These two books are both relatively recent critical analyses of the Gospel according to John. It is interesting to read them together, both to see how the two differ (and especially to see Stibbe’s occasional criticisms of Culpepper’s work). In fact, despite the distinctions that Stibbe sometimes draws, the books complement each other nicely, and while there are differences of focus, there are seldom mutually exclusive conclusions. Both books are written for a scholarly audience, and while Culpepper’s style makes it more accessible, both offer enjoyment and enlightenment without the necessity of having read in depth from the extensive modern sources both frequently cite.
Culpepper states his purpose as trying to help the reader become sensitive to the two levels "lurking in the Gospel, the historical level (the ministry of Jesus) and the contemporary level (the situation of the Johannine community)." (pg. 3). As the subtitle notes, the author is using secular literary criticism, as distinct from a historical-critical approach, so that, by "looking at" certain features rather than "looking for" historical evidence, the reader can read John more perceptively. (pg. 5).
As if he were analyzing the text of a novel, Culpepper divides his chapters into the following six categories: narrator and point of view, time, plot, characters, implicit commentary, and implied reader.
His analysis relies almost exclusively on interpreting the "Gospel as it stands" in the Nestle-Aland Greek edition rather than its sources or its historical background. Culpepper concludes that three people were involved in the formation of John, the "beloved disciple," as the Johannine community’s founding father, was the source of the material, as acknowledged in John 19:35; the evangelist compiled the narrative (Culpepper does not get into a discussion of who the evangelist was, as Stibbe subsequently does); and an editor , as evidenced in 21:24, 25, who ultimately acted as a redactor, characterizing the implied author to be the beloved disciple (pp.45-47).
In analyzing what Culpepper refers to as "narrative time," he fits the action into about two months over a period covering two and a half years spanning three Passovers. The fact that the time period covered is considerably longer than the actual elapsed time underlines "how episodic the Gospel is." (pg. 72). Nonetheless, the way the material is handled convinces the reader that the "author has told as much of the story as possible, and all that is necessary." (pg. 75).
In discussing the plot, Culpepper illustrates that there is more conscious plotting of the narrative in John than is evidenced in any of the synoptics. The action is "shaped" and the dialogue is "noticeably more contrived and less realistic" (pg. 86) than in the other three. The principle conflict is between belief and unbelief, and it is this dynamic that propels the plot (pg. 97). There is an explicit ironic twist as the "apparent triumph of Jesus’ opponents is in fact the awesome fulfillment of his mission." (pg. 88).
Culpepper is particularly interesting in his review of the characters. While Jesus is clearly the protagonist, unlike most lead characters, He is "static;" He "does not change." (pg. 103). Culpepper further sees Jesus, as portrayed in John, while "not entirely lacking in human emotions" as essentially "aloof." (pp. 109, 110). The only time Jesus truly shows emotion involves Lazarus--an interesting observation, because of the spin that Stibbe puts on Jesus’ emotional attachment to Lazarus, whom Stibbe concludes, as we shall see, is the beloved disciple. The fact that Jesus is "demonstrably less emotional than in the synoptic Gospels" (pg.111) accords with John’s underlying theme of Jesus as the pre-existent logos: he is "not of this world" (John 8:23, 17:11). Thus, Culpepper agrees that later "docetic interpretations of the Gospel are not entirely unfounded" and that the description of Jesus in John "as a god ‘striding upon the earth’ is not far from the truth." (pg. 112).
In his chapter entitled "Implicit Commentary," Culpepper homes in on the use of symbols and irony in John. The Jewish leaders, in John 11:48, justified their desire to destroy Jesus by noting that, "if we let him go on thus, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation" (John 11:48)--exactly of course what happens as a direct consequence of Jesus’ execution. Finally, Culpepper suggests in the last chapter, "The Implied Reader," that the target audience, while not Jewish, has extensive knowledge of the Old Testament and general Jewish beliefs and, hence, he concludes is "either a Christian or one familiar with Christianity," and who in addition was aware before reading John "that Jesus was raised from the dead."
Mark Stibbe wrote his book John, as Storyteller in 1992, nine years after Culpepper had published his; judging from the frequent references Stibbe makes to Culpepper, it is clear he regards Culpepper’s book as a primary source (along with Raymond Brown’s two volume super work and Rudolph Bultmann’s 1971 commentary on John). Written originally as his doctrinal thesis (entitled then "The Artistry of John"), Stibbe’s book uses a literary-critical approach to John designed to show that "the Gospel of John is a multi-story phenomenon calling for a multi-disciplinary narrative methodology." (p.1). As with any doctoral thesis, it is written primarily for scholars; as such it has a tendency to criticize the works of others, as if to score points, even when the differences Stibbe focuses on is often of minor importance and indeed sometimes a purposely obscure interpretation of the other author (especially in the case of Culpepper) which permits Stibbe to register a disagreement. For example, Stibbe complains early on that Culpepper "treats the Gospel as an a-historical novel" (pg. 8) and claims further "it should be read primarily as a story an not as history." (pg. 10). While this is true as far as it goes, it misses Culpepper’s underlying point which is that understanding the dynamic behind the Gospel’s plot helps to clarify the author’s "strategy for wooing readers to accept its interpretation of Jesus." (Culpepper, pg. 98). Indeed, Culpepper specifically notes that the author of John has created his world with material "drawn from life and from history" and that the Gospel is a "sublime blend of historical tradition and faith." (Culpepper, pg. 231).
