Fishing for Jonah (anew)

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2 Fishing for Jonah (anew) Various approaches to Biblical interpretation Edited by Louis Jonker & Douglas Lawrie Study Guides in Religion and Theology 7 Publications of the University of the Western Cape

3 Fishing for Jonah (anew) Published by SUN PReSS, a division of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, Stellenbosch All rights reserved. Copyright 2005 Louis Jonker & Douglas Lawrie No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any electronic, photographic or mechanical means, including photocopying and recording on record, tape or laser disk, on microfilm, via the Internet, by , or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior written permission by the publisher. First edition 2005 ISBN X Set in 10/12pt Minion Pro Series cover design by Soretha Botha Typesetting by Wikus van Zyl Printed and bound by US Printers, Victoria Street, Stellenbosch 7600 SUN PReSS is a division of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, Stellenbosch University s publishing division. SUN PReSS publishes academic, professional and reference works in electronic and print format. This publication may be ordered directly from

4 Study Guides in Religion and Theology Publications of the University of the Western Cape The development of this series of study guides is an initiative of the Department of Religion and Theology at the University of the Western Cape. Its main purpose is to help produce affordable, readily available and contextually relevant textbooks that can be used for teaching purposes in the Southern African context. In addition, the series develops research tools that may be employed for postgraduate research projects in the region. The following volumes have appeared in this series thus far: Conradie, EM et al Fishing for Jonah. Various approaches to Biblical interpretation. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 1. Bellville: UWC Publications. Conradie, EM Ecological theology: An indexed bibliography. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 2. Second revised edition. Bellville: University of the Western Cape. Conradie, EM Welcome to Christian theology! An introduction to its theory and practice. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 3. Bellville: University of the Western Cape. (no longer available) Conradie, EM & Jonker, LC Angling for interpretation. A guide to understand the Bible better. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 4. Bellville: University of the Western Cape. Conradie, EM Ecological theology: A guide for further research. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 5. Bellville: University of the Western Cape. Conradie, EM & Fredericks, CE (eds) Mapping Systematic Theology in Africa: An indexed bibliography. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 6. Stellenbosch: SUN Media. Jonker, LC & Lawrie, DG (eds) Fishing for Jonah (anew): Various approaches to biblical interpretation. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 7. Stellenbosch: SUN Media. The following further volumes in this series are forthcoming: Lawrie, DG Speaking to good effect: An introduction to the theory and practice of rhetoric. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 8. Stellenbosch: SUN Media. Conradie, EM Christian identity: An introduction. Study Guides in Religion and Theology 9. Stellenbosch: SUN Media. The following further volumes in this series are envisaged: Lawrie, DG. An introduction to the world of the Old Testament t (2006). Conradie, EM et al: An introduction to ethical theory (2006).

5 Preface Fishing for Jonah (anew) is the culmination of longstanding discussions between the authors of this book on biblical interpretation that began with our first joint project in 1995, Fishing for Jonah. That work was a response to our awareness that there is a scarcity of introductions to exegetical methodology in the field of biblical studies, especially on the African continent. With this volume we want to contribute to biblical scholarship in general, but especially to scholarship in our own context. This project was made possible by the co-operation of a number of our colleagues. We have used, with or without changes, earlier contributions by Ernst Conradie and Roger Arendse, and have also included new sections by Ernst Conradie, Elna Mouton, Franziska Andrag-Meyer and Gerald West. We thank all these colleagues for making their scholarship available for this project. The contributions of each of these colleagues are acknowledged in the Table of Contents below. We, the editors, took responsibility for writing chapters 1 and 8, namely the introduction and the conclusion to the book. In the conclusion we ask the question Where does this leave us? after we have been introduced to the multitude of interpretation strategies. We argue that the best interpretive practice involves a particular attitude towards reading, rather than a narrow adherence to a single methodology. This attitude is one that is constantly alert to the difficulties of interpretation, but is also aware of the full range of knowledge and interpretive approaches that can be brought to bear on our understanding of a biblical text. For this reason, we regard the diversity and complexity of approaches presented in this book as all being integral to the development of a strong reading practice. Because different authors contributed to this volume, the reader will encounter different styles of writing. In order to preserve the uniqueness of each contribution we intentionally have not ironed out all differences. The editors, however, take responsibility for the project as a whole. Our intention was that the text should be fairly free-flowing, unburdened by footnotes and a host of bibliographical references. We have, however, included a bibliography and reading list at the end to provide the interested reader with the bibliographical details of authors that we refer to, as well as further reading suggestions on the book of Jonah and the specific strategies discussed in the different chapters. A few practical exercises are included at the end of the book (although not on every strategy we have discussed), to enable the reader to digest some of the content that is discussed in the various chapters. We want to express our gratitude towards our institutions, the University of Stellenbosch and the University of the Western Cape, which supported us and made financial contributions to this project. Lannie Birch and Fiona Moolla worked hard to correct our grammar and style. They certainly made a huge contribution towards the quality of this book, and we want to thank them for that. Justa Niemand and Wikus van Zyl of AFRICAN SUN MeDIA, who were actively involved in this project, provided us with a professional and efficient publishing service. They too have earned our gratitude. Louis Jonker University of Stellenbosch November 2004 Douglas Lawrie University of the Western Cape i

