‘Through Constantine’s favour and munificence, Christianity became
respectable,’ PAGE 27
Chapter and verse understanding
The Use and Abuse of the Bible: a brief history of biblical
interpretation
Henry Wansbrough OSB
CONTINUUM, 209PP, £14.99
Tablet Bookshop price £13.50
H
01420 592974
ow does one read the Bible well? How can one hear what the Bible really
says? In the midst of claim and counterclaim across the blogosphere, it is refreshing to be reminded of the very different landscapes against which our forebears grappled with the sacred page. The respected Benedictine biblical scholar Henry Wansbrough has offered us a veritable feast in this wide-ranging exploration of biblical interpretation. His 12 chapters present what he calls a dozen “probes”, a somewhat eclectic collection of historical movements and figures illustrating the passion with which the Bible has been read, the meanings it has engendered, and its irrepressible capacity for interweaving doctrine, politics and personal devotion. Wansbrough’s canvas is broad. He has
selected exemplars from most centuries of Christian history. Of course, the expected greats are there, such as Origen, Jerome, Bede and Aquinas. But, as these giants of the tradition remind us, Scripture study finds its natural home in prayer, preaching and pastoral ministry. It engages the heart and the spirit as well as the intellect. In the words of medieval exegetes, it seeks sapientia no less than scientia. Thus two female mystics of the fourteenth century are included, Julian of Norwich and Margery Kempe. So too are the hymns and sermons of the Wesley brothers. The use of the Bible in controversy between Christians is well exemplified by a sympathetic chapter on Martin Luther. Topically, in the year of
his beatification, a whole chapter is devoted to John Henry Newman as interpreter of Scripture. With desire for completeness as well as ecumenical sensitivity, Wansbrough attends as much to Newman’s Anglican thought as to his abiding influence on Catholicism. There is also a welcome chapter on the practice of lectio divina, a reminder of the author’s own monastic vocation. Most valuable in Wansbrough’s collection are his vivid vignettes, which open up the lives of his chosen protagonists. Here are real flesh-and-blood encounters, full of passion and the occasional political intrigue, presented with clarity and insight. He makes an interesting case for the Quartodecimans (controversialists concerning the date of Easter) such as Melito of Sardis embracing a “Johannine” spirituality which, following the Fourth Gospel, celebrated the one “hour” of death and glorification, passion and resurrection. We listen in on Augustine’s correspondence with Jerome, informing the latter of how his new Latin translation of Jonah almost sparked a riot in a church in North Africa. How many Catholic Scripture scholars today can claim such attention devoted to their work? Jerome himself is introduced in a manner which balances his obvious brilliance with his vanity and notoriously bad temper. The erudite Bede serves as an example of how a good sense of humour might benefit a budding biblical exegete. This book well illustrates the benefits of studying the Bible’s reception history, for at least two reasons. First, it challenges the view that critical biblical scholarship is somehow novel, disloyal and not to be trusted. Origen’s anticipation of contemporary textual criticism in his six- version parallel edition of the Old Testament, the Hexapla, is a clear case in point. In this and other areas, more recent scholarship can be seen to build on patristic foundations, although advancing the science through findings not accessible to their predecessors. To take one example from the many Wansbrough provides: discoveries at Qumran point to a fluidity in textual traditions far more complex than Jerome could have appreciated when he opted for the Hebraica veritas over the Septuagint as the “correct” biblical text. The second point is a warning to biblical scholars themselves.
For the most part, the interpreters discussed in this volume read the Bible within a living tradition, and regard themselves as at the service of that tradition. One is reminded of Luke Timothy Johnson’s recent appeal for a “hermeneutics of generosity or charity”, where the biblical text is approached reverently and sympathetically, though not uncritically. This is a little gem of a book, written accessibly with clarity and humour: a welcome relief from the flat and monochrome reading which often passes as “the plain sense of Scripture”, particularly in popular debate. It reminds its readers of a Christian tradition of biblical interpretation that is far more sophisticated, challenging and ultimately satisfying. Underlying the title is, of course, a concern that the Bible should be read well. But what constitutes “abuse”, particularly in a climate within biblical studies where meaning is no longer so closely tied to authorial intention? What are the criteria by which differing readings might be judged? Wansbrough hints at an answer in an incisive chapter on the tragic use of the Bible in contemporary Middle Eastern politics, urging a rereading of the biblical narrative which prioritises the vocation to be the servant of the Lord over secular possession of geographical territory. But are there other criteria which might also fruitfully come into play? That is the question this reviewer was left with. Perhaps the merit of this book is to pose the question as sharply as it does, and point at least to some possible answers. Ian Boxall
OUR REVIEWERS
Nicholas Vincent is professor of medieval history at the University of East Anglia.
Ian Boxall teaches New Testament in the Oxford Faculty of Divinity and at St Stephen’s House.
Paul Turner is a parish priest in Cameron, Missouri, and a facilitator for the International Commission on English in the Liturgy.
Daniel P. King is a freelance writer.
Simon Scott Plummeris a freelance journalist
specialising in Asia. Rima Devereaux is a freelance writer.
John Gale is CEO of Community Housing and Therapy (CHT), a mental-health charity specialising in therapeutic communities.
Jerome, an exemplar of biblical scholarship
R.A. Markus, emeritus professor of history at Nottingham University, discussed the themes of this review in his The End of Ancient Christianity (1990). His latest book is
Christianity and the Secular (2006).
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