Stibbe’s complaints refer primarily to part one of his book, entitled "The Method of Narrative Criticism and the Gospel of John", when he goes into unnecessary scholastic detail about his methodology, comparing it to what others have done and showing how he differs. While this is of interest no doubt to a small group of scholars, it is much less interesting overall than part two, entitled "An Application of the Method of Narrative Criticism to John 18-19," where Stibbe applies his narrative critical approach to those two chapters. (To be fair, however, even when Stibbe is making his most obscure arguments, his editors have assured that his language seldom reflects the multi-syllabic, overly ornate language, characteristic of most doctrinal theses. The chapters in Part two are entitled, respectively, "A Practical Criticism of John 18-19," "A Genre Criticism," "A Sociological Reading," and finally, "A Narrative Historical Approach." They make for interesting reading. In chapter five he is particularly insightful in describing the contrast between Jesus and Peter, noting that the evangelist has "underlined the differences between" the two--that while "Peter is a somewhat spontaneous hostage to fortune, Jesus exhibits a sovereign control over events." (pg. 98). On Pilate, he is equally enlightening, taking a more sympathetic view (pp. 109,110) towards him than either Culpepper or Brown. Stibbe’s highlighting of the importance of irony in John’s Gospel accords closely with Culpepper. (pg. 120).
Chapter six discusses genre and Stibbe gets into a particularly interesting area when he focuses on Northrop Frye’s definition of tragedy versus romance. Culpepper had done the same thing, and the two authors reached markedly different conclusions. Culpepper finds the struggle of Jesus as told through John to be in the genre of romance because it is manipulated by God/Christ in such a way as to produce the desired results. Stibbe calls it a tragedy (one almost wonders if he would have called it a romance if Culpepper had described it first as a tragedy) and makes a most detailed and rewarding comparison between it and Euripedes’ hero Dionysus in The Bacchae. Stibbe is indeed on firm ground when he notes that Greek tragedies often have redemptive endings that can be seen as comparable to the resurrection. While the argument over classifying John as a romance or a tragedy is problematic--to make it fit snugly into either classical genre requires much pushing and pulling--the evidence each author cites adds new insights into the Gospel that makes the exercise itself quite satisfying.
Chapter seven, his sociological reading, is uniquely fascinating because of Stibbe’s conclusion that the "beloved disciple" is Lazarus. The evidence he presents for this is convincing (pp. 155ff.) (and as already mentioned, confirms with Culpepper’s observation that the only true emotion shows is his love for Lazarus)--it would be particularly interesting to hear Stibbe and another expert arguing this out. One ancillary conclusion is that Lazarus was the head of a distinct group of disciples drawn primarily from Judea (as The Twelve are, with the apparent exception of Judas, all from Galilee) who ultimately formed the nucleus of the Johannine community.
The last chapter focuses on a historical approach in which he describes specific incidents in John contradicting or missing from the synoptics to try to evaluate their historical validity. For example, he notes that unlike in Matthew and Luke, Jesus identifies himself to the Roman soldiers preventing Judas from having any role in the scene. This, Stibbe concludes, is not a "historical reminiscence" but an interpretation designed to show Jesus in charge of events (pg. 171). Stibbe ends this section by concluding that "John’s passion source derived from a tradition independent of the written synoptic passion narratives: the eyewitness tradition of the beloved disciple" (i.e., Lazarus) (pg. 182).
While both books were enlightening, if one had only time for one of them, I would recommend Culpepper. But the second half of Stibbe was every bit as stimulating as Culpepper’s study: it just took too long to get there. With that caveat, reading the two together and comparing their different takes on various issues--sometimes complementary, sometimes contradictory--greatly enriched what each had to say separately.
John Hayes, Professor of Old Testament, and Carl Holladay, Professor of New Testament, at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia, are the co-authors of Biblical Exegesis: A Beginner’s Handbook, as well as Preaching the New Common Lectionary (1984-87), and Preaching Through the Christian Year (1992-95). Biblical Exegesis: A Beginner’s Handbook, originally published in 1982, has been revised to include: new information on using concordances, an expanded bibliography after each chapter, added sections on structuralist and canonical criticisms, and more illustrations. Biblical Exegesis: A Beginner’s Handbook is a well presented and useful resource guide written to help the beginning exegete understand the rudimentary concepts of Old and New Testament biblical exegesis.
Hayes and Holladay introduce their text by explaining that exegesis means "to lead out of", from the Greek word ‘exegeomai.’ Dividing Chapter 1 into four parts: exegesis as an every day activity, the Bible and exegesis, biblical exegesis through the centuries, and the task of biblical exegesis, the authors succeed at presenting a clear and understandable summary of the exegetical process. Hayes and Holladay encourage the reader to think of exegesis as something we all participate in daily, through oral communication and the written word. They illustrate this nicely with activities such as letter writing, talking on the phone, reading a newspaper, etc. The authors explain the difficulty involved in exegeting oral communication and written texts in our culture depends on two criteria: 1) how well the hearer/reader is knowledgeable of the speaker/author’s experience, and 2) whether the communication and the form it takes is overly specialized.
Hayes and Holladay warn the reader that biblical exegesis is far more specialized than everyday, commonplace exegetical activity, and illustrate this with seven important factors: 1) The Bible was written to other people, we are the third-party. 2) A language barrier results because the Bible was written in different languages: Old Testament in Hebrew and Aramaic, and the New Testament in Greek. 3) The Bible encompasses a different cultural setting. 4) Much of the Bible is interested in a historical narrative which spans over 12 centuries. 5) Some documents in the Bible are the work of more than one author, especially the Old Testament. 6) The Old and New Testaments read today derive from texts written many years after the original text was written. 7) The Bible is sacred scripture. Even though today’s exegete benefits greatly from the wealth of interpretation on Scripture, one has to be careful not to turn an exegesis into an eisegesis ("reading into").
