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

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Anja Block
method has its own focal point and interests, even though they sometimes intersect
with each other. While some focus on synchronic observations, others have
a diachronic interest. In introductory courses to Old Testament studies --- and, as
an Old Testament scholar, I will focus my attention in the following on the Old
Testament --- and corresponding textbooks such as Uwe Becker’s Exegese des
Alten Testaments or Siegfried Kreuzer’s and Dieter Vieweger’s Proseminar Altes
Testament, the methods are taught in a similar order.
Once again, a preliminary translation, based on the Masoretic text, constitutes
the first step. Second, textual criticism forms the basis for all of the following
methods by considering variations of the transmitted text and their potential
causes, such as scribal errors or deliberate adjustments of the wording. Scholars
attempt to distinguish what changes might be earlier than others and closer to
the version of a text that stood at the beginning of its transmission. 10
Proceeding from the basis of the now established text, scholars ask about its
formation using literary and redaction criticism. They search for incoherence
and tensions within the text, look for doublets and inconsistencies and try to find
traces of the textual growth. Understanding such complex redactional processes
provides insights into the discourses that shaped the texts. Biblical texts formed
under historical conditions, when, for example, a crisis like the Babylonian exile
11 created new theological challenges for the communities for whom the texts
held importance, prompting re-readings of those texts, the generation of new
perspectives on previous certainties, and ultimately revision and growth of the
texts. Certainly, the sages and scribes did not always agree, and their disagreein:
Trutz Rendtorff, ed., Glaube und Toleranz: Das theologische Erbe der Aufklärung (Gütersloh:
Gütersloher Verlagshaus Gerd Mohn, 1982), 30---42. All quotes are taken from the
translation by John Barton: Barr, ‘‘Biblical Criticism as Theological Enlightenment’’].
Even before him, Martin Hengel stated: ‘‘Die Redeweise von ‘der historisch-kritischen
Methode’ ist fragwürdig. [...] In Wirklichkeit gibt es eine Vielfalt von ‘historischen Methoden’.’’
Martin Hengel, ‘‘Historische Methoden und theologische Auslegung des Neuen
Testaments,’’ Kerygma und Dogma 19 (1973): 85.
In this essay, I use the phrase ‘historical-critical exegesis’ to summarize the aforementioned
group of methods.
10
Particularly older publications describe, textual criticism as searching for the Urtext.
This description, however, is overly simplified. As Alexander A. Fischer, among others,
has pointed out, the time of a text’s composition and the time of its transmission blend
into each other and therefore, the final form of a text is rarely identical to its Urtext. Cf.
Alexander A. Fischer, Der Text des Alten Testaments: Neubearbeitung der Einführung in die
Biblia Hebraica von Ernst Würthwein (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2009), 188---
94.
11
The Babylonian Exile is one prominent catalyst among others in Israelite history.
Konrad Schmid has pointed out that similar developments in the history of Israelite theology
after the destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 BCE led to important
theological transformations after the destruction of Jerusalem’s temple in 587 BCE. Cf.
Konrad Schmid, Theologie des Alten Testaments (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019), 184.