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Rethinking "History" for Theological Interpretation
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2011
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Literary HistoryIntellectual HistoryChristian ScriptureHistorical CriticismChristian PracticeReligious SystemsJewish ThoughtTheological InterpretationHistorical ReassessmentPhilosophy Of HistoryCultural HistoryLanguage StudiesArtsComparative ReligionBiblical StudyClassicsChristian Theology
Abstract In recent years, theological interpretation of Christian Scripture has often been distinguished by its wholesale antipathy toward history and/or to historical criticism. Working with a typology of different forms of "historical criticism," this essay urges (1) that historical criticism understood as reconstruction of "what really happened" and/or historical criticism that assumes the necessary segregation of "facts" from "faith" is inimical to theological interpretation; (2) that this form of historical criticism is increasingly difficult to support in light of contemporary work in the philosophy of history; and (3) that contemporary theological interpretation is dependent on expressions of historical criticism concerned with the historical situation within which the biblical materials were generated, including the sociocultural conventions they take for granted.