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Lost in the Old Testament? Literary Genres and Evangelical Hermeneutics

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Lost in the Old Testament? Literary Genres and Evangelical Hermeneutics Lost in the Old Testament? Literary Genres and Evangelical Hermeneutics Peter Naylor, Immanuel Presbyterian Church, Cardiff Do you believe that Jonah was swallowed by a great fish? Do you believe that Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were cast into a furnace and came out alive and unhurt? Was Daniel actually cast into the lions’ den and saved by the angel of the Lord? Do you believe that Genesis 1-2 present a factual account of the creation? Are Adam and Eve real historical figures just as Robert Boyle (1627-1691) and Michael Faraday (1791-1867)? This paper has two elements. I have been asked to consider the interpretation of the Old Testament and the use of genre recognition in that task. I have also been asked to consider whether the ancient Near Eastern literature discovered during the past two centuries or so compels us to re-examine our view of the Old Testament and our doctrine of the inspiration of the Bible . Within this huge field of study, I propose to concentrate on three specific questions and the answers proposed by three scholars widely regarded as evangelicals. 1. Should we read the book of Jonah as historical narrative or is that naive? Does it belong to an entirely different genre, a parable? I wish to examine Leslie C. Allen’s treatment of this matter.1 2. What are the first six chapters of the book of Daniel; historical accounts or invented tales? I will look at Ernest C. Lucas’ commentary on this text.2 3. Does Genesis stand in such a close relationship to the Babylonian accounts of creation and the flood ( Enuma Elish 3 and The Gilgamesh Epic 4) as to cast doubt upon its being a revelation from almighty God? Similarly, is Moses’ Law dependent on the Laws of Hammurabi 5 or a similar law code? I want to look closely at Peter Enns’ handling of this matter in his book, Inspiration and Incarnation.6 These are not questions that can be answered without detailed study of the evidence and the logic applied to it. Our conclusions will have relevance to the whole field of study. Preliminary Considerations Do we believe in the supernatural? In 1963, Harry Blamires wrote: ‘There is no longer a Christian mind. It is commonplace that the mind of modern man has been secularized. For instance, it has been deprived of any orientation towards the supernatural... [A]s a thinking being, the modern Christian has succumbed to secularization.’7 Christians, while still behaving as Christians and worshipping as Christians, are operating with secularist presuppositions and perspectives. Dale Ralph Davis notes: For nearly two hundred years a skeptical brand of Old Testament criticism has largely held sway in our universities and divinity halls; it ‘un-godded’ the Old Testament, implied the Old Testament documents were extremely complex and involved, and managed to make Old Testament studies mostly boring, lifeless, and dull..…. Old 8 Testament criticism has had the effect of killing the Old Testament for the church. Yes, Old Testament studies seem to have offered liberals almost limitless scope for undermining the church’s confidence in the Bible. Remember ‘the assured results of higher criticism’? Remember the critical apparatus of Biblia Hebraica Kittel – ‘the standard critical edition for a generation of scholars’ – and the astonishing inclusion of thousands of textual emendations lacking any manuscript support? 9 How many commentators have written reams on illusory documentary sources yet 15 Paper 2: Lost in the Old Testament? Literary Genres and Evangelical Hermeneutics Peter J Naylor offered virtually nothing of spiritual value to the church? How many ministers have floundered when handling the Old Testament? How many churches have closed as a result? There are enormous pastoral consequences to this study. The Christian believes in God, the supernatural and miracles. He knows that the created universe consists of things visible and invisible, and that beyond the reach of the senses there is a transcendent realm. He believes that God reigns over all the affairs of men and that he is constantly involved in his world. The Bible declares it, the Holy Spirit has persuaded him of it, and general revelation agrees. The secularist, the atheist, says, ‘I do not believe it. Miracles are impossible.’10 Gresham Machen sought to present this issue as sharply as possible. ‘The Church of Rome may represent a perversion of the Christian religion; but naturalistic liberalism is not Christianity at all... The chief modern rival of Christianity is “liberalism”... the two movements are in direct opposition.’11 E. J. Young wrote: Ever since her founding, the Church of God has been engaged in a spiritual battle... It is, we confidently assert, the old one between supernatural and man-made religion... Today also there are many points at which the battle between supernaturalism and naturalism expresses itself. There is, however, one battleground in particular where the fighting is raging and the battle must be fought to the finish. It has to do with the relationship between the Bible and the Church. More properly, it has to do with the very nature of the Bible itself. What is the Bible? 