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History Of Christian Interpretaion

A Brief History of Christian Interpretation
From Introduction to Biblical Interpretation, by Klein, Blomberg, and Hubbard
a
PATRISTIC PERIOD (a.d. 100-590)
• From the death of the Apostle John until Pope Gregory I, 590 a.d.
• "Patristic" in that it features the contributions of the so-called Church Fathers.
• The period in which the N.T. canon was developed, O.T. was still the primary authoritative collection
of scriptures.
• In later years, church tradition began to exercise significant influence on the definition of church
doctrine.
• This period ended when the church councils finally agreed upon the contents of the Christian canon.

Three subperiods:
1. Apostolic Fathers (a.d. 100-150)
A. Select authors: Clement of Rome, Ignatius, Polycarp, Barnabas (pseudonym)
B. Select writings: Didache, Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas, Epistle to Diognetius
C. Two purposes:
1. To instruct believers in Christian doctrine
2. To defend the faith against Jewish arguments
D. Four major approaches:
1. Typology – e.g. Clement saw the scarlet color of the cloth that Rahab hung in Jericho to signal Joshua's spies as a foreshadowing of the blood of Jesus (1 Clement 12:7).
2. Allegory
a. Seeing spiritual significance in every detail of a passage.
b. Barnabas saw the seven days of creation as a key to understanding the future – six days indicate the world will last six thousand years, seventh day symbolizes the second coming of Christ, followed by the eighth day – "the beginning of another world" (15:3-9)
c. Allegory was the most popular way to interpret literature generally in that period.
3. Midrash – a complex interpretive approach developed earlier by the Jewish rabbis that found symbolic significance in every word and phrase of the O.T. It followed a carefully devised set of rules which to today's readers appear to be little more than manipulation of the text to suit one's interests. In the originating period, however, the intent of...