Monday, May 9, 2011
Hoskyns & Davey on historical criticism as a necessity for Christian faith
"[T]he Christian religion is not merely open to historical investigation, but demands it, and its piety depends upon it. Inadequate or false reconstruction of the history of Jesus of Nazareth cuts at the heart of Christianity. The critical and historical study of the New Testament is therefore the prime activity of the church." - The Riddle of the New Testament (3rd ed.; London: Faber & Faber, 1947), 10.
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In the latest JBL Vincent Wimbush makes a point how biblical studies "sticks it" to the gendered and racialized Others, but he gives an interesting ad hoc assessment of biblical studies' historical interest: "its all too simple historicist agenda (masking in too many instances unacknowledged theological-apologetic interests)" (7).
I suppose they would respectfully disagree. Hoskyns and Davey claim that their results, which happen to confirm traditional interpretations of the Bible and undercut early 20th century liberalism, are strictly historical.
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