The Passion of Interpretation (review)

Abstract

Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 132 Reviews for his two core chapters on the theological usage of rwh, these make a rather schematic impression; I would like to have seen more detailed study of concrete texts. Above all, however, I came away from reading Dreytza's study with no real sense as to what original insights about the theological use of rwlJ. his new approach to the subject is supposed to have generated. In this regard Dreytza's general conclusions are particularly disappointing. Those reiterate the findings of his individual chapters, but provide no indication as to where the study breaks new ground in our actual understanding of rwh in its theological usage. As frequently seems to happen then with works that tout the novelty and superiority of their methodologies, one is left wondering here precisely what Dreytza has achieved (or even what he thinks he has). There are a couple of rather serious typographical errors to be pointed out: several lines have been scrambled at the bottom of p. 195 and the top of p. 196, while on p. 216 four lines of text recur verbatim as n. 15. Christopher Begg Catholic University Washington, D.C. 20064 THE PASSION OF INTERPRETATION. By W. Dow Edgerton. Literary Currents in Biblical Interpretation. pp. 160. Louisville: Westminsterl10hn Knox, 1992. Paper, $19.99. This book is not just about the passion of interpretation. It is itself a passionate exploration of the Interpretive enterprise. Rather than detailing and extending the more technical aspects of modem hermeneutics, Edgerton explores his subject by interpreting several texts himself. In each case he reads the text as itself an interpretation of the interpretive process. The result is an almost poetic picture of interpretation, yet one informed by modem hermeneutics and literary theory. Edgerton's texts are drawn from a wide variety of loci, from Greek literature to Jewish and Christian Scriptural texts, to some modem short stories. After a brief introduction, he begins in the second chapter by examining an ancient hymn to Hermes, noting that interpretation is "forever linked to his name through the strange word 'hermeneutics'" (p. 19). The hymn is about Hermes' theft of Apollo's cows and subsequent cover-up. But Edgerton sees more. He argues that, when seen as an allegory of the interpretive process, Hebrew Studies 35 (1994) 133 Reviews this hymn accurately testifies to a crucial aspect of the interpretive process: that it is a "theft" of another's words representing itself as a repetition of those words. He concludes that, "Interpretation is thus a work of deception carried out by impostors in front of those who know that they are impostors but who are willing to be deceived. Why? For the sake of meaning" (p. 38). Thus interpretation begins not so much with a text, but with desire, and then proceeds with the resulting theft of words. Edgerton then moves in chap. 3 to a reading of the famous Talmudic text regarding the debate between Rabbi Eliezar and the sages regarding the Bat Ko! (B. Mes. 59b). This text is his entry into the communal aspect of interpretation . In particular, he argues that this passage, when read in its broader literary context, describes how every interpretation must stand up against a "judgment of tears," that is, how much the interpretation addresses or causes suffering in the broader community. In chap. 4, "The Exegesis of Echoes," Edgerton discusses how a text itself shapes interpretation. Here his focus text is Genesis 22, and in the latter portion of the chapter he shows how this text has elicited varying responses from interpreters over the ages, including Heb 11:17-19, the Midrash, Augustine, Luther, Kierkegaard, Wilfred Owen, a contemporary poet, Bobbie Groth, and Walter Brueggemann. In Edgerton's terms, Genesis 22 has "echoed" down the centuries as various interpreters have attempted to come to terms with it, filling in the story's gaps and occasionally attempting to master it by "binding" it to the story of Jesus' death and resurrection. Perhaps most of all, Edgerton's survey of interpretation of Genesis 22 demonstrates that it is the gaps of a story as much as its words which impact later readers. And this then is...