6 Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: Introduction The purpose of this book The spiral of interpretation The structure of Fishing for Jonah (anew) CHAPTER 2: Classical strategies of interpretation Introduction (LJ/EC) Allegorical interpretation (LJ/EC) Typological interpretation (LJ/EC) Rabbinical (midrash) interpretation (LJ/EC) CHAPTER 3: A modern era emerges Introduction (LJ) Historical-grammatical approach (LJ) Historical-rationalist interpretation (LJ) Historical-literal interpretation (LJ) CHAPTER 4: Approaches focusing on the production of texts Introduction (LJ) Historical-critical approaches (LJ) Canonical criticism (LJ) Cultural-anthropological approaches (LJ/RA) Socio-rhetorical criticism (LJ) CHAPTER 5: Approaches focusing on the texts themselves Introduction (DL) New Criticism and related approaches (DL) Structuralist approaches (DL/EC) Narrative approaches (LJ) CHAPTER 6: Approaches focusing on the reception of texts Introduction (DL) The role of the reader (DL) Rhetorical-critical studies (DL) Deconstructionist approaches (DL) CHAPTER 7: The hermeneutics of suspicion: The hidden worlds of ideology and the unconscious Introduction (DL) Psychoanalytical approaches (DL)

7 7.3 Marxist approaches (DL) Feminist approaches (FAM/EM) African hermeneutics (GW) An ecological hermeneutics (EC) CHAPTER 8: Where does this leave us? Introduction Towards multidimensional interpretation Bridging the gap between academic and non-academic readings Where this book meets its boundaries EXERCISES SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Works cited and suggestions for further reading on the book of Jonah Works cited and suggestions for further reading on the exegetical approaches

8 DL EC EM Key to authors names Douglas Lawrie, Dept. of Religion and Theology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville Ernst Conradie, Dept. of Religion and Theology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville Elna Mouton, Dept. of Old and New Testament, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch FAM Franziska Andrag-Meyer, Dept. of Old and New Testament, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch GW LJ RA Gerald West, Dept. of Religious Studies, University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg Louis Jonker, Dept. of Old and New Testament, University of Stellenbosch, Stellenbosch Roger Arendse, formerly involved in the Dept. of Religion and Theology, University of the Western Cape, Bellville