Hayes and Holladay explain the task of biblical exegesis is to come to an understanding of the text, not the meaning of the text. The methods used for this task are called "criticism." The authors’ description of nine different criticisms: textual, historical, grammatical, literary, form, tradition, redaction, structuralist, and canonical, are well developed in Chapters 2 through 10, with a methodology on integrating these criticisms in Chapter 11. The authors wisely recommend that the exegete not follow any prescribed exegetical order, allowing enough time for the exegetical process to unfold. Hayes and Holladay conclude their book in Chapter 12 with historical, theological, hermeneutical and personal ways biblical exegesis is used, advising the beginning exegete "to be alert to the various ways within modern culture in which the biblical text is appropriated, realizing that exegesis is common to all of them."
AUTHOR
Edgar Krentz was a professor of New Testament at Concordia Seminary in Exhile, St. Louis. His book The Historical Critical Method was written for the college student, seminarian, and interested lay people that are interested in the methods used by scholars in biblical interpretation.
STRUCTURE
This book consists of five chapters covering the following:
EVIDENCE
Krentz used literature on historiography by some representative contemporary historians as a means to understand and measure the goals, methods, and presuppositions of biblical scholarship. His aim was to describe what is being done, the limitations and the contributions of the methods used and the foci of current debate.
He used Klaus Scholders work on the encroachment of secular knowledge on biblical authority. The chapter on Goals and Techniques discusses the historical method used in biblical research. He quotes Ulrich Wilckens definition of scientific biblical interpretation. "The only scientifically responsible interpretation of the Bible is that investigation of the biblical texts that, with a methodologically consistent use of historical understanding in the present state of its art, seeks via reconstruction to recognize and describe the meanings these texts have had in the context of the tradition history of early Christianity.
A major focus of the author’s presentation is an evaluation of historical criticism by such scholars as Gerhard Ebeling, Ernest Käsemann, Jurgen Moltmann, Wolfhart Pannenberg, F. Mildenberger, and Peter Stuhlmacher.
The interpreter seeks not only what is unique in Biblical history, but also the explanation, the reconstruction of the occurrences in such a way as to understand the rise and development of the distinctive mixture and elements that are found in Israel and the church at any particular time or place.
EXAMPLE
An example from the book is from Paul. Paul almost casually mentions a "collection for the saints" in 1 Cor. 16:1-4, and gives brief directions for its gathering. In 2 Cor 8-9 he urges the quick completion of the "ministry to the saints" under the leadership of Titus, while Rom 15:25-29 describes his plan to go to Jerusalem with the "Contribution for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem (40).
READERS RESPONSE
I enjoyed reading this book by Edgar Krentz. I found this book to be student friendly, informative, and well organized. It is a good place to begin to gather an understanding of using the Historical-Critical Method.
AUTHOR
Authors Otto Kaiser and Werner G. Kümmel are German Biblical scholars. They combined forces to write this handbook for beginning students and seminarians.
STRUCTURE
This book is broken into two main divisions. The first section is The Old Testament by Otto Kaiser. The second section is The New Testament by Werner G. Kümmel. The first section walks a student through the task of exegesis. Covering such topics as textual criticism, literary and redactional criticism, form and genre criticism, plus interpretation of words and subject matter. The second section on New Testament exegesis discusses the point of view in exegesis. It also covers textual criticism, linguistic resources, tasks and resources of exegesis, and interpretation of Romans 5:1-11, and exegesis of Matthew 12:22-37.
EVIDENCE
used in this book comes from old text and authors such as the Septuagint, Codex Vaticanus, Greek versions of the Old Testament, and concordances to name a few. Questions are answered in this text about what is the purpose of an exegesis? And what to do we want to achieve by our exegesis? The text explains that is our aim that will determine whether we concentrate primarily on questions about the origin and historical content of a writing and direct our questions towards its wider religious context and background, biographical or historical questions, religious and theological questions. Their purpose in this book is to help one gain insight into the theological problems, and the single aim of searching out and interpreting the objective meaning of the text. To do this one must be able to differentiate between the Synoptic Gospels and the Remaining New Testament Books.
EXAMPLE
The methodological ideal in interpreting a text is to interpret it as a component part of a larger whole. You must, therefore, interpret the whole thing. For most of us time does not allow this and one may just work on a specific passage when doing this you must be aware of what comes before and after. The use of commentaries or special works can help with this also.
Romans 5:1-11 After preliminary textual questions have been settled, the translations of verses 1-2 offers no special difficulty. Nonetheless, Käsemann warns us at verse 2 against pressing the kai before ten prosagogen, and thus makes us aware of a logical difficulty presented by the usual translation, "through whom we have access"; the grace in which Christians stand has not been made accessible to them by Christ among others. If we turn to Bauer-Arndt-Gingrich’s Lexicon for light on this difficulty, we find under kai. II.6. the information that kai, in combination with the relative pronoun, lends greater independence to the following relative clause(Romans 9:24 is adduced, correctly, to substantiate this point). We should, therefore, probably not translate the kai in Romans 5:2 at all, or, possibly, render it by "indeed"......
READER'S RESPONSE
In found this book by Werner Kümmel to be easier and more logical to read than some other pieces by him. He can, though be fairly long winded, and has a love for commas, semicolons, and long sentence paragraphs.
Authors: This book was co-authored in Germany at the request of the Association of German Evangelical Theological Students by two Professors, Otto Kaiser and Werner G. Kümmel in the early 1960’s. It is intended to reach the beginning exegetical student to give them a foundation of the terms and concepts used in exegetical method.
