The Theological Presuppositions of Ancient Christian Exegesis: G. K. Beale and Henri de Lubac in Conversation

Abstract

ABSTRACT The appropriation of the theological presuppositions of ancient Christian exegesis is a matter of debate in the discipline of theological interpretation. In recent years, G. K. Beale has become a leading expert in the NT use of the OT, having conducted extensive research on the NT authors' exegetical methods and addressing the question of the theological presuppositions underlying these methods. Beale proposes that modern Christian readers of the Bible ought to pattern their exegesis after that of the apostles. I wish to bring Beale into conversation with the Catholic, ressourcement theologian, Henri de Lubac, who has had a significant influence on the contemporary retrieval of spiritual exegesis and has provided profound insight into the reading strategies of patristic and medieval exegesis. I hope to demonstrate that de Lubac's exposition of the fourfold sense of Scripture finds certain profound resonances with Beale's understanding of the NT writers' presuppositions. Furthermore, de Lubac's theological categories, the Fact of Christ and the mystery of Christ, and his understanding of tropology, offer two points of constructive insight for proponents of Beale's project, while Beale's emphasis on the hermeneutical continuity between the Testaments offers an important corrective for proponents of spiritual exegesis. In bringing these two different scholars into conversation, I hope to clear a pathway for an "ecumenical hermeneutic" that addresses certain concerns of both Protestants and Catholics. I also suggest several ways both scholars' projects can work together to address constructively the question which presuppositions modern Christians should appropriate in a theological interpretation of Scripture.