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Pauline Interpretation of Christianity: ROMANS

Pauline Interpretation of Christianity: ROMANS. Div/ Rel 3162 Jan 10, 2012. Today’s Schedule. 4:00-5:20 Presentation of the Semester 5:20-30 Preparing Your reading of: Rom 1:1a “Paul, a servant/slave of Jesus Christ”

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Pauline Interpretation of Christianity: ROMANS

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  1. Pauline Interpretation of Christianity:ROMANS Div/Rel3162 Jan 10, 2012

  2. Today’s Schedule • 4:00-5:20 Presentation of the Semester • 5:20-30 Preparing Your reading of: Rom 1:1a “Paul, a servant/slave of Jesus Christ” • 5:30-6:30 Roundtable Discussion: getting to know you, the form, and reviewing syllabus.

  3. Interpreting Scripture always matters • Christians live by this teaching…. • It affects people positively or negatively; • brings forgiveness or condemnation; • comforts or hurts; • includes or excludes; • liberates or oppresses; • brings good news of love or destructive news of hate; • gives life or kills-literally. • It Is Essential To Assume Responsibility For Our Interpretations

  4. Pauline Interpretation of Christianity: Romans • Studying Paul = studying Paul’s interpretation of the gospel he received, • More on this next week • and also: Studying your/our own interpretations of Romans • Your Interpretations Are One Of The Two Main Topics In This Class • Each interpretation will be respected because:

  5. Your interpretations will be respected because: • I expect you have insights into the text and about its significance for believers that the rest of us do not have; • The rest of us need to learn from you • ALL OF YOU are TEACHERS in this seminar… • Roundtable… everybody is equal • Do not worry: I also have something teach you! • I will learn from you by appreciating what is different in your interpretation • Do not repeat to me an interpretation which is like mine!!! • I will deem your interpretation to be legitimate, plausible, and valid, until proven otherwise • and not vice-versa. • But this is not Critical Biblical Studies, is it?

  6. But, this is not Critical Biblical Studies, is it? Yes, it is! • What I taught for many years (note past tense!) • and what was my view until it slowly changed from1975 to 1990 …. Though it is possibly your view today • Exegesis (Gk. "leading out of" [the complexity of a text]). Detailed exposition, explanation and interpretation of the texts of Scriptures • “Establishing what the text meant” when it was written: KristerStendahl “Biblical Theology” IDB = the task of biblical scholars • Hermeneutics. Exposition of “what the text means” for people today, on the basis of • KristerStendahl “Biblical Theology” IDB = the task of theologians, homileticians, preachers, etc

  7. Accordingly, A class on Romans should teach you--but I will not! • What Paul truly taught in Romans, through a detailed exposition, explanation and interpretation of “what the text meant” (Exegesis) • So that you can figure out on this basis “what the text means” for people today, on the basis of “what the text meant” (Hermeneutics) • Yes. This is What I taught for many years. • No. It is NOT what I will teach you in this class

  8. Because, I discovered in 1990 • That what I taught for many years • Exegesis “Establishing what the text meant” • Hermeneutics. Exposition of “what the text means” for people today, on the basis of “what the text meant” • Is neither critical, nor ethically responsible … • A hard lesson to learn… from someone whom I could not but take seriously

  9. Because, I discovered in 1990 • That what I taught for many years • Exegesis “Establishing what the text meant” • Hermeneutics. Exposition of “what the text means” for people today, on the basis of “what the text meant” • Is neither critical, nor ethically responsible … • A hard lesson to learn… from someone whom I could not but take seriously

  10. CONTEXT: South Africa, Dinner - September 1990 • The man across the dinner table asked me what I was doing in South Africa: • Consultant for the SA ministry of Education: Invited by Professor Bernard Lategan, Stellenbosch University. • How to teach the Bible in Seminary and Universities in a Post-Apartheid Society? • I explained as simply as I could (Biblical studies was clearly not his field). • My answer: It is essential to use a multiplicity of critical methods, and identify among many possibilities the teaching most helpful in SA • This man listened patiently, asking questions about the methods. • With a kind but sad smile, he finally told me:

  11. CONTEXT: South Africa, Dinner - September 1990 • “You still exclude all truly African interpretations of the Bible… you know, those of the Independent churches” • I did not know… • “The interpretations in the many African Initiated Churches” • Zulu Zion Christian Church 7 million members • African Independent Church in Southern Africa 13 million • and he went on talking about oral cultures, and how “oral reading” is different from reading with the eyes. Mentioning books on this by Walter Ong. • Books I had not read….