Structure: The main text of the book is in two parts, preceded by an introduction by the translator. Prof. Kaiser authored the first section, dealing with exegetical methods of the Old Testament, while Prof. Kümmel authored the second part dealing with exegetical methods of the New Testament.
The book itself is structured in a manner that is easy to follow. Both the Old and New Testament components have been edited to contain a brief introduction and then seven sections covering the topics under discussion. The Old Testament Exegesis covers : I. Exegesis and Proclamation; II Text of the Old Testament-Textual Criticism; III Analysis of the Meter; IV Literary Criticism; V Form Criticism and Tradition Criticism; VI Subject Exegesis, Concept Exegesis, and Context Exegesis; and VII The Old Testament and Christian Theology. The New Testament Exegesis covers: I Text of the New Testament- Textual Criticism; II Linguistic Resources; III Questions of Introduction; IV The Task of Exegesis; V Resources for Exegesis;VI Interpretation of Romans 5:1-11; and VII Exegesis of Matthew 12:22-37. The book ends with the notes from both authors and the translator, along with a list of further resources the student can turn to in both studying and doing exegetical work.
Evidence: Both authors have similar philosophies when approaching the methodology of exegesis. They both assume that the student will be working from a text in the original language: Biblical Hebraica for the Old Testament and the E.Nestle’s and K. Aland’s edition of the Greek New Testament. Kummel does caution that the student be aware the Nestle/Aland is not the original text as "it is not intended to be correct in every place"(page 37) and the student will need to make extensive use of the critical apparatus. They both also advise the use of Lexicons, and only use of commentaries at the end. Both authors take a scholarly, scientific approach to exegesis, but also understand that each student will be coming at it with his or her own presuppositions to the text, which are impossible to complete suspend. Prof. Kaiser also is clear that the Old Testament is not to merely be viewed as " ‘promise’ and the New Testament as ‘fulfillment’ " but must be understood as valid in its own right.
Example Prof. Kaiser, while citing examples of other’s exegesis, does not provide interpretation of any Bible passage to illustrate the methods he discusses. Prof. Kümmel devotes two sections of his book to specific passages which provide an example of the methods he has discussed. He starts the interpretation of Romans 5:1-11 by placing it within the structure of the book, and then followed by a dissecting of the passage into subsections, as determined by their themes. He then uses the apparatus and commentaries to determine which of the variant readings are most likely the original text. Using the concordance, he determines where certain phrases have been used by Paul in his other letters, and in what context. For example in verse 5b of Paul’s letter, Prof Kaiser examines the use of the phrase he agape tou theou to determine the meaning of the genitive, and thus the phrase. He refers to the concordance to find other passages that Paul use this phrase, and from looking at them, determines that this must refer to God’s love towards us. Reader Response I found this an easy book to read and a good overview of the basic steps in exegesis. The concepts were laid out in a systematic, simple manner that was easy to understand. The language and the set up did not talk down to the reader, nor was it at such a level that it was over the head of the beginning student. This would be an excellent book for the beginning exegetical student, especially one who is familiar with the language of the original texts that are being examined. It probably would also serve as a good, quick review for someone either returning to exegetical work or who wanted to verify that the method that is being used has not deteriorated.
Author
Gordon D. Fee was a Professor of New Testament at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Most recently he is a Professor of New Testament at Regent College. He never did attend seminary, but he did earn a Ph.D. in N.T. studies. New Testament Exegesis was written as a companion to Professor Stuarts book called Old Testament Exegesis.
Structure
The New Testament Exegesis is a great guide and textbook. It is designed to teach students and pastors how to do an effective exegesis. It was designed to be a companion to the Old Testament Exegesis by Professor Stuart. Gordon Fee gives basic tools to do an exegesis, but he also elaborates on areas that need more attention. He also suggests other books and commentaries that are useful in doing an exegesis.
Evidence
Although Gordon Fee never attended seminary, he did receive an undergraduate Bible major and a Ph.D. in N.T. studies. He was never really trained in doing an exegesis. According to Fee any teaching he had in exegesis was taken from a hermeneutics class. Fee comments that what was passing for exegesis in many schools and seminaries was basically advanced Greek. He felt that what he was learning was only a basic part to the whole. Basically Fee learned exegesis on his own. He admits to having many exceptional teachers and using good commentaries. His colleagues were also very helpful such as: Douglas Stuart and David M. Scholer, the dean of Northern Baptist Seminary.
Example
Steps to writing an exegesis paper on the Gospels:
 | Step 1: Survey the historical context in general. |
| Step 2: Confirm the limits of the passage. |
| Step 3: Establish the text. |
| Step 4: Make a provisional translation. |
| Step 5: Analyze sentence structures and syntactical relationships. |
| Step 6: Analyze the grammar. |
| Step 7: Analyze significant words. |
| Step 8: Research the historical-cultural background. |
| Step 9: Determine the formal character of the pericope or saying. |
| Step 10: Analyze the pericope in a Gospel synopsis. |
| Step 11: Consider possible life settings in the ministry of Jesus. |
Reader Response
I found the book readable, clear, and well written. I also found the book not at all intimidating. It is a book for all who want to enjoy the Bible. It would be very useful as a reference book for the layperson or pastor who is engaged in the study of the Bible.
As the sub-title implies, this book is written for seminary students and pastors. Fee has put together a user friendly exegetical guidebook, both for those doing exegetical papers and those preparing to write a sermon. This revised edition includes information for folks who are using the English Bible and who have little or no Greek language skills. The section on exegesis for sermon preparation provides a streamlined method designed to fit into a pastor's weekly schedule. Fee gives a detailed plan for exegeting each of the four genres of the New Testament; the Epistles, Gospels, Acts and Revelation. An extensive bibliography of reference materials and authors is provided. In Section 11.2 "Establishing the Text" Fee explains how to use the apparatus of the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament and in Section 11.4 he goes through word analysis using Walter Bauer's Greek-English lexicon.
