Canonical Approach Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

From pragmatical point of view there are three ways to read the Bible. The first, here called philological or analytical, has been cultivated in the Bible departments of continental theological schools since the Enlightenment. According to it, the Bible is to be read like any other ancient document. To Interpret it means to reconstruct its original meaning(s) using the tools of the historical-critical method (Biblia a se). In contrast to it, the theological way of reading the Bible understands the Bible as a part of the tradition of a believing community. As such, it is to be read synthetically or holistically, on the tacit assumption of its general consent with -- or even normative function for -- the teaching of the believing community (Biblia pro nobis). Finally, the spiritual way of reading the Bible represents an existential appropriation of a particular biblical text by an individual reader (Biblia pro me).
As this study argues, each one of the three ways of reading the Bible is motivated by different question and yields different results. Yet they complement each other and all three belong to the repertoire of responsible theological exegesis.

- by Petr Sláma
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- Classical philology, Biblical Exegesis, Biblical Hermeneutics, Historical criticism

Recent canonical approaches to reading the Psalter either take the form of a macrostructural level in which a thematic center is proposed for the entire book of the Psalms, whether it be reading the psalms from the wisdom frame, a Messianic/eschatological frame, a kingship frame, or a combination. In contrast, lower-level studies have confined their canonical proposals to one book of the Psalter, or a specific sub-grouping (“Psalms of Ascent,” “Psalms of Asaph”). At both levels, a canonical approach broadens the exegetical task from the purpose of merely explaining its genre classification to that of explaining its significance in its arrangement in the final book of the Psalter. This thesis demonstrates how a canonical approach can assist in the exegetical analysis of an individual psalm. Specifically, a study of Ps 118 will incorporate the context of the prior “Egyptian Hallel” psalms, the broader context of Book V, and finally the book context of the entire Psalter, to address interpretive questions related to the identity and purpose of the individual whose testimony of thanksgiving comprises the structural center of this psalm.

- by Greg Reed and +1
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- Old Testament Theology, Old Testament, Book of Psalms, Biblical Exegesis
- by Johannes Hoff
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- Critical Theory, Discourse Analysis, Christianity, Psychoanalysis

Recent psalm studies do not focus only on individual psalms but also consider the process of the psalms becoming the psalter, i.e. a book. In German-speaking studies especially Erich Zenger has advocated this approach. In addition to this predominantly historical approach a different approach needs to be developed in order to determine a theology of the psalter that moves in an opposite direction. From a canon-theological perspective, analysis would start with the psalter as a whole moving on to individual psalms. This is necessary because, in a certain way, the final product of the composition of the psalter is the starting point of its understanding: Three points are mentioned in relation to this additional approach: 1. The psalter as a book shows traces of a canonical dependency, insofar as it points back to Tora and Nebi’im. This referentiality is one of its characteristics, which means the psalter as a book never existed in isolation, but has been composed as part of a larger whole from the beginning. Accordingly, a canon-hermeneutical perspective uses a partitive approach leading from the whole to the individual, in contrast to the historical approach. 2. One special characteristic of the psalter is its double form: on the level of individual psalms we find poetry; on the level of the catenation of psalms in the psalter we find narrative. On the level of the psalter the poetry of individual psalms become narrative. This change of genre demands different reading strategies, which are lectio repetitiva (poetica =) and lectio continua (narrativa). The beginning of the book (Ps 1) aims at both reading strategies. 3. By juxtaposing narrative and poetry, the psalter combines present and past, complementary to other biblical books. While in the latter, history is interrupted and brought into present by the inclusion of poems, in the psalter liturgically present poems receive a historical foundation. The psalter »tells« of the Tora and presents the poetry of psalms as the will and word of God. By this means, the psalter combines the vertical dimension of adressing God (prayer) and the horizontal dimension of communication (wisdom). On the one hand, the psalter as instruction in the form of narrative is performed as prayer; on the other hand, the prayers of the psalter result in instruction. The psalter is the word to God and the word of God simultaneously.