  12. CONTEXT: South Africa, Dinner - September 1990 • I was amazed.. What a well educated person! • I was unsettled… Yes, he was right I would not accept the readings of these African Christians in my classroom • They cannot be valid; they are often so fanciful… • It took me a long time to grasp what he had said to me • I later understood, he had gently shown me that my teaching was condoning &promoting apartheid • … I was silenced

  13. CONTEXT : South Africa, Dinner - September 1990 • The tall man across the table, who earlier had greeted me with a cordial handshake, taking my hands in his very callous hands; • Who had talked about political and economic issues all evening long with other guests, • And yet knew a lot about literature, cultural studies • had gently shown me that my teaching was condoning & promoting apartheid

  14. Western Readings Are not the Only True Readings of the Bible • He taught me in no uncertain terms that • Claiming that in order to be a faithful reader of the Bible one needs to read the Bible according to Western critical standards, • is adopting a racist, colonialist, imperialist attitude -- • This is what I learned the hard way in South Africa, when I was gently told by my interlocutor that my teaching of the Bible was promoting apartheid.

  15. White Male Readings Are not the Only True Readings of the Bible • I realized that it was the same thing I was being taught by • Vincent Wimbush, • Elizabeth SchusslerFiorenza • Ana Maria Isazi Diaz • Fernando Segovia • Mary Ann Tolbert • At a meeting that I had called earlier the same year following the confrontation we had with African American students at VU in 1989 who claimed that we were excluding the reading from the Black Churches

  16. Scholarly Readings Are not the Only True Readings of the Bible • They taught me in no uncertain terms that, in the North Atlantic contexts in which we are, • That we should bring the readings by actual believers in the class room • Because their readings of the Bible are also true readings • Excluding common believers’ readings as simply wrong, is marginalizing them • And it is failing to learn from them

  17. Stendahl’s view of Critical Biblical Studies is up-side down • NOT: 1) Exegesis “Establishing what the text meant” • 2) Hermeneutics. Exposition of “what the text means” for people today, on the basis of “what the text meant” BUT • 1) Hermeneutics… what the text means for people today … the readings of believers… including African believers, etc. • 2) Critical assessment of this hermeneutical interpretation (including close examination of the text)… involves learning from all these readings.

  18. Up-side Down Critical Biblical Studies = • 1) Exegesis “Establishing what the text meant” • 2) Hermeneutics. Exposition of “what the text means” for people today, on the basis of “what the text meant” • VERSUS 1) Hermeneutics… what the text means for people today … for believers… • 2) Critical assessment (= exegesis of these interpretations -- including close examination of the text)… involves learning from all these readings.

  19. Traditional Critical Biblical Studies Scientist as a model • Exegesis: “Establishing what the text meant”: • Task: Overcoming the problem of MISUNDERSTANDINGS of the text= posed by (religious, doctrinal, etc.) “pre-understandings” • Scholarly task: overcoming pre-understandings by using strict critical methods… historical critical methods, philology, form criticism, redaction criticism, literary criticism, ideological criticism, etc.

  20. How most Scholars study a Biblical Text = Contextual & Theological • Goal: provide the “true” & right interpretation by showing that everybody else is wrong YET IT IS HIGHLY CONTEXTUAL & THEOLOGICAL • Read the Biblical text • Use a critical method that focuses the attention on its most significant features = Analytical Frame = A CHOICE • Identify in it Theological or Ethical themes • “Traditionally misunderstood” • Seeking to correct these misunderstandings • Acknowledge a Problem: Potential pre-understandings “to be overcome” = Hermeneutical/Theological frame = CHOICE • Reject any anachronistic interpretation (the context is Paul’s context). Problem? As above. Potential pre-understandings • Contextual frame = CHOICE

  21. How a Preacher prepares a Sermon: Three necessary steps • Preacher as Model for Critical Biblical Studies • Read the Biblical text • find most significant features of it = Analytical Frame • Identify in it Theological or Ethical themes • particularly significant for her congregation… • how they are positively or negatively related to the congregation’s and her own religious views and experience = Hermeneutical/Theological frame • Identify how this text might address the needs of the congregation = Contextual frame • Nothing Wrong with this! PREACHER AS A MODEL OF CRITICAL INTERPRETATION

  22. How we will proceed: YOUR OWN interpretation is our starting point • Using Form:Read a passage from Romans = I assume you know how to read = • find what is most significant for you in it = Analytical Frame • Focus your reading on a Theological or Ethical theme • What is particularly significant in what Paul says about this theme for you in a particular context or situation … • how is this teaching positively or negatively related to the religious views and experience that believers (you or someone else) have in this context = Hermeneutical/Theological frame • Identify how this text might address the concrete needs of the people in this situation = Contextual frame • In so doing you have begun to do a critical reading … to be prolonged by comparing YOUR interpretation with the interpretation by OTHERS

  23. First Step: On a PASSAGE of Romans and a THEME (that we/you chose) • In YOUR interpretation • PART A: Analyzing the passage regarding what it says about “this” theme • A1 (15/30),which one of the several plausible views of the given theological/ethical THEME(see CDC) does Paul present in the assigned passage of Romans? Why not the others? • A2 (15/30) what is the textual evidence (the most significant features of the text) that supports this particular view of the THEME?

