Reading the Bible with Giants

How 2000 Years of Biblical Interpretation Can Shed New Light on Old Texts. Second Edition

Parris

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2015
• ISBN:
  9781630879341
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Religion

Many readers of the Bible believe that interpreting the Scriptures well simply involves a two-way dialogue between themselves and the text. Implied in this view is the idea that we can simply jump over two thousand years of biblical interpretation. However, if we believe that God has been speaking through the Bible to devout believers throughout history it would seem that we should find a way to identify the insights they perceived in the text so that we can learn to read these sacred texts with them. Drawing on resources from Reception Theory, the goal of Reading the Bible with the Giants is to enable the contemporary reader to interpret the Bible in dialogue with those who have gone before us.

Chapter 1

The First Historical Horizon

The Author and the Audience

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

from where will my help come?

My help comes from the Lord,

who made heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1–2 (NRSV)

Psalm 121 and Pikes Peak

Many of us have sung the words of this psalm in a worship service at some time. The words of the psalmist call us to juxtapose creation with the greatness of the creator who stands behind it. As I write this book, a window in my office opens onto a view of Pikes Peak, a majestic Colorado mountain that rises from a base elevation of six thousand feet to over fourteen thousand feet at its peak. It is the mountain that inspired Katharine Lee Bates to write the line “from purple mountain’s majesty” in her poem “America the Beautiful” in 1893. Almost every time I look upon this mountain my heart is lifted up to the Lord in praise, and the words of this psalm echo in my mind.

However, is that what the psalmist had in mind as he composed this psalm? Are these the associations that would have been formed in the minds of the Jewish pilgrims as they sang this song walking to Jerusalem for one of their religious festivals?

The actual words of the psalm are fairly easy to understand. However, reading the Psalms involves more than just understanding the words printed on the page. They evoke our thoughts and call for a response. In particular, Psalm 121 appears to have been written to elicit or affirm the ancient pilgrims’ trust in YHWH as they made their way to or from Jerusalem. But if this psalm calls for our response to trust the Lord for protection, then the meaning of this psalm exceeds the definitions of the words on the page.

The first stanza ,“I lift up my eyes to the mountains,” creates a vivid image in our mind. As we picture this scene in our imagination, the associations we make with how we view the natural environment are also evoked. The grandeur of the Rocky Mountains or the Alps inspires our imagination—as they have the work of countless artists. We see God’s creative handiwork in nature. In our office we even have a panoramic picture of Pikes Peak with the words of Ps 121:1–2 in calligraphy below it.

How would the ancient Jewish pilgrim have been moved by this psalm? The first clue that we are given is that this psalm is part of a larger collection of psalms (120–34) entitled “Songs of Ascent” or “Pilgrimage Psalms.” They were most likely written for use during pilgrimages to Jerusalem for one of the prescribed feasts. Jerusalem is located on the top of a mountain, surrounded by other hills, especially to the north and east. Pilgrims would have approached Jerusalem by roads that either followed the valleys between these hills or led up one of the long ascents from the coastal plain or the Jordan River valley. Reciting the psalm in this context, they would have naturally formed associations with the mountainous terrain they were ascending.

How would they have looked upon these mountains? Would the first thoughts that crossed their minds have been about the beauty of God’s creation or some other association? Perhaps they would be asking God for some help as they grew weary from the journey? Or would they have been worrying about their personal safety from bandits hiding among the hills (see Jesus’ parable of the Good Samaritan for an example of this, Luke 10:29–37)? If the second association was the one that came to their mind when they recited this psalm, then the message is quite different from the one we perceive. For them, the scene of journeying up through the mountains to Jerusalem could have called to mind the possibility of their suffering misfortune on the way. As a result, the second line, “from where will my help come?” asks the faithful to consider where they place their trust for protection.

If we look outside the Psalms we can find clues to another option that is perhaps equally valid. As the pilgrims made their way to Jerusalem the psalmist called for them to look at the mountains they were passing. As they gazed upon these hilltops they may have caught glimpses of the small temples, sanctuaries, or altars dedicated to other gods—the “high places” that are frequently denounced in the Old Testament. This idea fits nicely with the overall thrust of Psalm 121 as well. As the travelers made their way to worship at the temple in Jerusalem, the first line calls them to look upon the high places and temples to foreign gods on the hills. This leads to the question in the second line, “where does my help come from?” In this case the pilgrim looks upon the sanctuaries of the foreign deities and asks, does my help come from them? The expected response is, “No, my help surely does not come from any of those gods. My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of the heavens and the earth!” It turns their eyes from these pagan shrines and reaffirms Israel’s monotheistic dedication to YHWH.

In both of these cases the association formed by the scene of looking up to the mountains is negative. These associations stand in stark contrast to the positive connotations contemporary readers construe when looking upon or thinking about mountains. What is interesting about this particular psalm is that while the way in which the earliest readers would have understood the reference to the mountains and the way we perceive the same reference today are almost diametrically opposed, the basic affirmation of the psalm remains the same: both the Jewish pilgrims of old and contemporary worshippers are called to place their confidence in God as their protector. As creator, God keeps watch over us—at all times and in all places.