Dubbed ‘the ugly stepchild’ of the New Testament due to its alleged aporias, the lucidity of 2 Peter’s unique voice may be best perceived not with primary reference to extrabiblical Jewish or Hellenistic sources, nor even to Jude, but to scriptural wisdom reread in light of the Lord’s coming in the person of Jesus. Confronted with false teachers in the form of seductive, foolish ‘mockers’ (3:3), 2 Peter invokes Proverbs’ voice to exhort Christ-oriented wisdom attributes such as ἐπίγνωσις (‘knowledge’), εὐσέβεια (‘godliness’, ‘piety’) and ἀρετή (‘virtue’) so that God’s people remain on the true ὁδός (‘way’, ‘path’) of ζωή (‘life’). Though the controversial question of authorship will not be addressed directly in this essay, this ‘scriptural’ reading of 2 Peter might explain how one author could generate two distinct styles—each letter invokes different voices from God’s ‘living and enduring’ word, and each elegantly fit for purpose. First, the essay explains how 2 Peter leads us to examine Scripture and Proverbs most particularly, as a dominant influence. Second, texts from Proverbs 1–9 and 2 Peter are compared to suggest further examination may reveal significant resonance of structure, style and theological themes. To conclude, four questions raised in 2 Peter scholarship are cursorily addressed with a wisdom hermeneutic.

While references in Ps 1 to passages in the corpus of the Nebi’im are generally recognized, this does not apply to the same extent to connections with the »Torah« (Pentateuch). The analysis of the opening verses shows that the connection to the Torah is established through allusions to passages from Deuteronomy. One important context seems to be Deut 6:4–9 (especially v. 7). This text was probably known better than any other in early Judaism and can therefore be recognised as background for the interpretation of Ps 1:1–2. Further affinities are noticed to Deut 17:14–20 and Deut 33:29. These connections are
strengthened when the clasping together (through the inclusio formed by the macarisms) of the sapiential Ps 1 with the royal Ps 2 is taken into consideration. With Ps 1(–2) as a purposefully located opening for the book of Psalms, not only was a directive intended for the reading of the Psalter (»inside space«), but a connection was also established to already available authoritative forms of scripture (»outside space«). In this regard one can thus speak in a
canon-theological perspective of Ps 1 as a »door to the Torah of YHWH«, since it does not only introduce the five books of David (the Psalter), but also establishes connections to the five books of Moses (the Pentateuch).

- by Beat Weber
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- Biblical Studies, Biblical Theology, Book of Psalms, Deuteronomy

Das Feld der Kanonischen Exegese (KE) ist inzwischen schon sehr vielfältig geworden, aber die Grundüberlegungen der KE sind klar: Es wird erstens darauf hingewiesen, dass der Kanon, also die kirchliche Sammlung des Alten und Neuen Testaments, der primäre Bezugsrahmen ist, in dem ein biblischer Text zu lesen ist. Zweitens: Da diese Texteinheit von der Kirche erstellt wurde, wird der Glaubensgemeinschaft eine wichtige Rolle in der Auslegung zugeschrieben. Und drittens votiert die KE dafür, die Endfassungen der Texte zum ersten Gegenstand der Auslegung zu machen, denn diese seien von der Kirche als theologisch maßgeblich kanonisiert worden. Jenseits dieser Basis-Gemeinsamkeiten ist allerdings vieles noch ungeklärt. Was bedeutet "kirchlich" in Bezug auf die Bibel? Geht es um feststellbare Intertextualität oder um herstellbare? Ist die KE ein WEg in die Postmoderne oder Ausdruck der Sehnsucht nach der Vormoderne?

In Ps 45, the bridegroom king and the bride are portrayed notably alike. Illustrating their similarities, this article also tries to explain these similarities in light of the speech that the bride hears in vv. 11–13. The bride, whom this... more

- by Simon Cheung
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- Book of Psalms, Canonical Approach, Psalm 45

This article is an expanded version of an invited lecture given to the UBL focused on the theological implications of recognizing speech to a social audience in Individual lament psalms (particularly Pss 6, 55, and 51). Employing both rhetorical and canonical approaches to explore tension between psalms, it emphasizes the crucial role of the church in attending to and discerning its response to contemporary laments.

An evaluation of Brevard Child's canonical approach in his biblical theology.

Theme of the Pentateuch: Tripartite covenant; progeny, relationship with God, and Land.

