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Exegesis and the History of Theology: Reflections on the Adam-Christ Typology in Cyril of Alexandria*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 July 2009
Extract
The history of exegesis as a discipline is one of the stepchildren of Church History. As such it has not only been neglected by Church historians, but even if studied, it has received inferior treatment. Surely there is something ironical about an age of theological scholarship which has so self-consciously bought the historical method to study the Bible, but which nevertheless allows scholars to be so un-historical in their approach to the history of its interpretation. Consider that much of the material in the history of exegesis has been mined by scholars whose proper business is the study of the Old and New Testaments; or that the history of interpretation is usually considered a part of biblical studies. Inevitably the question asked by biblical scholars sounds something like this: how does a man, a school, or epoch interpret such and such a passage? Frequently this question issues in monographs tracing the history of interpretations of the chosen passage. The result is usually a catena of citations classifying and cataloguing the answers given to problems in the text. Most often the perspective brought to the material is that of the contemporary exegete, who, either explicitly or implicitly thinks he knows what the passage meant—or at least what it could not mean.
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References
1. In his article, “Luthers Bedeutung für den Fortschritt der Auslegungskunst (“Gesammelté Aufsätze zur Kirchengeschichte 1,” 6 Aufl., 1932), p. 544,Google Scholar Holl writes: “Die Geschichte der Auslegung gehört bei uns zu den allervernaehlässigsten Gebieten.” See also the introductory comments in Schelkle, Karl, Paulus Lehrer der Väter (Düsseldorf: Patmos Verlag, 1956), 11–14;Google Scholar he cites Bardy, writing in 1934, who deplores the state or research in the history of exegesis. See also Pelikan, Jaroslav J., “Exegesis and the History of Theology,” Luther the Expositor (St. Louis: Concordia, 1959), pp. 5–31Google Scholar, and his bibliography.
2. Two examples should suffice, one from the nineteenth century and the other from several years ago. Merx, A.. Die Prophetie Joel und ihre Ausleger (1879), p. 112Google Scholar: “Wo die Allegorie und ihre Abarten, die Anagoge und die moralische Deutung auftreten, ist das Textverständnisse gemordet.” Cf. his comments on Ephraem, Theodoret, and Cyril, p. 156, and on Jerome, 168–9. He praises Jerome above the other three because he learned Hebrew and “damit die elementaren Vorkenntnisse des Exegeten sich anzueignen.” In the recent work by Köppen, Klaus-Peter, Die Auslegung der Versuchungsgeschichte unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der Alten Kirche (“Beiträge zur Geschichte der biblischen Exegese,” 4; Tübingen, 1961)Google Scholar, the history of exegesis is examined to aid the present day interpreter: “In den modernen Kommentaren findet man nur selten Quellenangaben oder Zitate, in denen die Kirchenväter zu Wort kommen. Es muss aber geprüft werden, ob nicht in diesem oder jenem Falle die Auslegung der Väter auch zur modernen Exegese etwas Bemerkenswertes oder Förderliches beizutragen hat.” (p.2).
3. The history of the writing of the history of exegesis would make a fascinating story. Even a brief foray into the first major and comprehensive work by Rosenmüller, Georg, Historia Interpretationis Librorum Sacrorum in Ecclesia Christiana (Hildburghusae, 1795; 4Google Scholar Vols), reveals a much more interesting approach to the field than was current in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. R. believes that the history of interpretation is part of Church History and has close ties with the history of theology. As proof he notes that the “condition of the Christian religion and Church in every time to be dependent on the fate of the interpretation of the sacred Scriptures,” (p.5) For a useful bibliography see Elze, Martin, “Schritftauslegung,” RGG, V, 1526–28.Google Scholar
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41. Ibid., lns. 21ff.
42. Ibid., Pusey I, 693, 13–19.
43. Ibid., Pusey I, 184, 30–185,11.
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