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What Is Biblical Spirituality? 113 Not only what a text meant in the past, that is, in its textually reconstructable contexts, but also what it may mean for the reader of today, is sought. The problem of what to do with history lies central here. A recent case in point again is the argument by Le Marquand: 4 that in the model of Bible scholarship developed in the notional West, 5 “[l]ess attention is given to the more ‘theological’ task of clarifying ‘the meaning of the word of God in scripture’ or to the ‘pastoral’ task of encouraging the faithful,” 6 than to historicallyoriented exegesis: In effect, the biblical guild edited out how other interests could be involved in the task of interpreting the Bible. Its view of history necessarily became narrowed. Historical study came to mean only the history of the text in its ancient setting as this was understood according to the canons of modern critical research. The scholarly task became confined to uncovering the past. It became enough for scholars to attempt to describe the meaning of the text to its assumed original authors and readers. Historical research came to be considered an objective description of past events and ideas. 7 The problem, after all these years, is still history. The search for which Le Marquand argues, like many others before him, namely for meaning—personal, faith-oriented and existential—from the Bible for today, is of course valid. It is a 4 G. le Marquand, “Siblings or Antagonists? The Ethos of Biblical Scholarship from the North Atlantic and African Worlds,” in Biblical Interpretation in African Perspective (ed. D. Adamo; Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 2006), 61–85. 5 Usually when Western exegesis is called to account in this manner, the “West” referred to is more or less limited to Germany, The Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom and the North American continent. 6 Le Marquand, “Siblings or Antagonists?” 62. 7 Ibid., 63
114 The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality search to which Bible scholars have not been blind, with numerous attempts being offered. Within Old Testament scholarship a significant genre of such writing has developed, which has come to be known as Old Testament Theology. 8 However, a much smaller genre, that of Old Testament Spirituality, has also come into being. Keeping to the latter, four such attempts are taken into review in the following section. Three of these publication projects are explicitly titled or sub-titled “Old Testament Spirituality”; the newest of the four projects is titled “Biblical Spirituality.” Since the latter is a recent publication whose assumptions hold equally true for the Semitic and Hellenistic sections of the Bible, it is included here. Interestingly, the problem of history, that is, how to relate a text from the past to lives in the present, lies at the heart of the respective publications. All four projects attempt to cross the bridge of history differently. We look at these publications in chronological order. 3. An Old Testament Spirituality by De la Croix? From 1961 to 1963 a triple-volume work by De la Croix, with the promising title Old Testament Spirituality, was published. 9 Closer investigation shows, however, that this is not a work in the nascent tradition of Biblical Spirituality; rather, it stands closer to the Old Testament Theology genre. This inclination is explained by the 8 The standard overview is B. Ollenburger, Old Testament Theology: Flowering and Future (revised ed.; Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2004). For reservations on whether the genre of Old Testament Theology is theological enough, precisely because it is not historical enough, cf. R. Albertz, Religionsgeschichte Israels in alttestamentlicher Zeit (vols. 1 and 2; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992), 17–38. 9 See P. M. de la Croix, God and the Soul (Spirituality of the Old Testament, vol. 1; St. Louis: Herder, 1961); P. M. de la Croix, Divine Love (Spirituality of the Old Testament, vol. 2; St. Louis: Herder, 1962). P. M. de la Croix, Divine Pathways (Spirituality of the Old Testament, vol. 3; St. Louis: Herder, 1963).
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Copyright © 2012 by the Society of
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Table of Contents Betwixt Text and
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viii Introduction various coloniali
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The Old Testament in Christian Spir
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Undervaluation of the Old Testament
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Four South African Proposals for a
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A Central Theme to “Scriptural Sp
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11 A Central Theme to “Scriptural
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Four Recent Books on Spirituality a
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Spirituality of the Psalms 55 • F
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Spirituality of the Psalms 57 in th
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Spirituality of the Psalms 61 This
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164 The Old Testament and Christian
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Exegesis and Spirituality * ABSTRAC
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Exegesis and Spirituality 173 the t
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Exegesis and Spirituality 189 Vorst
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The emerging discipline of Biblical
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