History of Christian Interpretaion

A Brief History of Christian Interpretation

From Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, by Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard

a

PATRISTIC PERIOD (a.d. 100-590)

Ð'* From the death of the Apostle John until Pope Gregory I, 590 a.d.

Ð'* "Patristic" in that it features the contributions of the so-called Church Fathers.

Ð'* The period in which the N.T. canon was developed, O.T. was still the primary authoritative collection

of scriptures.

Ð'* In later years, church tradition began to exercise significant influence on the definition of church

doctrine.

Ð'* This period ended when the church councils finally agreed upon the contents of the Christian canon.

Three subperiods:

1. Apostolic Fathers (a.d. 100-150)

A. Select authors: Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Barnabas (pseudonym)

B. Select writings: Didache, Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, Epistle to Diognetius

C. Two purposes:

1. To instruct believers in Christian doctrine

2. To defend the faith against Jewish arguments

D. Four major approaches:

1. Typology Ð'- e.g. Clement saw the scarlet color of the cloth that Rahab hung in Jericho to signal Joshua's spies as a foreshadowing of the blood of Jesus (1 Clement 12:7).

2. Allegory

a. Seeing spiritual significance in every detail of a passage.

b. Barnabas saw the seven days of creation as a key to understanding the future Ð'- six days indicate the world will last six thousand years, seventh day symbolizes the second coming of Christ, followed by the eighth day Ð'- "the beginning of another world" (15:3-9)

c. Allegory was the most popular way to interpret literature generally in that period.

3. Midrash Ð'- a complex interpretive approach developed earlier by the Jewish rabbis that found symbolic significance in every word and phrase of the O.T. It followed a carefully devised set of rules which to today's readers appear to be little more than manipulation of the text to suit one's interests. In the originating period, however, the intent of the rabbis was to find the practical significance "behind" the scriptures so they could be applied to life situations not addressed in the plain sense of a passage.

4. Tradition

a. When the Gnostics appeared in the 2nd-3rd centuries, they supported their heresies by appealing to so-called sayings of Jesus that he had taught his disciples in private and that only the most spiritual could comprehend. Given the fact that the complete Christian canon was still in development, many Christian leaders felt disadvantaged in combating Gnostic heresies. Their only recourse to rebut the heresies was to appeal the authority of traditions believed to have been handed down from the apostles.

b. This established a new hermeneutical principle of church tradition that dominated until it was challenged centuries later during the Reformation.

2. Alexandria vs. Antioch (a.d. 150-400)

A. Two centers of Christian instruction dominated during this time, each of having their distinct approach to hermeneutics, Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch of Syria.

B. Alexandria in Egypt

1. Promoted the allegorical method among Jews and philosophers through an influential school,

continuing the tradition of Philo, a popular Jewish scholar from the intertestamental period.

2. Allegory Ð'- assigning spiritual significance to every detail of a passage.

3. Clement of Alexandria (a.d. 190-203)

a. Taught that every scripture had two meanings, analogous to a human being:

1) Literal (like the human body)

2) Spiritual or hidden (like the human soul)

3) The literal sense is but a pointer to its underlying spiritual truth.

b. The classic example is Clement's interpretation of the prodigal son: the robe the father gave to the returned prodigal represents immortality; the shoes represent the upward progress of the soul; and the fatted calf represents Christ as the source of spiritual nourishment for Christians.

4. Origen (a.d. 185-254) Ð'- Clement's successor

a. Origen expanded upon Clement, by saying that just as humans consist of body, soul, and spirit, so Scripture has a threefold meaning.

1) Body Ð'- literal meaning

2) Soul Ð'- spiritual meaning (Origen refined this into a "doctrinal" sense, i.e. truths

about the nature of the church and the Christian's relationship to God)

3) Spirit Ð'- moral meaning (i.e. ethical instructions about the believer's relationships to

others)

b. An example is the sexual relations between Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19:30-38). The literal sense was that it actually happened. The moral meaning is that Lot represents the rational mind, his wife the flesh inclined to pleasures, and the daughters vainglory and pride. Applying these three yields the spiritual (or doctrinal) meaning: Lot represents the O.T. law, the daughters represent Jerusalem and Samaria, and the wife represents the Israelites who rebelled in the wilderness.

c. For those who argued that this approach took liberties with the text, Origen contended that God has inspired the allegorical meaning into his writing. Thus, what Origen considered the deepest meaning of Scripture was already implicit in Scripture, not something invented by the interpreter.

5. This approach sparked