism 7. Canonical Criticism