Exegetical Strategies Research Articles

The Embryological Interpretation of Gen 2:7 and its Use in Dyophysite Christology

Abstract This article traces the rise of the embryological interpretation of Gen 2:7 and how it came to provide arguments for dyophysite Christology. By the late 4th century, many Christian writers saw in the formation of Adam a depiction of the formation and ensoulment of a human embryo. Moreover, authors around the 5th century connected the embryological reading of Adam’s formation with the life of Christ in the womb. But in the 6th and 7th centuries, this interpretation of Gen 2:7 became controversial. Debates about Christ raised the stakes of disagreement over the time of human ensoulment, and embryological readings of Adam’s creation were caught up in these debates. In this context, East Syrian Babai the Great (551–628) deployed the embryological reading of Gen 2:7 against Christological rivals in defense of his theory of Christ’s delayed ensoulment in the womb. In doing so, he offers a biological account of Christ’s pre-ensouled life as a plant and zoophyte. But the connection between an embryological reading of Gen 2:7 and dyophysite Christology also prompted opponents to turn to exegetical strategies that excluded any analogy with delayed ensoulment. This article thus presents an example of how theological controversy and the history of science affected biblical exegesis.

Loren R. Spielman. Jews and Entertainment in the Ancient World

Loren R. Spielman. <i>Jews and Entertainment in the Ancient World</i>

Homer and Euripides: Remarks on Mythological Innovation in the Scholia

This paper analyses two exegetical strategies adopted by ancient scholars to explain Euripides’ mythological innovations and variations with respect to Homer through a selection of scholia. The first approach considers Euripides a (mis-) reader of Homer. The dramatist regards an epic passage as the reference text, but fails to understand its wording correctly: therefore, he uncritically reproduces the model, even though inspired by a genuine impulse to emulate; this circumstance de facto equates the tragedian with a sort of exegete and represents his deviation from the epic text as the locus of an implicit (erroneous) interpretation. The second approach evaluates the work of Euripides, comparing it with the Homeric poems, by means and in the light of concepts of literary criticism. The tragedian creates a good or bad product depending on whether his innovation achieves a certain poetic result: an implausible or unrealistic description of a character is contested, whereas a strategy to enhance the emotional impact of the dramatic moment is recognised and perceived as a careful and conscious artistic operation, hence possibly praised. Keywords: ancient scholarship, exegetical activity, Greek scholia, literary comparison, literary criticism

Elements of Biblical Exegesis: A Basic Guide for Students and Ministers

Elements of Biblical Exegesis: A Basic Guide for Students and Ministers

Qur'an Translations into Central Asian Languages: Exegetical Standards and Translation Processes

One of the most important issues when studying Qur’an translation is the question of the extent to which the translation process is informed by a specific hermeneutical strategy. By analysing three translations published by one of the most active international actors in this area, the King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex in Medina, the current study is an exploratory attempt to systematise common features of Qur’an translations produced for Central Asian Muslim communities (in this case, Kazakh, Kyrgyz, and Tajik). By comparing selected verses and supplementary materials, the analysis undertaken in this article suggests the existence of a specific dynamic in exegetical strategy, according to which both typical ‘Salafi’ visions of the text (mostly in terms of theological issues) are combined with ‘domestic’ interpretations of the Qur’an that are popular in Central Asian Islamic milieux. Despite a predominantly ‘static’ Salafi trend in exegetics, the translations addressed in this study show some level of variation, which appears in the way the overall exegetical framing of the translation is made relevant to the local Muslim context.

Esoteric Writing through Historical Allusions

Abstract This paper investigates the poetry of Qu Xuanying, a literatus who remained in the city of Beiping (now Beijing) following its occupation by the Japanese in 1937. Through historical allusions in his poetry, Qu communicated with friends about the ethical dilemmas that he faced under occupation, and reflected upon the choices that literati in earlier eras had made when facing dynastic transitions and foreign conquest. Qu’s ‘esoteric writing’ during the occupation contained a complex set of historical allusions which referenced various points in the Chinese past. Since Qu served in the collaborationist north China regime, he has often been perceived as a ‘traitor’ or a ‘collaborator’. Through this in-depth analysis of his literary works, however, this paper seeks to reveal the special exegetical strategies adopted by literati such as Qu under occupation.

