Faith and Certitude by Fr. Thomas Dubay

Author:Fr. Thomas Dubay [Dubay, Fr. Thomas]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Spiritual & Religion
ISBN: 9780898700541
Publisher: Ignatius Press
Published: 2011-05-27T05:00:00+00:00

Contradictions among exegetes

At this point in our discussion it can hardly come as a surprise to learn that like all other scholars, but perhaps more so, scripture commentators commonly contradict one another both in the conclusions they draw from their criticism and in their exegesis of individual texts. Even the liberal among them freely admit these contradictions, though I would imagine they should be embarrassed at their frequency. John Reumann, a Lutheran professor of the New Testament, in commenting on an article by another scripture scholar, Joseph A. Fitzmyer, a Catholic, notes in passing that “in a presentation dealing with so many passages, where opinions vary, on any issue divergent scholarly opinions can be cited. . . .”27 Collins can state that “the results of scholarship can claim varying degrees of probability, but they are never beyond the possibility of further dispute.”28

Edward Schillebeeckx’ recent works on Christology involved an extensive review and interpretation of current biblical scholarship. In referring to the three years of preliminary exegetical work he did he remarks that he was repeatedly baffled by what sometimes seemed to him an impossible enterprise. “There is”, he said, “more or less no biblical pericope on the interpretation of which the experts in exegesis do not disagree among themselves.” And he rightly states that “non-exegetical presuppositions are often the reason why opinions diverge. . . . Consensus among the exegetes—if the presuppositions involved be left aside—does not seem to me a proper governing principle for the theologian. After all, the exegetes themselves often work with theological, that is, non-exegetical, predilections on which the theologian is entitled to form a judgment.”29

In their more expansive moments exegetes openly admit the tentativeness, even the considerable amount of guesswork, that is part and parcel of their many theories. The recent shift in views of John’s Gospel is a further example. The dominant view up until the last two or three decades was that this Gospel was greatly influenced by a completely Hellenistic culture and literary tradition. It was consequently dated at the end of the first century or the beginning of the second, and scholars assumed that it contained little reliable information about details of Jesus’ own time and situation. Now in the last two decades the view of the experts has changed dramatically. The fourth Gospel is now considered by most scholars as originating in a Palestinian setting and therefore not from Hellenistic culture but from the circumstances of Jesus himself. The Dead Sea scrolls have shown that traits found in John are also found in the sect at Qumran and hence were well known in Palestine in Jesus* own time. Recent archaeological finds have confirmed many of the details of the Jerusalem of the first century that are accurately mentioned in the fourth Gospel, We now know that there was considerable Greek influence in the Palestine of the first century, and hence there is no need to suppose that Hellenistic traits in the Gospel could be explained only by a later composition in another setting.

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