{"title":"Scripture in the Christological Controversies","authors":"O. P. A. Hofer","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.29","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.29","url":null,"abstract":"After its introduction on believing in Christ in accordance with Scripture, this chapter begins its treatment of biblical interpretation in the Christological controversies with methodological matters at stake in assessing early Christianity’s journey from biblical questions to scholastic answers. It then examines the era of the ancient ecumenical councils and select theologians of those times in their increasingly developed Christological scholasticism, with special attention to Christ’s suffering in their treatments of offering rules for reading Scripture rightly. Most influential is Cyril of Alexandria, whose exegetical arguments opposed Nestorius’ rejection of the Marian title Theotokos, a term symbolizing an exegetical method that seemed to Nestorius to insult God’s impassibility and that needed further clarification. It concludes by returning from John of Damascus’ intricate rules for biblical interpretation on Christ, after centuries of scholastic development, to the biblical questions that generated early Christian responses and continue to generate answers today.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"37 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130320134","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Catecheses and Homilies","authors":"W. Mayer","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.15","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.15","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter seeks to draw out the diverse ways in which biblical interpretation was expressed in early Christian preaching and catechetical instruction. Issues discussed include: current theories about the role played by biblical interpretation in the origin and early shaping of the homiletic/catechetical genres, and the fluidity of the boundary between catechetical lecture and homily. Preaching and teaching, it is argued, constituted a primary encounter with the Bible for the majority of early Christians. Attention is further paid not just to the variety of ways in which the Bible was interpreted but also to the variety of Bibles interpreted across different languages, authors, and geographic regions.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"221 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123283667","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Christianity and Judaism","authors":"J. Paget","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.22","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.22","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the ancient evidence for interaction between Jews and Christians on the Bible. It begins by noting how the motivation behind the investigation of this subject has changed over the past century. Questions relating to sources and problems of method are then addressed. An examination of the evidence follows. Initially an attempt is made to show how Christians in particular were influenced by Jewish interpretative traditions, Bible versions, and canon. Such evidence might be taken to imply contact between Jews and Christians but this is difficult to show. In fact there are very few references to such contact in the relevant literature and what evidence does exist is difficult to interpret. Relevant Christian texts, often of a polemical kind, are generally too repetitive and formulaic to prove contact; and the Jewish evidence is at best minimal, in spite of the efforts of some to show that on occasion exegetical traditions in rabbinic sources could be taken to imply opposition to alternative Christian interpretations. Instinctively, however, a reading of a work like John Chrysostom’s Sermons against the Judaizing Christians makes us think that interest in Jewish understandings of the Bible amongst Christians must have persisted, even if there is perhaps less evidence of such interest on the part of Jews.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"360 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125652442","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Novels","authors":"F. S. Jones","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.19","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.19","url":null,"abstract":"The ancient genre ‘novel’ influenced early Christian composition and exegesis most purely in the Pseudo-Clementines, the only true ancient Christian novel. The original Pseudo-Clementine novel was idealistic: carefully constructed to work as a believable whole. Accordingly, it pursued exegesis of the Jesus-tradition in a realistic, or believable, manner, as displayed particularly in the explicit regulation of Peter’s lifestyle and mission by the sayings of Jesus. The Klementia (Hom. Clem.), a later version, transformed the idealistic novel into parody and introduced fantastic eye-popping exegesis that tended to break through the original realism and its consistent chronological framework. The other later version, the Recognition, was long the only form of the narrative known in the West. It sapped the vigour of the original novel and introduced the ‘authoritative interpretation’, in which harmonizing exegesis smothered exploratory enquiry.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"130202758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Cross","authors":"J. Behr","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.41","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.41","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter examines the role of the cross in early Christianity, both in constituting Scripture as Scripture and as a privileged locus of scriptural interpretation. It is through the apocalyptic unveiling of Scripture by the cross that the meaning of Scripture is revealed, so that it can be read as Scripture, and the gospel proclaimed on its basis. The cross is also a particularly fertile image, expounded both through scriptural images, from the trees of Paradise to the wood that Elijah throws into the waters to recover the head of the axe; it is also an image that early Christians saw in the world around them, from the sign of Asklepios, to the imperial banners of the army, to the outstretched wings of birds. These two dimensions come together in the early paschal material, both celebrating the victory of the Cross and making Christ present in an immediate manner.