'Going off the Map'

The early Buddhist exegetical text, the Nettippakara?a, apparently uniquely, describes the stages of the path as ‘transcendental dependent arising’ (lokuttara pa?icca-samupp?da), in contrast with the twelve nid?nas, called ‘worldly dependent arising’ (lokiya pa?icca-samupp?da). A close reading of the Nettippakara?ain relation to another, related, exegetical text, the Pe?akopadesa, reveals that the latter interprets the same stages of the path in a different way. More broadly, while the Pe?akopadesa takes pa?icca-samupp?dato refer only to the twelve nid?nas, the Nettippakara?a’s exegetical strategy takes pa?icca-samupp?dato refer to an over-arching principle of conditionality, both ‘worldly’ and ‘transcendental’. This exegesis has proved popular with modern western Buddhist exegetes.

Going Off the Map

The early Buddhist exegetical text, the Nettippakarana, apparently uniquely, describes the stages of the path as ‘transcendental dependent arising’ (lokuttara paticca-samuppada), in contrast with the twelve nidanas, called ‘worldly dependent arising’ (lokiya paticca-samuppada). A close reading of the Nettippakarana in relation to another, related, exegetical text, the Petakopadesa, reveals that the latter interprets the same stages of the path in a different way. More broadly, while the Petakopadesa takes paticca-samuppada to refer only to the twelve nidanas, the Nettippakarana’s exegetical strategy takes paticca-samuppada to refer to an over-arching principle of conditionality, both ‘worldly’ and ‘transcendental’. This exegesis has proved popular with modern western Buddhist exegetes.

ON PLOTTING THE EXEGETICAL-HERMENEUTICAL LANDSCAPE

In recent years many scholars have ventured the quest towards an integrational or multidimensional approach to Biblical exegesis. The present methodological environment in which exegetical strategies proliferate at an alarming rate, has become untenable. In a recent dissertation I have indicated how the reading and interpretation of Biblical texts are hampered by the haphazard variety of exegetical strategies, in addition to the many exclusivistic claims that are made.

“Such Fictitious Evil Spirits”: Adriaan Koerbagh’s Rejection of Biblical Demons and Demonic Possession in A Light Shining in Dark Places (1668)

This paper traces Adriaan Koerbagh’s interpretation of biblical devils and scriptural instances of demonic possession in his 1668 Een Ligt Schijnende in Duystere Plaatsen (A light shining in dark places). Koerbagh’s book is a radical exponent of the early Dutch Enlightenment, and its views on demonology are of importance if we want to assess the extent to which traditional scholastic pneumatology was challenged in the second half of the XVIIth century. This paper will also address Thomas Hobbes’ positions regarding demons and demonic possession in Leviathan (1651), given that Hobbes’ interpretations were fundamental to Koerbagh’s own positions. We will focus on the Hobbesian exegetical strategies of etymology, naturalization, and metaphorization, which helped Koerbagh to point at diseases, evil thoughts, figures of speech, or human enemies as plausible explanations for scriptural passages concerning devils and possession. But we will also see that Koerbagh’s Cartesian definition of spirits led him to a more radical stance than that of Hobbes: demons do not exist at all. This paper will end by claiming that Koerbagh’s interpretation of Christian demonology both as a remnant of Pagan and Jewish superstitions, and a knowledge indifferent to salvation—themselves Hobbesian principles—went hand in hand with his attempt to secularize the biblical text. Thus, the devil, once a part of the sacred truth, could now be seen as a fragment of a human cultural heritage.

Irenaeus’s Engagement with Rhetorical Theory in his Exegesis of the Johannine Prologue in Adversus Haereses 1.8.5-1.9.3

Abstract While scholars have long recognised Irenaeus’s acquaintance with rhetorical theory, the role of rhetorical theory in Irenaeus’s scriptural exegesis has only recently come to light. In the last few years, Lewis Ayres (2015) and Anthony Briggman (2015, 2016) have argued for the central importance of Greco-Roman literary and rhetorical theory to Irenaeus’s approach to scripture. This paper will build on the work of Ayres and Briggman by exploring Irenaeus’s engagement with rhetorical theory in his interpretation of the Johannine prologue in AH 1.8.5-9.3. In this paper, I will argue that Irenaeus’s exegetical strategy in AH 1.8.4-9.3 is best understood in light of the question of authorial intent as formulated in rhetorical handbooks. Specifically, I will argue that Irenaeus presents his argument as a defence of the scriptum of the prologue, and so follows the conventions laid out in rhetorical handbooks for a dispute between scriptum et voluntas.