  24. PEDAGOGICAL GOALS: 2) Learning to interpret Romans • A) In a weekly exercise you will be expected to develop your own interpretation of Romans • by the end of the semester, you will be expected to know the content of Paul’s letter to the Romans • B) “Some people claim to know the Bible, but the Bible doesn’t know them,” warned a Ghanaian preacher [quoted by Gerald West]: in your weekly exercise you will illustrate how believers allow Romans to know their life in their specific life and religious contexts. • And compare it with a Scholarly Interpretation

  25. First Step: On a PASSAGE of Romans and a THEME (we/you chose) Compare • In YOUR interpretation • PART A: Analyzing the passage regarding what it says about “this” theme • A1 (15/30),which one of the several plausible views of the given theological/ethical THEME(see CDC) does Paul present in the assigned passage of Romans? Why not the others? • A2 (15/30) what is the textual evidence (the most significant features of the text) that supports this particular view of the THEME? • In a commentary • PART A: What did passage regarding what it says about the theme(we chose as focus) • A1. (25/50) For the commentatorwhich one of the several plausible views of the given theological/ethical THEME does Paul present in the assigned passage of Romans? • A2 (25/50) what is the textual evidencewhich the commentator supports this particular view of the THEME?

  26. PEDAGOGICAL GOALS: 3) assessing your interpretations • Learning to do a critical assessment of your interpretation by comparing it with other interpretations (scholarly interpretations and also Christian believers’ interpretations) • Analyzing the textual, contextual, and theological/religious choices involved in each interpretation • By the end of the semester, you will be expected to show that you can compare several interpretations on the basis of the choices they made; and to assess their relative values.

  27. First Step: On a PASSAGE of Romans and a THEME (that we/you chose) • In YOUR interpretation • PART A: Analyzing the passage regarding what it says about “this” theme • A1 (15/30),which one of the several plausible views of the given theological/ethical THEME(see CDC) does Paul present in the assigned passage of Romans? Why not the others? • A2 (15/30) what is the textual evidence (the most significant features of the text) that supports this particular view of the THEME?

  28. Choosing most significant featuresof a text

  29. Choosing most significant featuresof a text

  30. Choosing most significant featuresof a text • Bible Works (in Library) • Go tohttp://www.library.vanderbilt.edu/ • Find articles & databases • (find under “B” BIBLE WORKS 8 • Use Beginner Mode • “View” tab click on “Choose display Versions” • English… choose several version • Greek… choose GNT • Any other language you know in the list (sorry no Chinese, no Korean)

  31. Choosing most significant featuresof a text

  32. Scriptural CriticismThe Preacher as Model

  33. Acknowledge We Make three kinds of Interpretive Choices • three frames for any interpretation (analytical; contextual; hermeneutical/theological); • three modes of existence (autonomy, relationality, heteronomy) • Each interpretive frame involves consciously or sub-consciously choosing: anyunderstanding-teaching of a text is an interpretive conclusion resulting from three choices: • analytical choices; • contextual choices—include ideological choices (power structures) • hermeneutical/theological choices—include cultural choices as well as religious ones

  34. Reading Romans 1:1 Using the Form Theme: Teaching of the way Paul portrays his relationship to Romans • Romans 1:1aPaul, a slave/servant of Jesus Christ

  35. First Step: On a PASSAGE of Romans and a THEME (that we/you chose) • In YOUR interpretation • PART A: Analyzing the passage regarding what it says about “this” theme • A1 (15/30),which one of the several plausible views of the given theological/ethical THEME(see CDC) does Paul present in the assigned passage of Romans? Why not the others? • A2 (15/30) what is the textual evidence (the most significant features of the text) that supports this particular view of the THEME?

  36. PEDAGOGICAL GOALS of this class: Part 1) Introducing you • a) to Paul and his interpretation of Christianity (in and for his context) • b) to the different interpretations of Paul by his readers (biblical scholars, as well as believers in different cultural contexts in history and today), • By the end of the semester, you will be expected • To have gained a critical perspective on the variety of interpretations that you will encounter as leaders in the church and elsewhere. • To know major differences among three distinctive scholarly interpretations of Paul

  37. PEDAGOGICAL GOALS: Part 2) Learning to interpret Romans • A) In a weekly exercise you will be expected to develop your own interpretation of Romans • by the end of the semester, you will be expected to know the content of Paul’s letter to the Romans • B) “Some people claim to know the Bible, but the Bible doesn’t know them,” warned a Ghanaian preacher [quoted by Gerald West in Reading Other-wise: Socially Engaged Biblical Scholars Reading with Their Local Communities • in your weekly exercise you will illustrate how believers allow Romans to know their lives in their specific life and religious contexts.

