I have just finished reading James Kugel‘s book titled The Bible as it was which is focused on detailing ancient interpretation of the Bible. In his afterword he makes a few observations on the trends of modern scholarship and I found a remark worth sharing:
“The spindly sapling of texts that began to sprout even before the first millenium B.C.E. was only enabled to
grow into the great date palm of Scripture thanks to the nourishing presence of the ancient interpretations, and interpretive assumptions, that soon enveloped and strengthened its roots. This vital soil, in itself endowed with all the nutrients of human piety, fortified with the heaven-sent, engendering liqueurs of rain and dew, and, let it be said, no stranger to the benefits of an occasional admixture of natural fertilizing agents — this soil was what allowed the tree to take root and flourish. The mission upon which modern bibilical scholarship set out, then, without quite understanding it, was to uproot Scripture from that soil the better to study the whole plant and the plant alone. The result, from such a perspective, was altogether predictable, unavoidable even.” (559)
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Yes, but what did you think of the book?
I don’t think you can have the Bible without its interpretations and assumptions. That’s what we humans do when we observe something is to interpret it based on our senses, our intellects, and our personalities. That’s one reason why the New Testament can be read one way if you don’t take a Jewish perspective on the Old Testament into account and another way if you do.
Its a nice book, Ill probably post a short review of it somewhere next week.