A Little Window into Old Testament Scholarship
In my PhD work I
completed a seminar in which I had to read roughly 4,200 pages covering the
history of scholarship on the Old Testament. In a major paper I wrote for that
seminar I included a short introduction in which I did some personal reflection
on some of the major impressions I took away from my reading as a whole. I have
included my major impressions below in a modified format. I hope these
impression might be beneficial in some way to you and at least give a small
window into the world of Old Testament scholarship. As always, I love to
hear feedback from you.
__________

Secondly, it was
interesting to me to see how tied interpretive methods and theories are, at
their core, to the wider culture and philosophies of the world at any given
time. One can point to the Jewish allegorization in Alexandria as a product of
general literary hermeneutics of the day coupled with Hellenistic philosophy.
Or similarly, a link can be seen between the Enlightenment and the higher critical
movement that was so concerned with finding a scientific research method for
biblical studies as well as objective facts within the Bible. The tie between
culture and research methods should give us pause as Old Testament scholars and
encourage us to stand back from our own culture and see how it may be driving
our inquiries into the Biblical text. It seems plausible that the current
eclectic state of biblical scholarship may be tied to the post-modern tendency
to approve of all methods and yet stand in judgment over none.
Thirdly, I was
reminded of the complexities that are involved in deciding what text we should
actually study as Old Testament scholars. The compilation of the canon is not a
clean process, but I think reflects a perfect God working through imperfect
people. This is one area of scholarship that almost necessitates faith. In
response to the complexity that is involved, I plan to be more sensitive to
textual issues, especially regarding the LXX, the MT, and documents that have
come from Qumran.
Finally, I enjoyed
placing myself in the long line of New Testament and Old Testament scholars
that generally have wanted to genuinely understand the Biblical texts.
Sometimes the philosophy of the day, personal sin, or a misguided teacher have
led scholars astray, but there is value even in learning from the wrong turns
in the history of scholarship. Above all, I hope as I work in biblical studies,
and more particularly in Old Testament studies, God would let me understand His
Word and maybe, just maybe, add my own tiny piece to our understanding of the
Bible.
*The above
excerpt is modified from a paper originally presented to Golden Gate Baptist
Theological Seminary in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a PhD in
Old Testament, summer 2015. Any use of the above material must be properly
footnoted and credit given to the author. DO NOT Plagiarize! Furthermore, the picture above is an original
work (copyright 2015) of www.entrustedwiththegospel.com
and must not be used without expressed written consent.
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