  38. PEDAGOGICAL GOALS: Part 3)assessing your interpretations(discuss reports) • Learning to do a critical assessment of your interpretation by comparing it with other interpretations (scholarly interpretations and also Christian believers’ interpretations) • Analyzing the textual, contextual, and theological/religious choices involved in each interpretation • By the end of the semester, you will be expected to show that you can compare several interpretations on the basis of the choices they made; and to assess their relative values.

  39. First Step: On a PASSAGE of Romans and a THEME (we/you chose) Compare • In YOUR interpretation • PART A: Analyzing the passage regarding what it says about “this” theme • A1 (15/30),which one of the several plausible views of the given theological/ethical THEME(see CDC) does Paul present in the assigned passage of Romans? Why not the others? • A2 (15/30) what is the textual evidence (the most significant features of the text) that supports this particular view of the THEME? • In a commentary • PART A: What did passage regarding what it says about the theme(we chose as focus) • A1. (25/50) For the commentatorwhich one of the several plausible views of the given theological/ethical THEME does Paul present in the assigned passage of Romans? • A2 (25/50) what is the textual evidencewhich the commentator supports this particular view of the THEME?

  40. First Step: On a PASSAGE of Romans and a THEME (we/you chose) Compare • PART B:(35 points)The contextual choices behind your reading of what Paul says about this theme: what kind of problem do you think a teaching based on this theme would address for believers? • B1. (5/35)Whataspect of the believers’ life do you think this teaching would address? • A) private life? B) family life? C) life in Christian Community? D) in society? E) in culture? F) in relations with different religions? • PART B:(20 points)The contextual choices behind the Commentator’s reading of what Paul says about this theme: what kind of problem do you think a teaching based on this theme would address for believers? • B1. (5/20)Whataspect of the believers’ life do you think this teaching would address? • A) private life? B) family life? C) life in Christian Community? D) in society? E) in culture? F) in relations with different religions?

  41. First Step: On a PASSAGE of Romans and a THEME (we/you chose) Compare • PART B:your reading • B2. (10/35)Give a concreteexample of the kind of PROBLEM in this aspect of the believers’ life that a teaching based on this reading would address. • B3. (10/35) what is the ROOT-PROBLEMthat needs to be addressed? A lack of (or wrong) A) KNOWLEDGE? B) ABILITY? C) WILL? D) FAITH-VISION or IDEOLOGY? • PART B:the Commentator’s • B2. (5/20)Give a concreteexample of the kind of PROBLEM in this aspect of the believers’ life that a teaching based on this reading would address. • B3. (5/20) what is the ROOT-PROBLEMthat needs to be addressed? A lack of (or wrong) A) KNOWLEDGE? B) ABILITY? C) WILL? D) FAITH-VISION or IDEOLOGY?

  42. 7 ROLES OF SCRIPTURES Note: You can use only one at a time! • A) LAMP TO MY FEET >>KNOWLEDGE (of God’s Will) • B) CANON >> KNOWLEDGE (of God’s will) or WILL (because fear of judgment) • C) GOOD NEWS >>KNOWLEDGE (of God’s love) or WILL (because of gratitude for God’s love) = the most common modern views of the role of Scripture in Western World

  43. 7 ROLES OF SCRIPTURES Note: You can use only one at a time! • D) FAMILY ALBUM = BOOK OF THE COVENANT =Testament >> FAITH =VISION of one’s identity as members of God’s family and WILL = call to a special vocation. • E) CORRECTIVE GLASSES >> FAITH =VISION of God’s active presence in their lives—alsoEMPOWERS/ENABLES • F) EMPOWERING WORD >> POWER/ABILITY to struggle for God’s justice • G) HOLY BIBLE >> shatters their view of life by giving them a new FAITH/VISION • H) ANOTHER METAPHOR?

  44. First Step: On a PASSAGE of Romans and a THEME (we/you chose) Compare • PART B:your reading • B4. (10/35) identifying The Role of Scripture which needs to shape this teaching for the believers • Part C: (25/25) formulate the main teaching of this Scriptural text regarding this theme for these believers’ life as Christians in this situation today. • Make sure it address the specific root-problem these believers have and embodies the corresponding role of Scripture • PART B:the Commentator’s • B4. (5/20) identifying The Role of Scripture which needs to shape this teaching for the believers • Part C: (20/20) formulate the main teaching of this Scriptural text regarding this theme for these believers’ life as Christians in this situation today. • Make sure it address the specific root-problem these believers have and embodies the corresponding role of Scripture

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