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1. Patristic and Medieval Theologiesof Scripture: An Introduction
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1 Patristic and Medieval Theologies of Scripture An Introduction Lewis Ayres The Contours of a Revival Pre-Reformation biblical interpretation has come to be of interest to scholars in all fields of Christian thought across a broad and ecumenical front in recent years. In order to introduce the chapters that follow, I will sketch some general categories for reading these early interpreters and consider the reasons for and scope of this growing interest.1 Doing so will help to highlight questions that should be borne in mind when reading these initial chapters. We should begin by noting why patristic and medieval exegesis was of far less interest to scholars for much of the past two centuries. In Protestant theology the rise of modern historical-critical methods of exegesis in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries meant that there was little place for the reading of patristic and medieval interpretation within the emerging academic field of biblical study. A similar situation pertained in systematic theology, a field that also began to take on its classically modern form in this period. Premodern exegesis was largely seen to lack appropriate foundations in historical consciousness and to be a product of Greek philosophical categories overcoming biblical truth. Thus a distinction was presumed to exist between the “scientific” structures of modern exegesis and theology and the occasionally useful but more fanciful work of earlier centuries. In Catholic contexts premodern exegesis has been valued much more consistently—not least because of the presence of so much patristic exegesis in the daily office—but most nineteenth-century Catholic theologies 11 did not actively promote the reading and imitation of these premodern models. During the twentieth century, the gradual accommodation of much Catholic biblical scholarship to Protestant historical-critical methods marginalized patristic and medieval exegesis, and the shifts in theological method that occurred in the wake of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) further distanced many strands of Catholic thought from premodern interpreters. This was, however, not universally true. Of particular note and influence are the theologians associated with the nouvelle théologie movement in France in the first half of the twentieth century. Here the magisterial work of Henri De Lubac on patristic and medieval exegesis is still seminal in its field.2 These theologians (and figures such as Hans Urs von Balthasar who were associated with them) laid the foundations for a significant recovery of premodern interpretation by Catholic theologians at the end of the twentieth century. The idea that a great distinction exists between the needs of theology in late modernity and the practice of premodern interpreters has been widely questioned over the past three decades. The variety of contexts and traditions from which such questions have arisen reflects the complex nature of theologians’ attempts to consider the character of appropriate theological practice in late modernity. Barthian and postliberal Protestant theologians of various types have become increasingly interested in the recovery and promotion of early and medieval accounts of scripture. Theologians who insist that the Bible is the Church’s scripture, inspired by the Spirit and to be read under the Spirit’s guidance within the Church, have become suspicious of the idea that modern academic historical-critical exegesis is a necessary prerequisite to appropriate reading of the Bible.3 Such theologians have sometimes turned to premodern exegesis, and particularly to interpretive practices that assume the Church’s doctrinal belief to be an important guide in reading scripture in the Christian community. These early sources have seemed to reunite exegesis, theology, and the life of nonacademic Christians , thus overcoming some of the particular tensions that have arisen between the Church and the academy in modernity. Within Catholic theology there has also been a revival of interest in premodern interpretation, in part as a reaction against the accommodation of Catholic biblical scholarship to Protestant models, and in part because of a desire to reconnect Catholic thought with its premodern core and foundation. Within the field of biblical studies, the past few decades have seen the emergence of a wide range of reader-response approaches, which recog12 l e w i s ay r e s [54.147.30.127] Project MUSE (2024-03-29 12:14 GMT) nize the significance of the history of interpretation and the diversity of biblical reading styles apparent in non-European cultures and postcolonial contexts. A number of scholars influenced by postmodern thought—not only biblical scholars, but also theologians and philosophers—have found...