A History of Biblical Interpretation, Volume 1: The Ancient Period

A HISTORY of BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION: Volume 1: The Ancient Period......Page 4
Contents......Page 6
Preface......Page 8
Abbreviations......Page 12
THE BEGINNINGS OF INTERPRETATION......Page 24
ISSUES OF UNITY AND DIVERSITY......Page 27
MAJOR HISTORICAL EVENTS AND CIRCUMSTANCES INFLUENCING ANCIENT BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION......Page 32
The Septuagint......Page 36
Philo of Alexandria......Page 38
The Dead Sea Scrolls......Page 41
Targumim......Page 45
Rabbinic Midrash......Page 49
Canon of the Tanak (Old Testament)......Page 52
Non-Canonical Jewish Literature......Page 56
Christian Interpretation in the Apostolic Period (30-100 CE)......Page 59
The Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists (100-200 CE)......Page 63
Alexandria versus Antioch (150-400 CE)......Page 66
Jerome and Augustine and the Legacy of the Schools......Page 70
The Emergence of the Canon of the New Testament......Page 73
Early Noncanonical Christian Writings......Page 75
THE END OF THE ANCIENT PERIOD OF BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION......Page 77
INTRODUCTION......Page 78
INNER-BIBLICAL EXEGESIS: DELINEATION OF TOPIC......Page 79
ORIGINS OF SCRIPTURAL EXEGESIS......Page 80
IDENTIFYING INNER-BIBLICAL EXEGESIS......Page 83
Scribal Glosses and Explanatory Interpolations......Page 85
Exegesis of Legal Materials......Page 87
Exegesis of Prophetic Oracles......Page 91
INNER-BIBLICAL EXEGESIS AND THE EMERGING CANON......Page 95
CONTINUITY BETWEEN INNER-BIBLICAL EXEGESIS AND LATER INTERPRETIVE ACTIVITIES......Page 97
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 100
THE SEPTUAGINT: NOT A UNIFIED DOCUMENT......Page 103
WHAT DID THE TRANSLATORS TRANSLATE — AND HOW?......Page 105
TRANSMISSION OF THE SEPTUAGINT......Page 106
REVISIONS OF THE SEPTUAGINT......Page 107
ALL IS NOT LOST......Page 108
INTERPRETATIVE ELEMENTS IN LXX ISAIAH......Page 109
INTERPRETATIVE ELEMENTS IN LXX DEUTERONOMY......Page 112
INTERPRETATIVE ELEMENTS I N LXX ZECHARIAH......Page 113
LXX AND MIDRASH: GREEK JOSHUA......Page 114
GREEK PROVERBS: HELLENISTIC OR JEWISH?......Page 115
ANALYSIS OF TRANSLATION EQUIVALENCES: POSSIBILITIES AND LIMITATIONS......Page 117
ANTI-ANTHROPOMORPHISM AND -PATHISM?......Page 118
"MESSIANIZING" IN THE LXX?......Page 119
SEXUAL POLITICS AND (IN?) THE SEPTUAGINT......Page 121
REVISERS AND TRANSLATRS: THEODOTION, AQUILA, AND SYMMACHUS......Page 123
THE SEPTUAGINT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT......Page 125
CONCLUDING REMARKS......Page 128
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 131
4. Peder Borgen: Philo of Alexandria as Exegete......Page 137
Rewriting the Pentateuch......Page 138
Exegetical Commentaries......Page 139
God's Laws Proclaimed to the Greek-Speaking World......Page 141
The Mosaic Law and the Cosmic Law......Page 142
The Deeper Meanings......Page 144
From Macrocosm to Microcosm......Page 145
Specific Commandments and Their Ethical Meaning......Page 146
The Deeper and Literal Meanings......Page 147
PHILO AS AN EXEGETE IN CONTEXT......Page 148
Question and Answer......Page 149
Direct Exegesis......Page 152
Contrast......Page 153
Paraphrastic Rewriting......Page 154
Rewritten Bible......Page 155
Commentaries......Page 157
EPILOGUE......Page 159
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 161
SCRIPTURE AT QUMRAN?......Page 167
FROM "TEXT" TO "INTERPRETATION"......Page 170
EXPLICIT AND IMPLICIT ALLUSION TO SCRIPTURE......Page 171
HALAKHIC AND HAGGADIC INTERPRETATION......Page 172
"PARABIBLICAL" TEXTS......Page 174
HALAKHAH: SCRIPTURE AS LAW......Page 176
SCRIPTURE AS HISTORY LESSON......Page 179
LITURGY AS SCRIPTURAL INTERPRETATION......Page 184
WISDOM AS SCRIPTURAL INTERPRETATION......Page 186
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 187
ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF TARGUMIC TRADITION......Page 190
Translations of the Hebrew Text......Page 194
Contemporizing of Names......Page 195
Contemporizing of Halakah......Page 196
Converse Translations......Page 197
Euphemistic Translations and Respect for the Elders......Page 198
Converse Translation in Targum Ezekiel 16......Page 199
Avoidance of Anthropomorphisms and of God as Subject or Object......Page 200
Divine Immanence and Transcendence, Memra of the Lord, Glory, Shekinah......Page 201
The Law, Good Deeds, and Reward in Heaven......Page 203
Eschatology, Resurrection of the Dead, the World to Come, the Messiah......Page 205
Prayer......Page 206
The Four Gifts......Page 207
The Four Nights......Page 209
Imitation of God's Humility and Kindness......Page 210
Moses, the Model Dispenser of Justice......Page 211
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 212
7. Gary G. Porton: Rabbinic Midrash......Page 221
THE BIBLE AND MIDRASH......Page 225
THE SETTING OF MIDRASH......Page 229
