Winter Entr’acte Announcement: The Old and the New
In the year 1787, Herr Professor Doktor Johann Philip Gabler gave his inaugural lecture at the University of Altdorf. This grand address was entitled “Concerning the Correct Differentiation of Biblical and Dogmatic Theology,” and in it he defined biblical theology as that discipline which studies the religious ideas of the Bible in their historical setting and in their chronological development, with the use of critical methods of interpretation, and (to him especially important) in complete independence of dogmatic theology, its interests or presuppositions.
Ever since, this approach has been hugely influential among academics.
Yet, as we have all just witnessed, Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany are seasons rich with Old Testament readings that invite us to understand the prophetic testimony in foretelling the coming of Jesus – and the understanding of him as the Christ and Messiah who fulfilled Israel’s long enduring hope. Just this perspective is at the heart of such wonderful (and very Anglican) liturgical events as the Service of Nine Lessons and Carols. And no less a figure than St Augustine of Hippo can be cited in support, with his famous remark that “In the Old Testament the New is concealed, in the New the Old is revealed” : (“Novum Testamentum in Vetere latet, Vetus Testamentum in Novo patet”) (St. Augustine, Quaest. in Hept. 2,73: PL 34, 623; cf. DV 16).
However, there is much to think about here. The very term “Biblical Theology” is complicated, as it can mean either: a) the theological interpretation of the Bible, or, b) the study of the theology of the Bible.
In the guise of theological interpretation of the Bible, biblical theology is significant for its exploration of contemporary theology while maintaining its timeless values and meaning as portends revelation, and therefore too lies its use for teaching, preaching, and as inspirational font for daily life.
As applied specifically to the Old Testament, biblical theology looks at the significance of the crucial events of Hebrew history for the understanding of Christian doctrine and for a Christian philosophy of history – and such things as the true relationship of Old Testament prophecy to its fulfilment in Christ, in the prefiguring of the sacrifice of Christ in Old Testament priestly institutions, and, in the moral sphere, in the permanent value of Old Testament ethical insights and standards of conduct.
Thus, all at once, we have exegesis: understood as an historical project, and dogmatics: (or systematic theology) as a normative one, defining what we should believe – which illustrates the necessary critical terrain trodden in understanding the Bible and our faith.
All this invites us to ponder many very important issues, not least about how we understand the mutual relations of the Old and New Testaments and then the Bible as a whole, as well as how these texts together come to define what we should believe and do as Christians. It is therefore very timely that three members of the parish with outstanding credentials as theologians, namely Rick Stone, Bob Meditz, and Rachel Teubner, will be presenting their thoughts on various aspects of this terrain in the Entr’acte series’ return starting on the 19th of January! :
The Old and the New: Theological Reflections on the Mutual Relations Between the Old and New Testaments
The Rev. Canon Alistair Macdonald-Radcliff
Rector
P.S. On a completely different front, those interested in the importance of interfaith work and matters pertaining to religious persecution are welcome to view a short interview I gave recently that is now available here.