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"9 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115861539","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Paraphrase and Metaphrase","authors":"A. Faulkner","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.12","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores paraphrase as a common tool for early Christian exegesis. The first section discusses the definition of paraphrase, its parameters in Antiquity, and its broader use in classical literature and education. The second section looks in more detail at prose paraphrase of Scripture, including discussion of a striking instance of exegetical paraphrase in Greek by Gregory of Nyssa and one in Latin by the orator Gaius Marius Victorinus. The third section deals with verse paraphrase of Scripture, with reference to poets such as Juvencus and Nonnus of Panopolis, as well as the Late Antique hexameter paraphrase of the Psalms in Antiquity attributed to Apollinaris of Laodicea.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"27 4 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125308217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scripture and Martyrdom","authors":"J. Leemans, A. Dupont","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.27","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.27","url":null,"abstract":"The Bible played a foundational role in early Christian reflection on martyrdom. This is most evidently the case with the concept of the imitatio Christi, which was based on many biblical quotations and allusions. Cyprian of Carthage’s understudied To Fortunatus demonstrates that the early Church had a coherent theology of martyrdom as well as a systematic overview of scriptural material supporting it. Moreover, the Bible also provided exempla for martyrdom, such as the Maccabees and Stephen the Protomartyr. Furthermore, some biblical passages function more like back-up vocals in that they recur time and again but always in a subsidiary role. A prime example of such a passage is Psalm 115.6: ‘Precious in the eyes of the Lord is the death of his saints.’ The tension between voluntary martyrdom and kairological martyrdom is also essential, with Matthew 10.23 as the prime example of a biblical passage advocating the lawfulness of flight for persecution. Finally, all of these themes and the biblical material supporting them come together in a recontextualized form in Augustine’s writings, especially in his controversy with the Donatists.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"212 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124164026","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reception in the Renaissance and Reformation","authors":"Esther Chung-Kim","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.45","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.45","url":null,"abstract":"The retrieval of patristic exegesis made great strides during the revival of Renaissance humanism and the spread of European Reformations. While devotion to the recovery of the early Church writings was primarily an intellectual movement, it was shaped and motivated by distinct social, political, religious, and philosophical developments of fifteenth- and sixteenth-century Europe. Humanists appreciated ancient Christian writings because they sought to combine piety with eloquence, which would reinvigorate religion for educated laity. When humanists, such as LeFèvre and Erasmus, offered their translations and interpretation of Scripture and the church fathers, others responded with their own interpretations from Lutheran, Calvinist, Swiss Reformed, Anabaptist, English, or Catholic perspectives. Although the development of confessionalization shaped the integration of Renaissance patristic scholarship, the patristic reception of Protestants and Catholics portrayed both respect and criticism of ancient exegetes because they struggled to define their theological positions among a plurality of interpretations.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"3 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134086985","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Scripture as Artefact","authors":"Lincoln H. Blumell","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780198718390.013.1","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter will examine the extant scriptural remains of the early Christians in order to elucidate the context in which early Christian Scriptures were produced, read, and interpreted. To this end, it will consider various issues relating to the earliest extant Christian Scriptures such as their physical formats (scrolls, codices, etc.), mise-en-page, literary conventions and extra-textual features, production (where and by whom), as well as their geographical distribution and circulation. By treating these early manuscripts as artefacts this chapter seeks to shed additional light on the early Christian interpretation of Scripture.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"122 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128965434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Septuagint and Other Translations","authors":"R. Ceulemans","doi":"10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.2","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198718390.013.2","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter retraces the origins of the Greek Bible, and explains how the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Torah ultimately defined the (linguistic) form of the entire Greek Old and New Testament. Surveying the most important episodes in the Christian transmission history of the Bible, it argues that that tradition was to a considerable extent a form of biblical exegesis: it offered Christian scribes, revisers, and authors a platform for the inclusion of interpretative views into the Greek biblical text. The same phenomenon can be observed in the transmission of the various Latin and Syriac Bible versions. The fact that most of those can be traced back to translations made by Christians increases the interpretative dimension of their form. The chapter in that sense highlights that the literary corpus that was Christian Scripture, and generated Early Christian biblical interpretation, was itself to a certain extent a product of such interpretation.","PeriodicalId":279897,"journal":{"name":"The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation","volume":"19 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-05-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131088728","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}