The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies

Oxford Studies in Historical Theology

by Michael C. Legaspi

The Death of Scripture and the Rise of Biblical Studies examines the creation of the academic Bible. Beginning with the fragmentation of biblical interpretation in the centuries after the Reformation, Michael Legaspi shows how the weakening of scriptural authority in the Western churches altered the role of biblical interpretation. Focusing on renowned German scholar Johann David Michaelis (1717-1791), Legaspi explores the ways in which critics reconceived the role of the Bible. This book offers a new account of the origins of biblical studies, illuminating the relation of the Bible to churchly readers, theological interpreters, academic critics, and people in between. It explains why, in an age of religious resurgence, modern biblical criticism may no longer be in a position to serve as the Bible's disciplinary gatekeeper.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies, History, Christianity, Religion, Philosophy, Church History

239 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

Reviews

[Steve Wiggins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Legaspi does what he sets out to do very well. The first chapter is excellent. It would have been more like the title, however, if the exploration ranged further beyond Michaelis and his circle. I would have liked to have read more about Gesenius and Wellhausen and their more modern descendants. Still, an important book that shows that the Bible can never be as simple as we suppose it to be. More comments are located on my blog: Sects and Violence in the Ancient World.

[Matthew McConnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked the last paragraph.

[Frederick · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book chronicle the efforts of German universities in the 1700 and 1800's to reduce the Bible to a, "resource of moral philosophy and the study of language." (p.31). The book focuses on Johann David Michaelis, the leading Biblical scholar of his generation and the most accomplished Orientalist of the eighteenth century." Michaelis rejected any need for the new birth called for by Jesus (p.118) He projected Enlightenment values on his understanding of the Bible (p. 152). Legaspi's work defines the reduction of the Bible from God's word to a mere ancient text, a curiosity of history and nothing else. It is an important work for students of Bible history and the history of Biblical interpretation.

[Joel Wentz · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is, in many ways, a very careful and precise historical study. Legaspi brings some serious insights, and his research is excellent. He makes the case that an academic approach to the Bible was refracted through German enlightenment scholarship in such a way as to fundamentally shift the cultural mindset around Christian scripture. I certainly agree with his project in its broad strokes, and found a few particulars quite compelling. His take on the creation of biblical poetry as a literary sub-genre is really fascinating, and the first chapter (in which he focuses more on the Reformation) is one of my favorite aspects of his study.

I do have some mixed feelings about the book, however, as much of his project is squarely focused on one particular scholar (Michaelis), and I wish the book had a more rounded-out approach. I would have liked a few chapters on the Reformation (I would have loved deeper exploration of some of the ideas he glosses over in the first chapter), and fewer pages devoted to Michaelis. I also didn't quite connect all the dots that he was presenting in terms of the broader cultural shifts he is working to illuminate. And for what it's worth, the style of writing is a bit dense and dry to be enjoyable throughout.

In general, I benefited from reading this, but I would only recommend it if you are interested in a very specific focus on a particular scholar in a particular time and place. The title and subject seemed more broad, and I would have ultimately liked a book that took a bigger swing.

[Tyson Guthrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've often said that the only reason to read a book the first time is so you can read it a second time.
This held true for Legaspi. I had not remembered this little work to be so well researched, so well structured, and so well worded. Legaspi is an excellent writer.
His thesis is that the conservative Enlightenment desire to rehabilitate the Bible for modern, academic use finally laid to rest a Scipture that had been wasting away since the Reformation. (Note his distinction between the "Bible," a historical text to be studied, and "Scripture," a divine book around which the Church's life centers.) Observing the faintest Scriptural heartbeat in contemporary retrieval movements, he qualifies his pronouncement of time of death, but wonders whether these two Bibles can ever effectively serve and inform one another. He concludes: "Perhaps the two are closest, then, when in that brief moment before thought recognizes itself, the mind wavers between words that have suddenly become strange, and knowledge is a choice between knowing what the text said and knowing what the words might be saying. It is a choice, at such a moment, between the letter than has been revived and the letter that never died." (169)