The Horizon of the Author and the Original Audience

Psalm 121:1–2 illustrates the value of understanding how the way a text was perceived in its original context can play a part in our interpretation of a text. It raises our awareness about just how different our reading of a text may be from the way it was read by those for whom it was first written. At the same time, it exposes us to alternative readings of the text that may not naturally occur to us. In this way, our understanding of the text is corrected and expanded.

Investing the time and energy necessary to grasp how a particular text in the Bible was originally understood can be time consuming. However, there are three reasons why it is important for us to dig into the historical, cultural, and religious background of a passage.

First, as we study how a text’s author and original readers would have understood a biblical passage we realize that we may be reading the text in an inappropriate manner. When we read Psalm 121, or any passage for that matter, we do not come to the text with a blank slate upon which the message will be inscribed. Rather, we always approach what we are reading with a number of expectations and preunderstandings. Some of these are very helpful. Having a preunderstanding about Israel’s history and religion gives us a basic theological framework from which to read the Psalms. In some cases our preunderstanding can play a significant role. For example, being familiar with the story of King David and Bathsheba (2 Sam 11:1—12:25) is almost essential if we are to understand Psalm 51. Knowing the basic contours of the history of Israel in the Hebrew Scriptures allows us to place the various books in an appropriate context so that we can pick up on the various historical and intertextual references made in those texts.

At other times our preunderstanding can cloud our understanding. Most of us have listened to countless sermons, attended Bible studies, and read various books on the Bible. All of these experiences contribute to our preunderstanding of the Bible. It is like the Sunday school teacher who asks their young charges, “What is grey, has a bushy tail, eats nuts, and lives in a tree?” Immediately all of the five- and six-year-olds enthusiastically raise their hands and chime out, “Jesus!” Why? Because they have learned that the correct answer to just about any question in Sunday school is “Jesus.” Their previous experiences have created a preunderstanding of what the correct answer to any question in this class should be.

Every time we approach a text we bring with us certain presuppositions and expectations. This is true not only for us, but was also true for the original audiences of the various biblical texts. If we do not attempt to have a basic understand about their preunderstandings and expectations we will continue to naïvely think that the way we read the Bible is the way it has always been read.

Every time we approach a text we bring with us certain presuppositions and expectations.

In order to read a text the little black marks that are printed on the page must be linked to the reader’s background knowledge. The background knowledge you as a reader bring to this book includes the mastery of the Roman alphabet, the English language, and the associated reading skills to understand what I have written. But even this may not be enough. Even if I approach a text like Psalm 121 with the skills and knowledge that all my contemporaries possess in order to read or communicate effectively I still may not be able to read a biblical text appropriately. The reason is that I may associate what I consider to be the literal meaning of the passage with my contemporary preunderstandings. I will be reading the Bible in a naïve manner. A more adequate reading requires more than knowing what the words on the page mean. It also requires knowing something about the network of ideas and beliefs that the author and the original audience associated with those words and concepts.

Studying the author’s or the intended audience’s network of ideas and beliefs—what is often called the original horizon of understanding—is not a static event but a journey. As we study the historical, cultural, and religious contexts in which a text was written we begin to realize some of the differences between how a passage may have been received by the people it was originally written for and how we read it today. In the case of Psalm 121, we noticed that there is a gap between what we think the text means and the way it would have been understood by the Jewish pilgrims ascending to Jerusalem. A distance opens up between us and the text. Psalm 121 becomes unfamiliar and a little strange. Until we invest the time and energy into this type of study we are naïve in thinking that we read the psalm in the same manner as the author or early pilgrims did. In reality we were only repeating, in an unexamined manner, what we assume the text means.

The second reason why it is important to try to understand how the text would have been received by its original audience is that studies along this line challenge how we understand the biblical stories. As we begin to perceive just how great the historical, cultural, linguistic, and religious differences are between us and the people to whom the Bible was originally written, new possibilities for understanding the text and its relevance for us are opened.

We are familiar and comfortable with Psalm 121 because we subconsciously assume that the psalmist saw the splendor of creation the same way we do. We tend to read Psalm 121 as if it had been written by someone alive today, who thinks, believes, and evaluates the world the same way we do—that is, until we raise questions like this. When we begin to realize that the early Jewish pilgrims probably did not look at the mountains the same way that we do, the message of the psalm becomes foreign and no longer fits into our preconceptions.

We are, in a certain sense, alienated from the psalm and we must wrestle with its message in ways that we have not had to before as we try to incorporate this new information into how we understand the psalm. In the process a transitional space is created—between how we previously understood Psalm 121 and how we will come to understand it. This transitional space opens the possibility not only for us to gain a new understanding of the psalm, but also for the text to address us in ways we had not considered before. Our thoughts are provoked, our interest is awakened, and we think about what this poem may mean to our lives in fresh ways. We not only come away from our study with a deeper or b...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: The First Historical Horizon
• Chapter 2: Words
• Chapter 3: The Best Fish Story Ever Told
• Chapter 4: The Second Historical Horizon
• Chapter 5: Tradition as a Road Map of Interpretation
• Chapter 6: The Third Historical Horizon
• Chapter 7: Ten Reading Strategies
• Chapter 8: Reception Theory
• Appendix: Critically Evaluating Internet Sources
• References and Resources for Further Study