I found this to be a very readable book which I think will be invaluable in doing exegesis. After reading most of the first edition from the library, I went out and bought myself a copy of the revised edition. I look forward to using it for both exegetical papers as well as for preparing sermons and Bible studies. Although I found it helpful and readable, I would not recommend it for absolute neophytes to Biblical studies. Some of the terms and information would not have been easily accessible to me before beginning an exegetical methods course. Much of the material would have seemed like reading a foreign language of which I have no knowledge before having had some courses in New Testament. Some of the material I found challenging, particularly the section on sentence diagramming. I'm not so sure that I agree with Fee that this exercise is necessary for exegetical work, but I expect further study will allow me to make a more educated judgment. Even if I decide that sentence diagramming is not at all useful to me, the rest of the book will be well used treasure in my library.
Authors
The Alands are well-known people in textual criticism. Kurt Aland has served since the 1940’s as co-editor and editor of the Nestle-Aland text and editor since its inception of the Greek New Testament. Barbara Aland has been co-editor of the Nestle-Aland text since 1979, and of the Greek New Testament since 1983. She is the Director of the Institute for New Testament Textual Research, Munster/Westphalia.
Structure
The basic outline and arrangement of the book was put together by Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland. There are sections that just deal with practical examples and then there are discussions of general principles. Some of these sections were written jointly by the authors while other sections were written independently of each other. The book provides lots of charts and old manuscripts. The book also has a wealth of information and it particularly focuses on information that is needed by the reader for using the Greek New Testament and for forming a sound and independent judgment on the many different kinds of variant readings characteristic of the New Testament textual tradition. It also includes many detailed descriptions of some of the oldest Greek manuscripts. There are some illustrations of the Codex Sinaiticus and also the Codex Vaticanus which we have discussed in class.
Evidence
Both Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland give much credit to the Institute for New Testament Textual Research in Munster/Westphalia. They also give much credit to the support of the Hermann Kunst Foundation for promoting New Textual Research along with the German Research Council which made the research of this book possible. H. Buchmann prepared the charts and supplementary illustrations and he also helped in checking the final draft.
Example
This book was put together to help individuals understand the Greek New Testament and to understand how it was put together. The Alands write about the history of the Greek New Testament. In their book are many charts and manuscripts which illustrate some of the history of these old manuscripts. There is also history in regards to how these old manuscripts were found. A picture of plate 1 for example is an illustration of the first edition of the Greek New Testament by Erasmus. There is another illustration of plate 3 which is an illustration of the Codex Alexandrinus which we discussed in class. The book also discusses the critical apparatus, symbols, citations and notes.
Reader Response
I enjoyed looking through and reading parts of the book. The book compliments what we have been discussing in class. According to the Alands the book was designed as a college manual for students using "Standard text" of the Greek New Testament in any of the various editions. I would recommend it for any one who is interested in these old manuscripts. I found the book very interesting and easy to read.
In addition to writing this book, Barbara and Kurt Aland are the editors of the Nestle-Aland Greek-English New Testament. They work with the Insitute for New Testament Textual Research in Munster. The preface from the first edition of The Text Of The New Testament clarifies that this book is, "designed as a college text or home study manual for students using the modern text of the Greek New Testament" so that such students may have, "the basic information necessary for using the Greek New testament and for forming an independent judgment on the many kinds of variant readings characteristic of the New Testament textual tradition."(v)
The text is arranged in eight chapters; THE EDITIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, THE TRANSMISSION OF THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT, THE MANUSCRIPTS OF THE GREEK NEW TESTAMENT, THE EARLY VERSIONS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, INTRODUCTION TO THE USE OF THE MODERN EDITIONS, RESOURCES, INTRODUCTION TO THE PRAXIS OF NEW TESTAMENT TEXTUAL CRITICISM (SELECTED PASSAGES), and CATEGORIES AND TEXT TYPES, AND THE TEXTUAL ANALYSIS OF MANUSCRIPTS. The authors have also included numerous plates of texts, and tables and charts to illustrate their work. While the authors acknowledge that a book "three times this size would probably still prove inadequate," they provide a useful guide to understanding the scope of New Testament variants. They further advise that it is possible to begin with chapter five and dive into New Testament texts, referring to the table of contents or the index as they relate to passages and points of difficulty encountered.
Chapter seven is particularly helpful to a beginning student of New Testament textual criticism. It begins with "twelve basic rules for textual criticism" which are clear, and brief while still managing to highlight problems with "rules of thumb" like lectio difficilima and lectio brevior. This chapter describes the manner in which variants occurred and refers to plates in the text for illustration. For example the problems of homoioteleution and homoioarcton (omissions due to similarities in groups of letters at the end or beginning of a word, phrase or sentence) are illustrated using Matthew 5:19, 20 and 21 which shows variations of this type in the Codex Sinaiticus, the Codex Freerianus and the Codex Bezae Cantabrigiensis.
In this guide to New Testament textual criticism the Alands provide a manual and tool box for the apprentice Biblical scholar. There are many more tools than I can currently use, but the manual is an excellent resource that lends itself to addressing tools and Biblical text either one step at a time or, with a flurry of page flipping, using the index and table of contents one can tinker with all the tools at once! It is a valuable resource and works well beside the Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament.
Christopher Tuckett is presently a Professor of New Testament at the University of Oxford, England. He is the editor of New Testament Studies Journal, and has authored many books: The Scriptures in the Gospels (1997), Q & the History of Early Christianity: Studies on Q (1997), and Luke (1997) being the most recent.
