Abstract
On the Sacred Poetry of the Hebrews. Rereading Robert Lowth's Classic on Biblical Hermeneutics On the occasion of the 300th birthday of the Old Testament scholar Robert Lowth (1710-1783), this paper discusses sections of Lowth's Lectures on the sacred poetry of the Hebrews (Praelectiones de sacra poesi Hebraeorum, 1753) that are considered highly influential, especially in 18th-century Germany (Michaelis, Jerusalem, Mendelssohn, Herder et al.). It elucidates Lowth's theory of the origins and nature of poetry in general as well as his characterization of biblical poetry, in order to evaluate the hermeneutic legitimacy and relevance of his aesthetic approach to biblical exegesis. Contrary to the common objection from the perspective of secularization theory that the aestheticization of exegesis denotes its religious depletion, this paper argues that Lowth's project is to be understood as the attempt to use aesthetic means to render accessible the unique religious resonance of Old Testament poetry.
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