- by Kenneth R . Lockridge
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- Ancient History, Sovereignty, Hebrew Bible, Old Testament Theology
- by Nancy Brandt Declaisse-Walford
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- Book of Psalms, Canonical Approach
- by Andrew C . Witt
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- Book of Psalms, Canonical Approach, Psalm 102, The Hebrew Psalter

While the prevalence of Psalm 118 in the New Testament has been well documented , the rationale for the frequent recourse to this text has not been adequately explained. Perhaps by default, interpreters often gravitate toward historical-critical or form-critical discussions of the psalm's historical or sociological origins, with little consensus. This article employs Matthew 21-26 as a focused test case and models the value of the canonical and wirkungsges-chichtliche approaches as two helpful means of inquiry. A canonical approach to the broader book of Psalms sets Psalm 118 in an eschatological context, and its placement in the smaller "Egyptian Hallel" cluster (Psalms 113-118) sets it in royal, exodus, and new exodus contexts. A wirkungsgeschichtliche study of the psalm reveals its eschatological and Davidic associations in later Jewish writings, along with its popular use at all of the major Jewish festivals. These considerations will all set the stage for a fresh reading of the relevant passages in Mat-thew 21-26, and will ultimately help explain why the New Testament authors recognized Je-sus as the "coming one," "the rejected stone," and "the royal deliverer," set forth in this popular psalm.

- by Ian J . Vaillancourt
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- Matthew's Gospel, Book of Psalms, Gospel of Matthew, Old Testament Exegesis
- by Puja Setiawan
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- Canonical Approach, Canonical Territory, Canonical Correlation

This article seeks to demonstrate the logic of the arrangement of Psalms 1-14. It does so inductively by working through each psalm in sequence in order to identify semantic patterns indicating intentional canonical shaping. It will be argued that Pss 1-2 establish the primary concern of the editors, namely the shape of the divine economy of salvation. The following psalms function to elucidate, develop, and further contextualise the reader's understanding of that economy. A herme-neutical key is provided by the surprising transition from Ps 2 to 3.

- by Philip Sumpter
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- Book of Psalms, Messianism, Brevard S. Childs, Canonical Approach

Genesis 38 is often viewed as a disruption of the Joseph story, which for some unknown reason found its way into that narrative. This article shows that the placement of Gen 38 is intentional, with many connections to the surrounding chapters. These connections are made through the repetition of words as well as through the repetition of motifs. They connect Gen 38 not only to Gen 37 and 39, but also to Gen 47 and 48. Together with the preceding chapter, Gen 38 builds a double exposition for the following chapters. The question behind these chapters is: which of the sons of Jacob will take over the right of primogeniture and step into the line of blessing coming down from Abraham? Will it be Judah, next in the line after his brothers Ruben, Simeon and Levi, who for various reasons lost their right of primogeniture, or Joseph, the firstborn of Rachel? In this respect, Gen 38 shows how Judah began to transform from a very egocentric person, willing to sell his brother Joseph into slavery, into someone willing to become a slave in the place of his brother Benjamin. This transformation qualifies Judah to become the leader amongst his brothers, while Joseph would receive the double portion as his right of being the firstborn. This article shows the mani-fold connections between ch. 38 and the surrounding chapters and makes clear how the transformation of Judah begins.

- by Prof. Dr. Hans-Georg Wünch
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- Narratology, Canonical Approach
- by Nancy Brandt Declaisse-Walford
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- Book of Psalms, Canonical Approach
- by Darian Lockett
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- Catholic Epistles, Canonical Approach

A key notion in understanding language is ‘possible word (lexeme)’. While there are lexemes that are internally homogeneous and externally consistent, we find others with splits in their internal structure (morphological paradigm) and inconsistencies in their external behavior (syntactic requirements). I first explore the characteristics of the most straightforward lexemes, in order to establish a point in the theoretical space from which we can calibrate the real examples we find. I then schematize the interesting phenomena that deviate from this idealization, including suppletion, syncretism, deponency, and defectiveness. Next I analyze the different ways in which lexemes are ‘split’ by such phenomena. I set out a typology of possible splits, along four dimensions: splits that are (i) based on the composition/feature signature of the paradigm versus those based solely on morphological form; (ii) motivated (following a boundary motivated from outside the paradigm) versus purely morphology-internal (‘morphomic’); (iii) regular (extending across the lexicon) versus irregular (lexically specified); (iv) externally relevant versus irrelevant: we expect
splits to be internal to the lexeme, but some have external relevance (they require different syntactic
behaviors).
I identify instances of these four dimensions separately: they are orthogonal, and therefore not
dependent on each other. Their interaction gives a substantial typology, and it proves to be surprisingly
complete: the possibilities specified are all attested. The typology also allows for the unexpected patterns of behavior to overlap in particular lexemes, producing some remarkable examples. Such examples show that the notion ‘possible word’ is more challenging than many linguists have realized.