Tuckett directs Reading the New Testament: Methods of Interpretation to the beginning exegete. Tuckett informs the reader in the introduction he wrote his book to show the various ways the New Testament can be understood, stipulating that "it is a book about methods." Tuckett thoroughly and carefully examines the weaknesses and strong points of the different exegetical approaches, wisely deciding to apply each exegetical method to one text (his example is the story of the healing of the man with the withered hand: Mark 3.1-6 and parallels), making it easier to understand each method. Most approaches described in Tuckett’s book are part of the ‘historical-critical method’ , encompassing not one methodology, but several, because New Testament texts originate from "a particular historical context," - to understand the texts one must delve into that particular context. Tuckett divides his book into the following areas: textual, source, form, and redaction criticisms, Scripture and canon, genre, New Testament and sociology, New Testament and structuralism, problems of introduction, other approaches, and lastly, suggestions for further reading, referring to each area discussed in his book.
In describing canonical Scripture in Chapter 1, Tuckett makes two separate distinctions: ‘history of the canon’ and ‘the canon today’. In a historical overview of the canon, Tuckett informs the reader the early church had Scripture, but did not classify it as ‘New Testament.’ Gradually the books of the New Testament were put together as Scripture, on equal footing with the Old Testament, but it was a very slow process. The universal practice of the church, not ‘apostolicity’, most likely determined sacred Scripture; with both Origen and Eusebius reflecting this same idea in their writings. Regarding ‘the canon today’, Tuckett explains that all Christian reflection must relate to New Testament witness in some way.
To clarify textual criticism in Chapter 2, Tuckett informs the reader that the earliest surviving manuscript dates back to 200 AD, with most of the original evidence for the New Testament from the fourth century and later. Most texts were not independent of each other; mistakes or different readings were copied from one manuscript to another. The New Testament manuscripts are divided into three groups: ‘Alexandrian’,‘Western’ and ‘Byzantine’. Tuckett refers to Mark 3.1-6 and parallels to illustrate textual differences between the three Gospels. In Mark 3.1: almost every manuscript reads "Jesus entered the synagogue"; with manuscript B from the ‘Alexandrian’ group, the only one which omits the ‘definite article’, reading "Jesus entered a synagogue." Matthew and Luke both agree using the article, the. It is interesting to note that the newest edition of the Nestle-Aland text has the definite article, whereas most older editions follow the B (Alexandrian) manuscript. Tuckett refers to the Greek New Testament published by Westcott and Hort in 1881, as one of the texts that has established precedent for "all future textual criticism".
In disclosing the ‘problems in introduction’ in Chapters 3 and 4, I like the fact that Tuckett reminds his readers they need to imagine themselves in the position of the people for whom the works were written - requiring a knowledge of background on who wrote the book, when, where and why.
In order to apply textual criticism to a text, Tuckett discloses one has to have knowledge of what "the text was", and in order to understand the text’s genre, he explains in Chapter 5, one has to ascertain what the "whole thing is." He gives the examples of Paul’s letters, making the distinction between ‘letter’ and ‘epistle.’ Tuckett also makes a distinction in Chapter 6 between source-critical problems, where the exegete has to determine literary relationships between texts, and discover unknown sources in the text.
Tuckett describes form criticism in Chapter 7 as a relationship between three areas: "the way in which the unit of tradition is told, its form and the type of situation where it is being used (Sitz im Leben)" which means ‘setting in life.’ Tuckett gives examples: business letters, advertising circulars, poems, short stories. Genre and form criticism are similar, the difference being that genre studies the larger unit - form, the smaller units. In the Gospels, genre criticism studies what type of writing the finished Gospels are, whereas form criticism studies the particular stories in the Gospels.
Tuckett gives a clear summary of redaction criticism and how it has changed in Chapter 8, noting that it is relatively new, but compared to the other criticisms has dominated Gospel studies for over 25 years, without much critical scrutiny. Redaction criticism had its beginnings with Marxsen’s work on Mark, Bornkamm’s on Matthew, and Conzelmann’s on Luke, with R.H. Lightfoot’s work on Mark’s Gospel showing "how Mark’s theological concerns had creatively shaped the tradition."
A fairly new way to interpret New Testament texts through sociology is explained by Tuckett in Chapter 9. He reports that many scholars, impressed with a concentration on the social dimension of the New Testament, desire to move away from the antiquated, traditional use of theology and ideas. The social aspects of early Christianity found in sociology, help delineate the social life and setting of the early Christian settlements, social pressures experienced, and illustrate how social determinations, rather than ideological, contributed toward early Christian’s self-understanding and perception. In helping to clarify these points, Tuckett refers to the work of G. Theissen, and his discernment on the social situation of the Corinthian church in 1 Corinthians. In The Social Setting of Pauline Christianity, Theissen describes how some of the Christians at Corinth were very wealthy, with prominent social standings, but others were very poor, with low social standings; Theissen’s premise being that these social distinctions contributed to some of the difficulties displayed in 1 Corinthians.
Tuckett seems reluctant to approach the area of structuralism in Chapter 10, describing it as a difficult method to understand, oftentimes presented by authors in a confusing way. Tuckett reveals that structuralism is not interested in the author, but the text. Structuralism explains "how and why a text has meaning, and does not impose new meanings on a text."
In Chapter 11 Tuckett introduces canonical criticism and ‘literary’ criticism as other methods of interpretation of the New Testament. And he concludes his book by reminding the reader how important the historical-critical method remains to the interpretation of the New Testament, recognizing that source, form and redaction criticism are for the most part historically focused, and that New Testament texts "are historical texts stemming from a particular point in history."
