Section outline

    • Overview

      • Author and his world - hermeneutical foundations
      • Overview of historical method in biblical exegesis
      • "How to" of historical-critical exegesis
        • When was the text written? Searching for historical data and historical background.
        • What are the literary forms and what could have been their historical social context (Sitz im Leben)?
        • Who could have been the author(s) and editor(s) of the text?
        • Unity or complexity of the text: possible marks of different sources, different historical contexts, various traditions
        • Any other historically relevant data: archaeology, social history, historical geography

    • Comment

      Understanding the biblical text as a product of the historical development can significantly contribute to its better understanding. The historically oriented hermenutics (that is, the kind of interpretation starting with the historical authors and their historical context in the broadest sense) had dominated the critical biblical scholarship until the second half of the 20th century. Many of its concepts as well as its terminology is still operative in exegetical and theological literature.
      The main methods of this approach are:
      • Literary criticism: the term includes the study of all literary aspects of the text, in biblical studies often it refers especially to the study of older documentary sources.
      • Form criticism: the study of literary forms and genres and their historical and sociological context (Sitz im Leben).
      • Tradition criticism: studying the stages behind the text; typically, but not limited to oral traditions.
      • Redaction criticism: the study of the final theological viewpoint impressed upon the text by the redactors.
    • OTE 06 Step 4 File

    • Literature for individual study

      Hayes and Holladay, Biblical Exegesis, 73-109.

    • Hayes and Holladay, Biblical Exegesis, 73-109. File

    • Verifying comprehension

      1. What do the following biblical passages reveal about the relative time of their composition?
        • "Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land." (Gen 12:6)
        • "Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh." (Exod 1:11)
        • "Go out from Babylon, flee from Chaldea, declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say, 'The LORD has redeemed his servant Jacob!'" (Isa 48:20)
      2. Quickly read the Joseph narrative (Gen 37-50), the book of Esther and the stories in Daniel 1-6. What are some common literary motifs in these narratives? What could be the Sitz im Leben of these narratives? Compare your thoughts with standard introductions to the Old Testament (for example
        Rendtorff, Rolf. The Old Testament: An Introduction. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Fortress Press, 1991.)
      3. The stories in Gen 12:10-20 and in Genesis 20 are usually regareded as so called doublets, that is, two versions of the same story. There are obvious differences between them given their current function in Genesis. What are some other differences, which possibly betray the style and theological preferences of the original source? You can also compare the third version of the story in Gen 26:1-14.
      4. In the famous story about the "binding of Isaac" the angel calls on Abraham for the second time in Gen 22:15-18. This second speech of the angel does not seem to be critical for the resolution of the story, especiall with regard to the first speech of the angel in 22:11-12. What could have been the reason, why the hypothetical redactor of Genesis 22 included this second speech of the angel to Abraham? What was theologically important for this assumed redactor?
      5. What is the overall theological emphasis in the story of Exodus 16? What kind of theological redaction can be seen in it in terms of traditional Pentateuchal layers J, E, D, P?