THE FORM OF MIDRASHIC INTERPRETATION......Page 231
EXAMPLES OF RABBINIC MIDRASH......Page 232
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 242
THE MEANING OF "CANON" AND THE NOTION OF AUTHORSHIP......Page 248
THE REPETITION OF TRADITIONS IN EARLY ISRAEL......Page 250
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE BIBLE AS CANON, THE HERMENEUTICAL TRIANGLE......Page 253
THE COALESCING OF THE TRADITIONS FROM GENESIS TO 2 KINGS......Page 256
THE PROPHETIC PERSPECTIVE ON ISRAEL'S FUTURE......Page 259
THE TENSION BETWEEN CORPORATE AND INDIVIDUAL FOCUS......Page 260
THE GROWING DOMINANCE OF FOCUS ON THE INDIVIDUAL......Page 262
THE TRANSFORMATION OF ISRAEL'S IDENTITY......Page 263
LATE MOVEMENT TOWARD THE CANONIZATION OF THE TORAH......Page 266
THE KETUVIM; THE TANAK AND THE CHRISTIAN OLD TESTAMENT......Page 268
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 272
9. James H. Charlesworth: The Interpretation of the Tanak in the Jewish Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha......Page 276
The Books of Enoch and Jubilees......Page 278
The Ladder of Jacob and Other Works......Page 280
The Influence of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel on Interpretation......Page 283
Judith and the Words of Gad the Seer......Page 285
The Jeremiah Cycle......Page 286
The Additional Psalms of David and the Psalms of Solomon......Page 288
Hymns, Prayers, and Wisdom Tradition......Page 291
The Historical Writings, Especially the Ezra Cycle......Page 292
APOCALYPTIC LITERATURE......Page 294
REWRITTEN BIBLE......Page 295
The Story of Jael and the Hymn of Deborah......Page 296
The Lament of Seila......Page 298
The Hymn of Hannah......Page 299
CONCLUSION......Page 300
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 302
PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS......Page 306
The Data......Page 308
THE USE OF THE SCRIPTURES......Page 309
The Task......Page 311
Reading the Scriptures: Rules of the Game......Page 312
Common Convictions......Page 319
Echoes......Page 320
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 324
11. Joseph Trigg: The Apostolic Fathers and the Apologists......Page 327
Ignatius of Antioch......Page 328
1 Clement......Page 331
2 Clement......Page 332
The Epistle and Martyrdom of Polycarp......Page 334
The Shepherd of Hermas......Page 335
The Epistle of Barnabas......Page 336
The Epistle to Diognetus......Page 338
Justin Martyr......Page 339
Athenagoras......Page 344
Melito......Page 345
Theophilus of Antioch......Page 348
IRENAEUS AND THE LEGACY OF THE APOSTOLIC FATHERS AND APOLOGISTS......Page 350
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 354
12. Frances Young: Alexandrian and Antiochene Exegesis......Page 357
ALLEGORY......Page 358
PHILOLOGY......Page 361
HISTORIA......Page 364
THEŌRIA......Page 370
CONCLUSION......Page 374
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 375
13. Dennis Brown: Jerome and the Vulgate......Page 378
Hebrew......Page 379
The Need for a Translation......Page 380
The Old Latin Versions......Page 381
The Vulgate Translation......Page 382
Other Translation Work......Page 385
Implications for the Canon......Page 386
BIBLICAL INTERPRETATION......Page 387
Jerome's Commentaries......Page 389
Literal and Allegorical Understanding......Page 391
Use of Jewish Exegesis......Page 393
JEROME'S LEGACY......Page 394
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 395
BACKGROUND......Page 403
Initial Encounters with the Scriptures......Page 404
Neoplatonist Lessons......Page 406
THE STUDENT OF THE SCRIPTURES......Page 408
The Canon......Page 410
Presuppositions......Page 411
Literal and Spiritual......Page 415
Plurality of Meanings......Page 420
Tyconius's Rules......Page 422
Sign and Reality......Page 426
CONCLUSIONS......Page 428
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 430
Recent Developments in the Study of New Testament Canon Formation......Page 432
The Smaller Collections: Paul's Letters......Page 434
The Smaller Collections: The Gospels......Page 437
The Catholic Epistles, Acts, and Revelation......Page 439
The Third and Fourth Centuries......Page 440
The Fathers......Page 442
Humanism and the Reformation......Page 444
Historical-Critical Interpretation and Canonical Criticism......Page 445
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 448
THE USE OF SCRIPTURE IN THE APOCRYPHAL GOSPELS......Page 453
INTERPRETATION OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IN THE GNOSTIC WRITINGS......Page 458
The Creation Story......Page 460
The Fall......Page 464
The Flood......Page 467
The "Jealous" God......Page 468
THE USE OF NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS IN APOCRYPHAL AND GNOSTIC TEXTS......Page 470
BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 475
Contributors......Page 480
ANCIENT AND PRE-MODERN AUTHORS......Page 481
MODERN AUTHORS......Page 482
Index of Subjects......Page 489
Index of Primary Sources......Page 541