Thursday, June 18, 2009

Vacation

Hey folks.

I'm in Canada at the moment, and this is the first time I've had internet access while I've been here. I'll be back in ole Chicago on Monday, so I might crank out a post or two next week, but then I'll be back in my home state (North Carolina) the following week. I'll have internet access there, so I'll probably be able to post from there. Anyway, just wanted to give an update on why posts are so rare these days.

If anyone else wants to write some stuff, I'd be quite glad to see it.

Tuesday, June 9, 2009

The Historical-Critical Method and the New Testament

I want to discuss, briefly, the historical-critical method. This is the scholarly model of research that has been dominant both in seminaries and in universities for the past several decades, and it has a long history reaching back to probably Desiderius Erasmus, though certainly to the German "higher criticism" of the Tubingen School.

What differentiates higher criticism from lower criticism? At its heart, higher criticism approaches a text (any text) with the viewpoint that it makes sense, or at least made sense originally. The higher criticism method seeks to examine the historical context of the text, to attempt to determine who actually wrote it, when, where, and how, and to compare it to other texts from the same time period. It assumes (and this is what draws the ire of many religious adherents) that each text has a human author with a particular agenda. One thing that you have to get used to is the usage of the word "agenda" in academia. It's a fairly neutral term most of the time - everyone has an agenda when writing a text, otherwise they wouldn't bother writing it in the first place. This is somewhat synonymous with "intent," but there are subtle shades of differences. The method of higher criticism wants to view each text as a separate authorial piece and examine its sources (i.e., where it gets its information from); the text's redaction (how it was edited and why); and form history (what type of literature are you examining? A war hymn? A prayer? An incantation? What are these forms histories within a community?). Essentially, the best way to examine a text is to examine its context and how it influenced the text.

Lower criticism, on the other hand, views the text itself as the best method to interpret the text. Thus, if a passage is unclear, one should search (almost) only the text itself for clearer passages which may illuminate the difficulty. Lower criticism is concerned with discovering what a text originally said before any scribal or redaction errors crept in. Thus, for example, from lower criticism we may come to understand that Matthew's quotation that the Messiah would be born of a "virgin" is an authorial error of translation - the original word in Isaiah was "young woman." From a higher criticism standpoint we would understand that the author of Matthew was working with a Greek copy of the Hebrew book of Isaiah, where the word for young woman is mistranslated as virgin (Hebrew has a word for virgin, and we have to assume that if Isaiah meant "virgin," that's what would be in the text). Likewise, we would understand that Isaiah's prophecy of a man born of a young woman to be named Immanuel who would save the kingdom was a prophecy about his own time, spoken directly to his king to give him a sign for victory - a "prophecy" that was supposed to be fulfilled in the same book. Now, this isn't to say that Christians can't reappropriate a prophecy and interpret it as meaning something other than the author of Isaiah meant it to mean, but, it gives one pause sometimes when you begin to closely examine scriptures.

Now, as for the historical-critical method, it's an outgrowth of the higher criticism school, but it certainly includes the textual criticism of "lower criticism." Here, a scholar is concerned in part with the historical information presented in a text - that is, are these stories factually accurate. There are several criteria that help us determine whether or not a story is likely to be historically/factually accurate, but for right now I want to concern myself with a brief analysis of some of the stories in the New Testament.

First off, there is a huge difference between the devotional reading of scriptures and the critical reading of scriptures. The devotional reading tends to view the text as at least divinely inspired and offering significant meaning and instruction in one's life. Devotional reading tends to be "vertical," that is to say, when you read a text for devotion, you read one book at a time, all the way through. Or, alternatively, you pick and choose passages from books about the same event to create a syncretic story. The problem with this approach is that when you read straight through one book and then move on the text, you are likely to skip over inconsistencies or contradictions and mentally adjust to make them all fit together. Most religious adherents would be familiar with this by example - if I ask you to relate to me the story of the birth of Jesus, many people will relate a story along the lines of - "An angel came to Mary, told her she would conceive God's son. Mary and Joseph went down to Bethlehem from Nazareth to participate in a census declared by Caesar Augustus. He was born in a manger, shepherds and wise men came to witness his birth. Then the family returned to Nazareth." It's an interesting story, and there are probably some divergence there - some people may remember the story of Jesus being circumcised on the eighth day. Others may recall the flight to Egypt. But here's the primary problem - the story is a confabulation of the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. The tale, as told, is not present in either of them, but is a mixture of them both and, because of this, loses a lot of the meaning of each independent story.

This is an important lesson from historical criticism - you approach a text with the idea that the author was writing what they considered a definitive work. The author of any of the Gospels did not know that their books would be compiled into a single edition. The author of Matthew did not know that his story would be put alongside the story of the author of Luke. Each had their own ideas about what these stories meant and how to best convey them. Each emphasized or changed, or even made up, certain details to push their own agenda, quite independently of thinking they were writing books for a "Bible" that would only come centuries later. This is a point I will take up a bit later, but it's very important to realize - you have to take each book as its own text, with its own interests. This method reads "horizontally" - that is, you take each text that relates a similar tale, or talks about the same topic, and then line them up. Make a list of the important events and the order in which they go, or the important ideas, and then compare them.

So, two items I want to examine after the jump are from the New Testament - first, the birth of Jesus, and last, the death of Jesus.

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Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Livelihood and Some Thoughts

I handed in my final paper today. I'm officially done with the requirements for my Masters degree. So, I figured I'd update you a little on my life.

I realize that it's a bit arrogant to think that any of you would actually care about what's going on in my life. When I started this blog, I think I seriously thought people would, or would be interested in some of the topics talked about on the blog. First time blogging naivete, perhaps. Anyway, I've reconciled myself to the reality that this blog is really more of a mouthpiece for some of the things that I, personally, find to be more interesting, or a place to scribble down a few musings as I go, and I'm okay with that. In that vein then, indulge me.

Some of you know me well enough to know what I've been doing with my life for the past little while. For those of you who don't: I finished my BA in psychology and philosophy & religion at Appalachian State University in 2007. I was accepted into the MA in Divinity (note, this is distinct from a Masters in Divinity) at the University of Chicago. I count this as a rather prestigious honor for several reasons - it's a selective school that offers a very excellent education; I've met a lot of really great people here and had the ability to expand my cognitive horizons; and, lastly, I had a lot of extra time during my coursework to take classes in another field of interest - cognitive neuroscience. Now, those of you who know me slightly less well may be saying at this point: "What the heck? YOU? In a Divinity School? But you love science and most of what you talk about is science!"

Yes, that's certainly true. I've always maintained, however, that I am not an expert. I consider myself an educated lay person, and when I don't know something, I look it up or, even better, consult with an actual expert in the field. They're nice people, and are generally willing to answer questions related to their study. A lot of scientists are like that - some are genuinely surprised that other people are even interested in their work. Now, as I said, I've also been taking classes in cognitive neuroscience/psychology, and when I'm in the lab or doing coursework there, I consider myself to be a scientist-in-training. I'm trying to pursue a Ph.D. in the cognitive sciences, but with the current economic situation and universities tightening their belts...well...it's tough. So, no, you should not consider me an expert or a "scientist" just quite yet, but I am certainly working towards that. I will never be an expert in evolutionary theory, or biology in general, that's true. However, I do consider my opinion on these matters to be among the educated lay people, and will try to direct any questions I cannot answer to someone who actually has had that sort of training.

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