The Significance of Hermeneutical Developments in Christian Exegesis for Jewish-Christian Relations

Abstract

Patristic hermeneutics was oriented towards the development of rules and principles that would enable interpretations of the Bible, and its proper understanding within the delimitations of the Christian ethos. The rules and principles thus developed encompassed different methodologies that groups and individuals may use to gain insight into God’s revelation through Christ, His plan for salvation, the status of His chosen people, and even the roles and ramifications of eschatology and soteriology in the life of the Christian community. More often than not, however, the exegetical methods employed are informed by the literary culture of the community in which they find expression; the resultant new and creative paradigms, undergirded by rules and principles, are then applied to biblical texts. But rules and principles are intimately related. My paper would focus on this pivotal period of the nascent Church by concentrating on the development of its hermeneutical principles and the consequent effects on Jewish-Christian relations.