Conclusion

Abstract

The conclusion summarizes the new picture of Broughton offered by this book and concludes by offering reflections on three more general points arising from its analysis. The first concerns the highly prominent role that Jewish literature and languages played in Broughton’s thought. While Broughton undeniably took his interest in this area further than most scholars, the conclusion argues that he was not entirely anomalous, but rather representative of a broader tendency among reformed scholars to cultivate high levels of philological and linguistic expertise in languages of relevance to biblical scholarship, particularly Hebrew, Aramaic, Ethiopic, and Arabic. The second concerns the role of anti-Jewish controversy in the development of Christian biblical scholarship. The importance of interfaith polemics in pushing Broughton towards historical, philological argumentation is clear throughout the book, and raises a broader possibility worthy of further exploration: that anti-Jewish priorities might have played a hitherto underappreciated role in promoting historical, philological methods in Christian theology and biblical criticism. Finally, the conclusion dwells on the significance of the book’s repeated demonstration of the extent to which scholarly culture, at least in Broughton’s lifetime, was still dominated by exegetical priorities, i.e., by the demands, habits, and expectations of biblical interpretation. It concludes by arguing that it is this ‘embedded exegetical culture’, rather than any degree of historicism or critical method, that represents the most significant difference between early modern and modern biblical scholarship.