Reading the New Testament: Methods of Interpretation is an important introductory resource for anyone who is interested in understanding and studying methods of interpretation of New Testament texts. Tuckett educates and informs his reader by carefully describing each method, and is not afraid to point out weaknesses and limitations. His decision to use the story of the healing of the man with the withered hand is extremely helpful in illustrating how different methods will produce different results from the same text.
William Beardslee is a professor emeritus of religion at Emory University. He has been an associate editor of the Journal of the American Academy of Religion and is currently director of the Process and Faith Program of the Center for Process Studies in Claremont, California. (The Internet address for the program is: www.ctr4process.org/p&f/) Beardslee’s book on literary criticism was written as one of a three volume series in New Testament criticism. The other two volumes are Form Criticism by Edgar McKnight and Redaction Criticism by Norman Perrin. The series was developed to show "students and laymen" Biblical scholarship in a twentieth century light.
The most noticeable feature of this book is that it is extremely short (86 pages, including the glossary and annotated bibliography). These 86 pages are organized into 7 chapters; What Is Literary Criticism, The Form Of The Gospel, The Proverb, History As A Form, The Apocalypse, The Literary History Of The Synoptic Gospels, and Literary Criticism And Theological Understanding. Beardslee emphasizes that the short text makes, "no attempt" to be comprehensive which would require dealing, "with the briefer forms, the manner of their collection into larger wholes, and the structures of whole books." (p. ix) Instead he tries to "draw lines of connection" between literary interpretation and the literary patterns which are found in the New Testament.
Beardslee’s premise is that, "classifications used in traditional literary studies are not very adequate," (p.3) for a literary understanding of the New Testament and he argues that the, "most useful data for comparison come not from the familiar literature of the West, but from folk materials, myths, legends, cultic materials, and from phenomenological studies of religion generally."(p.5) He makes an interesting case for the harm that over familiarity does to the meaning of Biblical texts that is, perhaps, more dangerous to understanding than a "failure of loyalty."
According to Beardslee, the problem, "arises from a situation which the New Testament shares with all other creative literature, namely, that its original impact was made by a ‘deformation’ of language, a stretching of language to a new metaphorical meaning which shocked the hearer... into a new insight."(p. 11) Beardslee insists on a literary interpretation that digs to the roots of New Testament texts to consider the participatory nature of their original religious function. The primary strength of his approach is in footnotes that connect a student to varied scholarly approaches which draw on history, theories of literature, language, and theology.
A chapter on the proverb illustrates Beardslee’s work well. Considering the relative importance of proverbial material in the Gospels he draws our attention to the point that the volume of such material speaks powerfully for the importance of the information conveyed by these texts. He investigates the function of the beatitude in reversing the expected form of blessing (expressed joy at life’s fulfillment) with an eschatological shift that is, "asserted not merely as a future hope, but as a paradoxical present reality... The present is secretly transformed by the power of the future." (p.38) In the course of this brief (11 page) chapter, Beardslee references work by Norman Brown, Robert Pfeiffer, Andre Jolles, Rudolf Bultmann, Coert Rylaarsdam, Gerhard von Rad, Ulrich Wilckens, Thomas Arvedson, A. Dirichlet, Ovid, Eduard Norden, Friedrich Hauck, other work by Beardslee, and H. E. Todt, as well as numerous Scriptural texts. (29 footnotes)
The brevity of Beardslee’s text should in no way reflect upon the amount time a student devotes to his work. Not only are the footnotes and annotated bibliography that are provided invaluable for further research, the convoluted sentences are an unsurpassed somnolent. I brought this book with me on a family outing and it became a great joke for people to count the number of times I drifted off to sleep in the course of my reading. (The high count was 11 times in two pages!) But maybe I was just tired.
Edgar McKnight wrote this book while teaching at Furman University. In his preface (p.X) he writes "This book is intended to be a guided tour - a tour through the written Gospels back to the earthly Jesus." Further he says, "this volume will introduce you to the discipline of form criticism."
Prof. McKnight follows a logical progression. He begins by going through the origins of the form critical method and then discusses the front-runners in this discipline, Dibelius and Bultmann. Chapter 3 then presents the scholarly critique - both positive and negative - of form criticism. Chapter 4 covers the relationship between the 'quest for the historical Jesus' and form criticism and gives some examples of how form criticism is applied to the Synoptic Gospels.
This text goes into great detail about form criticism and how the discipline began and its various applications up to the time of publication (1969). I found it to be an interesting introduction to form criticism. There were times during reading the book when I wanted to stop, get out a Bible and see if I could see what the 'masters' of form criticism were seeing. I have a much better understanding of form criticism than I had before reading Prof. McKnight's book. However, if he truly intended it as the guidebook he writes o in the Preface, I must have missed the tour bus. A guided tour through the history of form criticism and is applications, yes. A tour of the Gospels, back to the person Jesus, no.
This is a useful text for those interested in Biblical studies and the theological methods of critiquing the text, sources and tradition. It could easily serve as a jumping off point to utilizing the work of many of the theologians mentioned by McKnight. Easy or light reading? Definitely not. Helpful, informative, piquing curiosity in this student? Absolutely.
Author
This book was written by Rev. Dr. Douglas Stuart, a Professor of Old Testament and Chair of the Division of Biblical Studies at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, South Hamilton, Massachusetts. Though no reference is given in the book to this, Dr. Stuart is also the Senior Pastor at the First Congregational Church in Boxford, Massachusetts.
