The aim of this book according to the authour ‘is a brief introduction
to orient students and interested readers to the field while pointing them on
to further study and inquiry.’
The athour accomplishes his purpose because reading this book has opened
my mind to the history of Old Testament Criticism and to some of the major
contributors in Old Testament historical and literary developments.
This book introduces the reader to seven major figures who contributed
somewhat to Old Testament criticisms. Gignilliat approach is to focus on the
life and work of these seven figures rather than just talk about their critical
theories, although, in detailing briefly about their life and work, Gignilliat
focuses specifically on the works which contributed to Old Testament criticism.
This approach I found to be helpful because the figures behind the criticisms
can be seen as people who genuinely struggled or in some cases were seeking to
understand the biblical text even though they skewed from the orthodox outlook.
For example, De Wette (Famous for his religious history approach of
understanding the Old testament) writes of his own conversion:
An un-forgetful outward circumstance occasioned the happiest revolution
in my inner life and gave me back the peace I had lost. The imperfect, cloudy
faith of my childhood was replaced by one higher and better, the remembrance of
God awoke in my heart to new life, and belief in immortality returned in a
higher transformed form. Now theology was for me no longer cold, grim moral
censor, nor even merely a daughter of history; it increasingly rose up before
my eyes to higher, heavenly majesty, to divine dignity.
A fantastic religious experience for De Wette and yet I would disagree
with his view or approach to the Old Testament. For de Wette, the historical
character of the old testament has to do with the religious makeup of the
various authours and redactors actually composing or compiling the material; it
is not historical in any sense of reporting the events as they actually
occurred.
Later Old Testament critics challenge De Wette’s approach such as
William Albright and Brevard Childs who argues for the essential historical
character of the old testament narratives was integral to the authority of the
bible, even if the reporting of the events in the old testament was blurry in
details.
For Brevard Childs, it was essential to retain the divine authority of
Scripture where earlier critics elevated the human authors and their context
higher than the divine authority. Where other critics have sought to find the
true meaning of Israel’s religion behind the canonical text such as Welhausen
who argues that much of Israel’s early religious life was lost when Judaism
formalised the law code, which in turn displaced ancient Israels more natural
and intuitive worship. Childs counters this position by advocating the
significance of the final form of the biblical text is that it alone bears
witness to the full history of revelation. Thus the biblical texts are the
locus of revelation and not the events in and of themselves apart from God’s revealed wisdom regarding their significance.
The seven major figures surveyed in this book are Benedict Spinoza
(1632-1677). W.M.L De Wette (1780-1849), Julius Wheelhouse (1844-1918), Herman
Gunkel (1862-1932), Gerhad Von Rad (1901-1971), William Foxwell Albright
(1891-1971), and Brevard S. Childs (1923-2007).
This book is not a comprehensive attempt at expounding the very complex
history of the Old Testament interpretation.
I will finish this review with a quote from Herman Bavink on how we
should view scripture:
Scripture, accordingly, does not stand by itself. It may not be
construed deistically. It is rooted in centuries long history and is the fruit
of God’s revelation among the people of Israel and in Christ.
Still, it is not a book of times long past, which only links us with persons
and events of the past. Holy Scripture is not an arid story or ancient
chronicle but the ever-living, eternally youthful word, which God, now and
always, issues to his people. It is the eternal ongoing speech of God to us. It
does not just serve to give us historical information; it does not even have the
intent to furnish us a historical story by the standard demanded in other
realms of knowledge. Holy scripture is tendentious: whatever was written in
former days was written for our instruction, that by steadfastness and by the
encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope (Romans 15:4). Scripture was
written by the Holy Spirit that it might serve in guiding the church, in the
perfecting of the saints, in building up the body of Christ. In it God daily
comes to his people, not from afar but from nearby… it is the living voice of God….divine inspiration, accordingly, is a permanent
attribute of Holy Scripture. It is not only God-breathed at the time it was
written; it is God breathing.
Purchase A brief history of Old Testament Criticism at: http://zondervan.com/9780310325321
K.Oni
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