Nietzschean Self-Cultivation

Interpretations of Nietzsche as a virtue theorist have proliferated in recent years as commentators have sought to read him as a modern eudaimonistic philosopher while also attempting to show what makes his contribution to this tradition valuable and distinctive.1While some commentators still contend that interpreting Nietzsche as a eudaimonist is antithetical to his overtly-stated philosophical aims,2 over the last decade there has been a upsurge of support for such readings, especially from commentators who emphasise what they claim is the pervasive influence of the Hellenistic tradition on his work. Keith Ansell-Pearson has argued that Epicurus was a key influence on Nietzsche’s middle period, for example; whereas Michael Ure has claimed that the Stoic thought of Seneca and Epictetus was also highly influential.3 Nevertheless, even those commentators who agree that Nietzsche can be informatively situated, or is even best situated, within the Hellenistic tradition cannot agree on two seemingly-intractable puzzles which any virtue-theoretical reading must solve in order to give a full account of his moral philosophy. The puzzles can be stated as follows: Puzzle 1: Which character traits does Nietzsche endorse as virtues? Puzzle 2: What is Nietzsche’s ethical ideal? This article offers an exegetical strategy to shed light on both puzzles, especially the first one regarding which character traits Nietzsche endorses as virtues which, as we shall see, is tougher to answer by a straightforward appeal to his texts. To elucidate this puzzle, I will propose that his approving comments regarding excellence-based moral philosophy indicate that his own ethics is also structured in terms of an ethical ideal with a requisite set of virtues which, following his ancient philosophical influences, he views as fundamentally connected. As Julia Annas notes, one the most distinctive ‘assumptions which ancient theories make [is] the relationship of [our] virtues to our final end’,4 and given Nietzsche’s interest in, and apparent endorsement of, ancient eudaimonism – especially compared to his invariably scathing remarks on the modern deontological and utilitarian traditions – we have reason to think that he shares this view.5 What is significant for this article, however, is that Nietzsche’s commitment to a kind of eudaimonism modelled on the ancient world offers a potential way to solve both puzzles. If his virtues and ethical ideal are connected in a similar way to ancient eudaimonistic theories, then understanding his ethical ideal allows us to infer which character traits he endorses as virtues, and vice versa. Although it might be objected that a method tackling both puzzles in tandem would be unworkable if their solutions were contained in each other, in what follows I will show that Nietzsche’s extensive comments on his ethical ideal of ‘becoming what one is’ positions us in a strong position to infer which character traits he prizes most highly. I will call these character traits ‘virtues of self-cultivation’.

The Reception of Jeremiah's Prediction of a Seventy-Year Exile

An increasingly common assessment of the Second Temple period posits a widespread belief, even among Jews living in Judea, that Israel remained in a state of ongoing exile long after the sixth-century return from exile following the decree of Cyrus. This essay evaluates that claim in relation to the reception of Jeremiah's prophecy that the exile would last for seventy years. The texts that reflect on the prophecy of seventy years do not adopt exegetical strategies that greatly extend the length of the exile, as if the return under Cyrus were not the "real return from exile." This is true even in Daniel, where the literal fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy of a seventy-year exile and Daniel's penitent preparation for that fulfillment serve as a starting point and a model for reflecting on another hoped-for experience of God's mercy at the end of seventy weeks of years. Though the texts that refer to Jeremiah's prediction of a seventy-year exile do not handle the seventy years in a completely uniform way, the fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy is placed firmly in the past, reflecting the belief that the exile had ended. Not all the texts examined regard the period following the seventy-year exile as a time of unremitting punishment. Texts that do assess the period following the exile in negative terms do not view that period as an extension of exile. Rather, the literal fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy that the exile would come to an end inspires hope that the God who was faithful to keep his promise would also keep his promise of an ultimate restoration that would far outstrip the initial jubilee (Dan 9:25), "the brief moment of favor" (Ezra 9:8) that had brought the exile to an end.

