Det Gamle Testamentes kanoniske status

Abstract

Taking departure in the invitation in Slenczkas new book todiscuss the role of the Jewish Holy Scriptures in a Christian canon, thisarticle starts with contesting the validity of the arguments for introducingOld Testament readings in the service of the Danish Church.Reading the Old Testament in the light of Christian faith as if it in realityis about Christ was no longer possible after Enlightenment. With ahistorical and critical study, it became clear, that the Old Testament wasJewish and not Christian Scripture. In continuation of some deliberationsin Luther, and especially the thoughts of F. Schleiermacher, A. vonHarnack and R. Bultmann, Slenczka argues, that we today need to drawthe consequence of this view. It was only in the reception of the Churchthat the Old Testament became a Christian text, and this cannot beascribed a retroactive effect, a Jewish understanding and reception beingmuch more appropriate. Its meaning in a Christian Bible, therefore,can only be to witness about man’s place towards God without Christ.From this follows that in a Christian Bible the Old Testament cannotfigure with the same degree of canonicity as the New, instead it shouldbe reckoned at the same level as the Old Testament Apocrypha.