This paper places New Testament scriptural interpretation within its early Jewish context, highlighting the most significant ways in which understanding of this subject is enhanced by comparison with texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Pseudepigrapha and the rabbinic midrashim. Four critical issues are addressed: text form; exegetical genres; interpretative traditions; and exegetical techniques. The applicability to the New Testament of some innovative current research in the field of Jewish Studies is demonstrated. Consideration is then given to the major challenges which a close engagement with the Jewish exegetical literature poses for the methodology of future New Testament scholarship.
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See e.g. P.S. Alexander, “ ‘The Parting of the Ways’ From the Perspective of Rabbinic Judaism,” in Jews and Christians: The Parting of the Ways A.D. 70 to 135 (ed. J.D.G. Dunn; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992) 1-25; D. Boyarin, Border Lines: The Partition of Judaeo-Christianity (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2004); and W. Horbury, Jews and Christians in Contact and Controversy (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1998).
S. Moyise, “The Language of the Psalms in the Book of Revelation,” Neot 37 (2003) 246-261, p. 249.
See e.g. M.J.J. Menken, Old Testament Quotations in the Fourth Gospel: Studies in Textual Form (Kampen: Kok Pharos, 1996); G.J. Steyn, “A Quest for the Vorlage of the ‘Song of Moses’ (Deut 32) Quotations in Hebrews,” Neot 34 (2000) 263-272; “Psalm 2 in Hebrews,” Neot 37 (2003) 262-282; “The Vorlage of Psalm 45:6-7 (44:7-8) in Hebrews 1:8-9,” Hervormde Teologiese Studies 60 (2004) 1085-1103; and “The Occurrence of Ps 118(117):6 in Heb 13:6: Possible Liturgical Origins,” Neot 40 (2006) 119-134; R.T. McLay, The Use of the Septuagint in New Testament Research (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2003); and “Biblical Texts and the Scriptures for the New Testament Church,” in Hearing the Old Testament in the New Testament (ed. S.E. Porter; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2006) 37-58. See also M. Karrer, Der Brief an die Hebräer (2 vols.; ÖTBK; Würzburg: Güterlsoher, 2002 and 2008); “LXX Psalm 39:7-10 in Hebrews 10:5-7,” in Psalms and Hebrews: Studies in Reception (ed. D.J. Human and G.J. Steyn; New York/London: T&T Clark, 2010) 126-146.
S.W. Crawford, Rewriting Scripture in Second Temple Times (Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2008) 35.
See J.C. Vanderkam, The Dead Sea Scrolls Today (2nd ed.; Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge: Eerdmans, 2010) 64.
See e.g. E.E. Ellis, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament (Edinburgh: Oliver and Boyd, 1957); R. Longenecker, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1975).
See e.g. S. Kistemaker, The Psalm Citations in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Amsterdam: van Soest, 1961) 86. He claims, in fact, that: “. . . nearly every chapter of Hebrews reveals the peculiar features of the Midrash pesher. . . .” (p. 75).
M.C. Albl, “And Scripture Cannot be Broken”: The Form and Function of the Early Christian Testimonia Collections (Leiden: Brill, 1999) 287.
See e.g. the discussion by G.J. Brooke, “ ‘The Canon Within the Canon’ at Qumran and in the New Testament”, in The Scrolls and the Scriptures: Qumran Fifty Years After (ed. S.E. Porter and C.A. Evans; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997) 242-266.
See e.g. D. Boyarin, Intertextuality and the Reading of Midrash (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1990); A. Samely, The Interpretation of Speech in the Pentateuch Targums: A Study of Method and Presentation in Targumic Exegesis (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992); and A. Samely, Rabbinic Interpretation of Scripture in the Mishnah (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002).
This example is taken from Samely, Rabbinic Interpretation, 288.
F. Brown, S.R. Driver and C.A. Briggs, The Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (reprinted ed.; Peabody, Massachusetts: Hendrickson Publishers, 1996) 408.
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This paper places New Testament scriptural interpretation within its early Jewish context, highlighting the most significant ways in which understanding of this subject is enhanced by comparison with texts such as the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Pseudepigrapha and the rabbinic midrashim. Four critical issues are addressed: text form; exegetical genres; interpretative traditions; and exegetical techniques. The applicability to the New Testament of some innovative current research in the field of Jewish Studies is demonstrated. Consideration is then given to the major challenges which a close engagement with the Jewish exegetical literature poses for the methodology of future New Testament scholarship.
All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
---|---|---|---|
Abstract Views | 623 | 108 | 9 |
Full Text Views | 291 | 8 | 0 |
PDF Views & Downloads | 247 | 24 | 0 |