Currently, I am in the midst of researching a paper concerning OT theology and whether or not it has a “center,” theologically or otherwise. To be honest, it has been a deeply frustrating experience thus far. The frustration comes from the quagmire that is OT theology. For instance, Gerhard Hasel writes in 1983, “The field of Old Testament theology has more divergent and differing approaches, paradigms and methods then at any other time in the 20th Century.” [1] Phyllis Trible writes in 1992, ““Biblical Theologians have never agreed on the definition, method, organization, subject matter, point of view, or purpose of their enterprise.”[2] The situation in OT theology which Hasel and Trible describe along with the flowering of Postmodernism in the late 90’s leads Walter Brueggemann to write, “The great interpretive reality is that there is no court of appeal behind these many different readings. There is no court of appeal behind the text itself, and we are learning in new and startling ways how remarkably supple the text is and how open the varied readings are.” [3]
What has caused such a situation to come about? Brueggemann insightfully brings the answer to the surface by noting that the current situation is signified “by the disappearance of any common, universal assumption at the outset of reading.”[4] It seems that this is precisely the reason no unanimity in OT theology exists concerning whether or not it possess a center and if so what that center might be. It appears then, the best way forward in the conversation could be by attempting to establish common, universal assumption/s concerning the reading of the OT text and the interpretation and formulation of its theology. If we do not explore such presuppositional matters, as one NT scholar (N.T. Wright) notes, “we can expect endless and fruitless debate.”[5] I believe an application of critical realism to the reading of OT texts (what Ben Meyer and N.T. Wright have done in NT studies) may provide the needed suppositional foundation for interpreting the OT and determining whether or not it possess a “center”.
BD
[1] Gerhard F. Hasel, “Major Recent Issues in Old Testament Theology 1978-1983,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, no. 31 (1985): 31–53.
[2] Phyllis Trible, “Overture for a Feminist Biblical Theology,” in The Flowering of Old Testament Theology: A Reader in Twentieth-Century Old Testament Theology, 1930-1990, vol. 1, Sources for Biblical and Theological Study (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992).
[3] Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997), 62.
[4] Ibid, 62.
[5] N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, 1st ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 31.
What has caused such a situation to come about? Brueggemann insightfully brings the answer to the surface by noting that the current situation is signified “by the disappearance of any common, universal assumption at the outset of reading.”[4] It seems that this is precisely the reason no unanimity in OT theology exists concerning whether or not it possess a center and if so what that center might be. It appears then, the best way forward in the conversation could be by attempting to establish common, universal assumption/s concerning the reading of the OT text and the interpretation and formulation of its theology. If we do not explore such presuppositional matters, as one NT scholar (N.T. Wright) notes, “we can expect endless and fruitless debate.”[5] I believe an application of critical realism to the reading of OT texts (what Ben Meyer and N.T. Wright have done in NT studies) may provide the needed suppositional foundation for interpreting the OT and determining whether or not it possess a “center”.
BD
[1] Gerhard F. Hasel, “Major Recent Issues in Old Testament Theology 1978-1983,” Journal for the Study of the Old Testament, no. 31 (1985): 31–53.
[2] Phyllis Trible, “Overture for a Feminist Biblical Theology,” in The Flowering of Old Testament Theology: A Reader in Twentieth-Century Old Testament Theology, 1930-1990, vol. 1, Sources for Biblical and Theological Study (Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns, 1992).
[3] Walter Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1997), 62.
[4] Ibid, 62.
[5] N. T. Wright, The New Testament and the People of God, 1st ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992), 31.