Transformation of Galen’s Textual Legacy from Classical to Post-Classical Islamic Medicine: Commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms

I assess Galen’s (d. ca. 216) textual legacy on Arabic commentaries on the Hippocratic Aphorisms. I show that early authors in this tradition employ exegetical strategies taken from Alexandrian exegetical models. Applying these strategies to the Hippocratic-Galenic text makes Galen’s commentary the primary means for these authors to understand the Aphorisms. By introducing a host of commentary strategies that depart from Alexandrian models, Ibn Abī Ṣādiq’s (d. after 1067) commentary is a watershed moment in the Aphorisms-commentary tradition. Nevertheless, Galen’s commentary remains crucial for Ibn Abī Ṣādiq. These commentary strategies lead him to introduce texts, concepts and classifications that move beyond Galen’s Aphorisms-commentary. Finally, in one of the last texts in this corpus dating to around 1350, Ibn Sīnā’s (d. 1037) Canon of Medicine and Ibn Abī Ṣādiq’s commentary have become major sources for understanding the Aphorisms. Galen’s commentary is used sparingly.

„Pabėgimas į tėvynę“: egzegetinės strategijos istorija

The article provides a survey of the results of several of my studies published in French and dedicated to the role of Philo of Alexandria’s exegetical works in the history of philosophical exegesis. My aim is to prove two statements which contradict traditional views among the historians of philosophy, namely: a) that the exegete of the Jewish Scriptures Philo of Alexandria (ca 25 BC – 45 AD) should be considered as one of those who initiated philosophical interpretation of non-philosophical texts; b) that the philosopher Plotinus (ca 205–270), who has studied in Alexandria for a long period of time, probably knew Philo of Alexandria’s exegetical works. The investigation is based on the analysis of the works of Philo of Alexandria and of Plotinus, and of other ancient texts, with a special attention to the commentaries of Greek authors who transpose the physical movement into an allegory of the journey of the soul. I show that the phrase from Plato’s Theaetetus which became famous in the Platonic tradition and where Socrates says that “to flight from here” to the pure divine world means “to become like God”, and “to become like God” means “to become righteous and holy and wise” (176a–b), provided a perfect ground for the genesis of such considerations. In the Theaetetus, the discussion is on “becoming like”, but one could also speak about other experiences of approaching God (for example, “turning to”). In the history of exegetical strategies, the main point is that physical movement is understood as a journey of the soul. The influence of the text of the Theaetetus is felt in the famous passage of Plotinus’ tractate “On Beauty” (En. I, 6) which exalts the soul’s“flight” to its“true fatherland”. It is also clear that Plotinus is interested more in the exegetical formula found in Plato’s dialogue than in the character of Odysseus himself who was not very popular in the Platonic tradition. [...].

Il confronto di Giovanni Filopono con Alessandro di Afrodisia intorno al problema della conversione delle proposizioni

Abstract In this paper I compare Philoponus’s account of the laws of conversion for categorical and modal propositions with Alexander’s exposition of the same topic. I argue that Philoponus’s main source was Alexander’s commentary on Aristotle’s Prior Analytics and that Philoponus had no access to independent sources to reconstruct Theophrastus’s proof for the conversion of universal negative propositions. I suggest that the different solutions that Alexander and Philoponus offer to the puzzles of the doctrine of the laws of conversion depend on the two commentators’ different exegetical strategies. Alexander tries to solve the puzzles by means of doctrines, which Aristotle expounded elsewhere. Philoponus instead interprets Aristotle’s passage as implying a hierarchy among propositions - a doctrine which is not explicitly present in Aristotle’s text.

The Efficacy of Salvation in the Allegorical Reading of Scripture: Learning from Origen

