Phillip A. Davis, Jr. | Daniel Lanzinger | Matthew Ryan Robinson (Eds.): What Does Theology Do, Actually? (Leseprobe)

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Anja Block
troduced in local churches for liturgical and personal use in 2016. 3
Moreover,
Luther insisted on bringing central points of doctrine back into focus, which can
be summarized in the so-called four soli: Humankind receives and knows about
God’s benevolence only sola fide, sola gratia, solus Christus and sola scriptura.
The latter constitutes one of the main principles of Lutheran doctrine that has
shaped and continues to shape German Protestantism to this day: sola scriptura ---
only scripture is the source of faith. The great Protestant interest in researching
the biblical texts as a source of faith is thus a natural consequence of the principle
of sola scripture. Although the methods of historical-critical research were
developed in the 18 th and 19 th centuries, their foundation lies in the principle of
sola scriptura. 4
It is not surprising that the knowledge of the texts that comes with translating
them led to further research. Translating a text means to read it very closely
and to be familiar with its expressions and meanings. I cannot dive into the history
of historical-critical exegesis in this chapter, but undeniably, observations
and important remarks about the biblical texts and notes about textual history
were part of the process of the text’s transmission. One thinks, for example, of
the medieval Masoretes who noted variants in the Masorah, or of the Jewish-
Dutch philosopher Baruch de Spinoza who was among the earliest of modern
thinkers to ask who might have been the authors of biblical texts.
Yet, it is no less surprising that birth of what we call historical-critical exegesis
occurred between the Enlightenment and Pietism. Rational thought and a
new-found appreciation for the Bible came together and let scholars ask various
questions. Often, the name of Johann Philipp Gabler (1753---1826) is mentioned
in this context, for he distinguished biblical studies from dogmatics and systematic
theology in his De justo discrimine theologiae biblicae et dogmaticae
regundisque recte utriusque finibus in 1787. 5
Following this notion, scholars
asked manifold historical and literary questions about the Bible. They searched
for answers and came up with theories about the development of the biblical text
and the canon. Scholars researched the form and function of biblical texts, historical
events, and their influence on Israelite theology and emerging Christianity.
They searched for explanations for miracles and used reason as a measure for
biblical stories.
3
Cf. Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, ‘‘Die Lutherbibel und das Reformationsjubiläum,’’ in Die
Revision der Lutherbibel 2017: Hintergründe ---- Kontroversen ---- Entscheidungen, ed. Hannelore
Jahr, Christoph Kähler and Jürgen-Peter Lesch (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft,
2019), 282f.
4
Cf. Hans-Joachim Kraus, Geschichte der historisch-kritischen Erforschung des Alten Testaments,
3rd ed. (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 1982), 8.
5
Cf. Johann Philipp Gabler, Oratio de justo discrimine theologiae biblicae et dogmaticae
regundisque recte vtriusque finibus (Altdorf: Monath, 1787).