Dr. Stuart intends this book to be a primer for seminary students and pastors; those who in his preface says "cannot read a Hebrew Psalm at sight and who are not sure what Vetus Testamentum would mean or contain."(page 11). The first edition of this book was written in 1980. This second edition was updated in 1984 to add a chapter of examples and to update the suggested resources.
Structure
The main part of the book is structured into four chapters, with each chapter broken up into subsections or steps for the reader to follow. The chapters are: I. Guide for Full Exegesis; II. Exegesis and the Original Text; III. Short Guide for Sermon Exegesis; and IV. Exegesis Aids and Resources. The chapters are preceded by a list of Abbreviations frequently used in the text, the Preface, the Analytical Table of Contents and the Introduction. Two indexes, of the authors and the scripture passages cited, are at the end of the book.
Evidence
Dr. Stuart recommends the use of the original Hebrew language in doing Old Testament exegesis, even if the familiarity with it is rusty or weak; he purports that with time the reader will master it. He then recommend using the Latin Vulgate, the Greek Septuagint and other translations to compare to the Hebrew Texts, if the student is familiar with these languages. He stays away from the German-language resources, since he assumes that his audience will not know German, and that references to these would thus by useless. He recommends the use of a good history of Israel, along with other aids such as Lexicons, Concordances, Bible and Theological Dictionaries, and finally a limited number of commentaries.
While Dr. Stuart stresses the use of historical and scholarly resources for exegesis, he stresses that an exegesis that does not contain how it applies to the audience today is incomplete. The passage is applied either for faith or for action. While his emphasis is that exegesis is done in order to get to the final step, applying this passage to today, he wants the reader to rely on their own exegetical work, rather than the preaching commentaries that are available. His objection to these commentaries is that the writers cannot know the audience that the preacher is trying to reach, and therefore cannot be as accurate as the preacher him or her self.
Dr. Stuart provides two methods for doing exegesis; one for the a full exegesis paper or research and one method which shortens the steps to be used in sermon preparation. He also provides in a separate chapter examples of each step of full exegesis method, which does much to help clarify and reinforce these steps.
Example
Dr. Stuart devotes a chapter to applying his steps to various passages from the Old Testament. He uses Job 31, Job’s last protestation of innocence, for his example of how to do application. He lists the issues that it addresses that are comparable to situations today (sexual propriety, honesty, just dealing with employees, generosity towards the needy, materialism/idolatry, financial arrangements). He then determines that it is not a command to perform anything in relation to these things, so its purpose is to inform. He then determines that the main focus is on Job’s actions, rather than his faith. Next, he determines how these issues would apply to his audience; i.e., not all hearing would have employees of the their own. He interprets the applications of Job’s protestations as both personal and interpersonal. The issues themselves are as easily applied today as they were when the passage was originally authored. Dr. Stuart concludes by setting limits on the applicability of the passage to prevent misunderstandings by the audience; i.e., the punishments that Job calls down on himself if he be guilty are not acceptable punishments for these crimes or sins. Reader Response I found Dr. Stuart’s book to live up to it’s claim to be primer for students. Though he recommends the use of Hebrew texts, his methodology beyond the translating of the text is easily applicable for those not familiar with the original language. Dr. Stuart writes in a clear, easy to follow style. I also found it refreshing not to be referred to German language resources, since I and most students do not know the German language. When he uses a word that the intended audience might not be familiar with, he includes the definition of it immediately after it. I found this feature extremely helpful; it saves having to run to a dictionary and clearly takes in account the level of understanding of the intended audience. His chapter on exegesis for sermon preparation answered my question on how is a pastor supposed to find time to do all the steps, while his chapter with examples clarified and reinforced the steps of the exegetical method.
I would highly recommend this book to any beginning student in exegetical methods, or to the pastor looking for a refresher course or an introduction to this important process of sermon preparation.
This book was written by a Professor of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of San Francisco. It is part of the New Testament Series in Guides to Biblical Scholarship. That series is targeted primarily for students of Theology, but probably would interest scholars of that discipline also, if only for its extensive references to other work being done in the field and a very thorough Bibliography.
The thesis of the book is to explain what social-science criticism is, and how it fits in the Historical Critical realm of Biblical Interpretation. Elliott tells us on p. 70 that the general objective of this type of criticism is "the analysis, synthesis, and interpretation of the social as well as literary and ideological (theological) dimensions of a text, the correlation of these textual features, and the manner in which it was disigned as a persuasive vehicle of communication and social interaction".
After a forward and introduction in which Elliott explains the way the book is to be presented, there are seven chapters which compose the main text, followed by four appendixes , a glossary, list of abbreviations and two Bibliographies; one on the critical aspect, the second on Social Sciences. An interesting feature in Appendix 2 was a Data Inventory for Synchronic Social Analysis, while Appendix 3 did the same using Diachronic Social Analysis.
The "meat" of this book is Elliott’s analysis of 1 Peter as an example of social-scientific criticism. Here, as elsewhere in the book, Elliott makes reference OFTEN to any number of other works available, including his own, and also by such other well-known authors such as Gerd Theisson, Dennis Duling and Bruce Malina. He does not refer to the Greek text with regard to perceptual problems, but does rely heavily on historical sources, mostly outside the Bible.
I found this book to be relatively straightforward, though Elliott’s use of graphs and charts did not really engage me. The most beneficial part of the book for my understanding was a delineation of what the different type of criticism focus on. He says on p.90 that: "Historical criticism concentrates on events, while Literary Criticism concentrates on literary texts. Social-scientific criticism concentrates on social structures, processes, and interactions. Theological criticism concentrates on religious and dogmatic belief and practice."
I think any seminary student or serious student of the Bible could take something away from this book, as, indeed, was its purpose in being formatted as one in a series of guides to Biblical Scholarship.