Introduction This article explores the possibility of returning the practice of ancient allegorical interpretation as a resource for developing a post-critical theological reading of Scripture that prioritizes its formative significance for contemporary scriptural readers. What I am after is not the specific theological conclusions proposed within an ancient reading of a scriptural text. Those conclusions are, no doubt, interesting, but often force the comparison between ancient allegorical practice and various modern exegetical strategies in a distracting and unhelpful way. I want instead see allegorical reading as a phenomenon that arises within a set of theological commitments about the impact of scriptural reading--its soteriological efficacy--on the reader. I go about this task in three steps. First, I problematize the contemporary scholarly distinction between and allegory, seeing it as supporting an often unwarranted anxiety about ancient allegorical practice. This anxiety, usually involving the relationship between interpretation and history, presses allegorical readings into a predetermined opposition history in a way that argumentatively begs the question in favor of discreet typological reading. It will be important notice how such modern discreet categories not only obscure the variety of nonliteral reading practices in the ancient period--not noticing how they work together--but also belie certain theological commitments about the efficacy of scriptural reading that gives allegorical forms their force. Second, I take up the discussion of scriptural reading in Erich Auerbach's essay Figura, showing how his theory of figural interpretation both preserves and surpasses the assumptions of the allegory/typology distinction, thus providing a framework that pinpoints the benefits and dangers of nonliteral interpretation. Nevertheless, recognizing Auerbach's hesitance affirm the procedures of the allegorical readings of Origen of Alexandria, the paragon of ancient Christian allegorical interpretation, I turn Origen's theology and his second homily on Genesis explore how his reading strategies depend on a picture of scriptural soteriological efficacy, bringing the ancient writings bear on the contemporary ecclesial formation of the Christian reader. With the help of Henri de Lubac and Karen Jo Torjesen, I argue that Origen's allegorical reading presumes a theological relationship between Scripture and the reader that allows past events preserved in ancient Scripture contribute the contemporary soteriological formation of the reader, thus including the reader into the transformative import of the scriptural text. (1) Allegory and Typology The term [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.] has been used since the ancient period and is associated with interpretive strategies that have been questioned and criticized for about just as long. No doubt the origin of its meaning, literally to say something other, (2) has often sparked a suspicion that interpretive uses of allegory do a disservice the meaning of the text under analysis. Yet the Christian incorporation of allegory as a way of reading Scripture has involved a distinct set of questions that attempt determine whether ancient Christian allegorical reading bears direct methodological influence from early Platonic, Gnostic, and Philonic uses of allegorical interpretation. Attempting differentiate between allegory and what has come be called typology (derived from the Latin typologia) has been thought assist modern scholarship on ancient Christian exegesis in differentiating between properly Christian interpretive commitment regarding Scripture and otherwise non-Christian influences that bore on ancient Christian interpretation. One of the first twentieth-century scholars incorporate this distinction, Jean Danielou, attempted discern what in Origen's exegetical writings derived from the Christian tradition and what involved carryover from other non-Christian sources. …

Compiling Narratives: The Visual Strategies of Early Christian Visual Art

Early Christian pictorial art arose within a Greco-Roman cultural environment, instinctively adapting the visual vocabulary of the world in which it appeared and developed. Yet, even while surviving examples of identifiably Christian art objects appear to have much in common with those made for polytheists, they also reveal differences that reflect evident and distinctively Christian practices of composing and viewing images. This involved more than transforming earlier pagan models, it signaled an intentional rejection of their form, content, and style. The results also aligned with certain exegetical strategies evident in early Christian sermons, commentaries, and catecheses and reflected the emergence of a characteristically Christian social identity that emphasized shared religious commitments and broadly understood interpretive approaches to biblical narratives.

Méthodes d'interprétation des mythes chez Platon

This paper tries to determine how Plato expects his philosophical myths to be read and interpreted. First, it studies Plato’s disapproval of two exegetical strategies about traditional myths (allegorical interpretation and rationalist interpretation), which highlights the fundamental opposition of these strategies to philosophical research. Then, it intends to determine how the interpretation of Platonic myths can escape these difficulties, in particular thanks to their mimetic status, which transforms the exegesis of myth into a genuine philosophical process. Finally, it tries to understand why, in two historical myths, Plato thinks legitimate to make use of the rationalist perspective.

Is &lt;i&gt;rewritten Bible/Scripture&lt;/i&gt; the solution to the Synoptic Problem?

New Testament scholars have for centuries posited different solutions to the Synoptic Problem. Recently a new solution was proposed. Mogens Müller applies Geza Vermes’s term rewritten Bible to the canonical gospels. Accepting Markan priority, he views Matthew as rewritten Mark, Luke as rewritten Matthew, and John as additional source. This article examines Müller’s hypothesis by first investigating the history of the controversial term rewritten Bible/Scripture and its recent application to the New Testament Gospels. Müller’s hypothesis is then compared to other solutions to the Synoptic Problem, such as the Augustine, Griesbach, and Farrer-Goulder Hypotheses. The Two Document Hypothesis is discussed and Müller’s 2nd century Luke theory is compared to Burton Mack’s almost similar stance and tested with the argument of synoptic intertextuality in view of the possible but improbable early second century date for Matthew. Lastly, the relationship between the synoptic Gospels is viewed in terms of literary intertextuality. Müller suggests proclamation as motivation for the Gospels’ deliberate intertextual character. This notion is combined with the concept of intertextuality to suggest a more suitable explanation for the relationship between die Gospels, namely intertextual kerugma. This broad concept includes any form of intertextuality in terms of text and context regarding the author and readers. It suitably replaces rewritten Bible, both in reference to genre and textual (exegetical) strategy.