- by Greville G. Corbett
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- Languages and Linguistics, Morphosyntax, Morphology, Linguistics
- by Greville G. Corbett
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- Linguistics, Language Typology, Linguistic Typology, Canonical Typology

The present volume, which is the result of a panel at the 2019 SBL International Meeting in Rome, maps current discourses in Psalms research. The past decades have been marked by the paradigm shift from form and genre criticism to different designs of an exegesis that incorporates the environment of the individual psalms. More recently, it has been pointed out that the complex findings of the manuscripts from antiquity to the Middle Ages do not fit the notion of a fixed canonical text that some designs presuppose. The contributions in the present volume combine such basic considerations with
individual investigations of groups of psalms. With different methodological and hermeneutical approaches, they open up perspectives on the connections between the origin, composition and reception of the Psalms.

- by Josh Watford
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- Typology, Hermeneutics, Second Temple Judaism, Christology

Thesis: The Hebrew (TaNaK 2) order of the books of the Old Testament reflects a deliberate intentionality meant to highlight both literary and theological emphases. Questions: 1. What justification or evidence is there for thinking there is a " canonical order " ? 2. Why would anyone want to look outside a biblical book to find its meaning? 3. But aren't there different orders for the books of the Old Testament? 4. Are you saying that the order is " inspired " ? 5. How does this relate to the canon(ical) criticism of non-evangelicals such as James Sanders or Brevard Childs? 6. Isn't this hermeneutical approach both recent and idiosyncratic, generated by John Sailhamer? 7. With time, effort, and merely a modicum of creativity, couldn't anybody studying the Bible " discover " literary relationships between any two texts? 8. What implications does this approach have for identifying meaning with authorial intention? 9. Do we HAVE to relate each book within the canonical sequence in order to understand its divinely-intended message? 10. What effects would this approach have upon my own study of the Old Testament?

- by Ian J . Vaillancourt
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- Biblical Studies, Christology, Biblical Theology, Book of Psalms

A surface reading of MT Esther often presents interpreters with a simple plot and message. Upon closer examination, many scholars have noticed several elements of literary ambiguity within the text. Scholars have applied various methodologies to MT Esther for the sake of making sense of these textual obscurities. Often, these approaches are related to ideology, politics, theology, literary criticism, or intertextuality. Generally speaking, each method has presented Esther scholarship with some critical and thoughtful observations. However, these methodologies fall short of explaining how the textual nuances of MT Esther should interface with its simple plot and message. An eclectic methodology drawn from many of these approaches is foundational to this
study. The title of this new method is Editorial Design. One who utilizes this method will provide an integrated reading of a text according to the grammatical, scribal, cross-associational (i.e., intertextual), and canonical devices embedded in its finalized form. In other words, these four contours create the boundaries by which the interpreter asks questions related to the textual
evidence.

- by Ron Lindo
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- Intertextuality, Book of Esther, Canonical Approach, The book of Jeremiah
- by Ron Haydon
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- Biblical Theology, The Book of Daniel, Canonical Approach, Canonization Processes

This is a review of an article by Francis Foulkes entitled, “The Acts of God: A Study of the Basis of Typology in the Old Testament” in G. K. Beale, Editor, The Right Doctrine from the Wrong Texts? Essays on the Use of the Old Testament... more

- by Darrin Gilchrist
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- Theology, Typology, Old Testament Theology, Biblical Studies

Acknowledging that the concept/category of canon is the foundation for the dialect between theology and history within biblical interpretation, this paper offers an illustration of the difference canon makes in reading James and 1 Peter together within their context as Christian Scripture. In these letters both Jewish and Gentile readers are addressed as a "diaspora" people. This term not only marks out the eschatological people of God but also suggests a canonical link between the two texts.