9 CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1.1 The purpose of this book This book builds on the introduction to biblical interpretation offered in Angling for Interpretation (Conradie & Jonker 2001). The aim of the first book was to offer a basic introduction to biblical interpretation. Its argument runs as follows: When we read the Bible, we often feel that we do not understand what the text says or that we are not sure whether we have understood the text fully and correctly. Among the problems that give rise to this are the following: 1) our lack of background information, 2) the possibility that the text may contain various layers of meaning, 3) the existence of diverse, mutually exclusive interpretations, and 4) the possibility that pervasive ideologies (either our own or those in the text) may colour our interpretation. In our effort to understand the Bible better, we then start to reflect on the complex process of interpretation, thereby engaging in hermeneutics (the systematic study of interpretation). Angling for Interpretation identifies seven factors that may influence biblical interpretations: 1) the literary features of the text, 2) knowledge of the historical and social background of the text, 3) the tradition of interpretation, 4) the contemporary context, 5) the interpretative strategies chosen by the reader, 6) the rhetorical context, and 7) hidden ideologies that may operate in the text or the reader. It also offers a model of the interpretation process itself. According to this model, the search for the most satisfactory interpretation of a biblical text involves three steps: 1) the articulation of the understanding of the text we already have, 2) the critical testing and revision of this existing interpretation, and 3) the articulation of new, revised interpretation, which also includes the appropriation of the text as meaningful for us. The aim of this book, Fishing for Jonah (anew), is to explore in more detail the ways in which we may test and revise our existing biblical interpretations, drawing on the insights developed in various schools of biblical hermeneutics. Over the centuries, the seven factors identified in Angling for Interpretation have been scrutinized in various schools of biblical hermeneutics, leading to distinct approaches to biblical interpretation that often stand in opposition to one another. The different chapters in this book investigate these schools and approaches in more detail. The theoretical assumptions of each approach are briefly discussed (referring to the work of leading scholars in the particular field) and in most cases the theories are illustrated by means of examples taken from the book of Jonah. Since this book deals with approaches developed by specialists, it is aimed primarily at trained readers of the Bible, those who are studying or have studied theology at a tertiary level or who have acquired some background in theological studies. An envisaged third volume, Hooked on Hermeneutics (to appear in 2005), will focus more specifically on theological hermeneutics. The Bible is not read and studied by specialists only; it is read and used all over the world by Christian communities and by individual Christians in their everyday lives. Hooked on Hermeneutics asks how such people may read and understand the Bible in a responsible way that draws on the insights of biblical scholarship and that is relevant to Christian praxis. Or, to rephrase the question, what is distinctly Christian about biblical interpretation? 1

10 Fishing for Jonah (Anew) 1.2 The spiral of interpretation Unless we recognize that various specialist approaches to biblical hermeneutics are rooted in the practice of interpreting the Bible in everyday life, ordinary readers and trained or specialist readers of the Bible will increasingly be alienated from one another. Unfor tunately, such alienation has already become quite widespread. Christians who are introduced to the work of (critical) Biblical scholarship often find it difficult to recognize the Bible that they are familiar with and therefore experience critical scholarship as a threat to their faith. Biblical scholars, on the other hand, are sometimes scornful of the unsophisticated way in which the Bible is read by pastors and ordinary believers. Nevertheless, the totally untrained ordinary reader uses, usually unconsciously, certain strategies of interpretation, and the highly learned scholar enters the interpretative process as an ordinary reader. The well-known notion of a spiral of interpretation illustrates this. The spiral of interpretation may be represented as follows: Simple as this model is, it represents a complex process We are always already interpreting It may be possible for a person to say when she picked up a Bible for the first time and started reading it, but it is not possible to say when she started interpreting. Every new interpretation is always based on a prior interpretation; therefore we never approach any text with a clean slate. We make sense of a new text because it is in some ways similar to that of which we have already made sense. For instance, words in the text convey meaning to us because we have already assimilated their meaning in previous acts of interpretation. We have, in brief, a framework of interpretations that enables us to make new interpretations. When we begin reading the Bible for the first time, we have in some senses already read it. Perhaps we were told Bible stories by our parents; perhaps we went to Sunday school. At the very least we were socialized in a society permeated with biblical language, imagery and values. Our reading will therefore always bear traces of the tradition of biblical interpretation to which we are heirs. Although the negative influence of mere tradition on biblical interpretation is often emphasized, the tradition also plays a positive role by providing us with interpretative tools and a framework of meanings. Tradition provides the spectacles without which we would simply not make sense 2