[w gall · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very in-depth history of the beginning, in western culture, during the Enlightenment, centered in Germany, of the growing predominance of the scholarly approach to the Holy Scriptures over the Church's approach, or utilization, of the Scriptures. The scholars investigated the text from all angles, adapting the scientific method to their purposes, and aimed at making the text useful for modern societies. The consequence was the minimization of the Holy Scriptures as the Book of the Church. I personally view this as an ominous development that led to secularizing the foci of the various churches in western society. I believe this is contrary to the purpose of the books comprising the Scriptures, which the texts of the books make clear. Read them and you will see!

[Vagabond of Letters, DLitt · Rating 3 out of 5]

5/10

There's a preface and an afterword about the Bible, but the book is about two things: intellectual biography of Johann Michaelis and the rise of the University of Goettingen.

The University had its purpose not in making scholars but in making loyal secular servants of the State, which concept superseded previous conceptions of the university. Left rather unexplored are how this idea of the university ended up displacing all others unto the present day (training engineers and psychologists is nothing more than training adjutants of the State), the Bible, scripture, and their relation.

I've rarely read a book that had so little in common with its cover.

[Jude Barton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not finish this book. As far as I read, I believe this to be a good book for the academic, biblical scholars but not the casual reader (which I consider a bit ironic given the title). I slogged through as much as I could. I think it is a solid book and worth the effort for some but not for me. I understood the thesis and history pretty quickly and skimmed through it and read snippets but didn't feel the drive to delve deeply into the history of it.

[John Antony · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant in its critique against the core suppositions of biblical studies by a close reading of its genesis, but, like others in the genre, this polemic interacts precious little with actual biblical scholarship and the knowledge that it has brought to the table. The bathwater and the baby alike have been jettisoned.

A must-read for all biblical scholars nevertheless.

[James Gillis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Academic Bible (social, moral, political) v. scriptural Bible (Faith, virtue, love); a product of the fragmentation of confessional identity and unity surrounding the Bible following the reformation and a product of the enlightenment—Legaspi offers a history of the disjuncture by focusing on Michaelis and Gottingen.

[NuevoBereano · Rating 5 out of 5]

La Reforma y las luchas fratricidas entre cristianos tuvieron una víctima insospechada: la misma Biblia. En el siglo XVIII se intenta recuperar una visión de la misma que permita limar asperezas en una Europa postconfesional, sin mucho éxito. La textualizacion de la escritura tiene como corolario las grandes escuelas críticas del siglo XIX alemán. Michaellis, sin duda, es una figura interesante.

[Caleb · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of those books that sound boring and intimidating and turns out to be a gem. Fantastic study of the political/ideological roots of modern biblical criticism in the 17th and 18th centuries. Everyone knows Wellhausen, but few take the time to explore the roots of modern biblical criticism in the 17th and 18th centuries by the likes of Spinoza, Machiavelli, and Johann Michaelis (Legaspi doesn't comment on Hobbes which is interesting). Legaspi dusts the jacket off this neglected period in the history of biblical criticism. The book centers on Michaelis and his establishing Hebrew Bible as an academic discipline in the German university.

[Spencer · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Legaspi spends more time discussing the scholars surrounding Michaelis than the man himself, such discussions are critical to a broader understanding of how such enlightenment scholars academicized the Bible. Legaspi's level of depth and retrospect is impressive and provides readers with a thick brew to swallow. Still a great read for those interested in historical theology and Enlightenment philosophy.

[Tommi Karjalainen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Survey focuses mostly on Michaelis and the first modern university, Göttingen. The development of ideas and his relationship not only with his contemporary scholars, but especially how they were children of their time was inspiring to read. On the other hand, the conclusion chapter that tries to remedy the role of the Scripture remains weak. It summarizes views/suggestions of two scholars in particular (Barton, Collins), but here Legaspi does not offer any extensive solution.