12 A battleground! This is not a subject for abstract curiosity: it is a matter of vital pastoral significance. The Inspiration of Scripture In 1957, Young referred to the ‘constant demand for a new doctrine of inspiration’. 13 We still face it today. 14 We need to be clear what that evangelical doctrine is. Machen has protested: This doctrine of ‘plenary inspiration’ has been made the subject of persistent misrepresentation. Its opponents speak of it as though it involved a mechanical theory of the activity of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit, it is said, is represented in this doctrine as dictating the Bible to writers who were really little more than stenographers. But of course, all such caricatures are without basis in fact. 15 What then are the plain lines of the Reformed doctrine? How does the Scripture speak about itself? First, ‘All Scripture is given by inspiration of God’ (2 Tim. 3:16, 17; 2 Peter 1:20, 21). Accordingly, the Westminster Confession of Faith (1647) says that God was ‘the author’ of Scripture, that it was ‘immediately inspired by God’, and that the Holy Spirit is ‘speaking in the Scripture’ (1:4, 8, 10). 16 The Chicago Statement of Inerrancy (1978) further affirms ‘the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture’ and ‘the inerrancy of Scripture’. Second, ‘Moses and the Prophets wrote’ (John 1:45). God used specially chosen men, each with his own personality, character, style, experience and training, to write the Scriptures. They did not act mechanically. The Holy Spirit did not override their minds but ‘utilized the distinctive personalities and literary styles of the writers whom He had chosen and prepared’ ( Chicago Statement, Article VIII). Donald Carson writes that the Bible ‘is not the product of a flat divine dictation... [but] an astonishingly human document.’ 17 Some of its writers were highly educated men – Moses was trained in Egypt, Daniel in Babylon, Paul at the feet of Gamaliel – yet others were fishermen. Some had access to sources and ‘researched’ their material (Jos. 10:13; 1 Chr. 29:29; Luke 1:1-4). The individual books display various Hebrew and Greek styles. All of this was employed by the Holy Spirit to place on leather, parchment and papyrus, exactly the words, the letters, the ‘jots and tittles’, that he willed to be there. 16 Paper 2: Lost in the Old Testament? Literary Genres and Evangelical Hermeneutics Peter J Naylor There is no inconsistency in this synthesis of divine and human authorship. 18 If the church has given more energy to establishing the former, it is because the former is what differentiates the Bible from every other book in the world, and it is this which comes under endless assault. The Bible uniquely is holy, since it alone comes from God. Davis keeps the balance: In facing Scripture one must take account of two realities: Spirit and text. This fact forces me to one of my operating presuppositions: God has given his word in the form of literature, part of which is narrative; I should therefore use all available tools for understanding such literature. So I seek the Spirit’s aid and use an approach suited to the form of his word. I ask questions of the text. 19 This is so different from the much earlier position of Rivetus (1627). ‘His view of inspiration was so high that he considered all discussion of the questions of Special Introduction to be without meaning.’ 20 1. Genre and Interpretation There are numerous genres in the Bible (narrative, genealogy, law, prophecy, psalm, proverb, parable, gospel, letter, etc.) and there are many texts which belong to one genre but incorporate material of other genres (psalm within narrative etc.). ‘Genre recognition, then, is an important step in the understanding of a text’. 21 Attention to the literary forms of the text is essential to sound exegesis and enriches our understanding of the message and our insights into the nuances of the text. Already, numerous studies are available to help us. 22 If there is any point at which genre identification becomes critical, it is in the case of narrative and, in particular, whether certain narratives are history or myth. 23 The Pentateuch and the Gospels are the primary targets. Genesis 1:1 lights the blue touch paper – ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth’ – and the fuse is still burning, so to speak, when Mark informs us that Christ commanded the sea, ‘Peace, be still!’ (Mark 4:39).
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