Biblical Interpretation Then and Now

by David S. Dockery

Examines the use of the Bible in the early church and relates apostolic and patristic interpretation to contemporary trends in hermeneutics.

Genres: Theology, Biblical Studies

Paperback

First published August 1, 2000

Reviews

[Alan Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

The early Christians faced challenges to their Bible interpretation. Dockery’s book examines that challenge and compares the early Christian interpretation to modern hermeneutics.
Here is my summary of the main challengers.
Judaizers - Literalists who followed Jewish rules
Marcionites - Literalists who taught the god of the OT and NT were different gods
Valentinians - Gnostics who taught false allegories
Montanism - A movement that claimed new prophecies

The early Christians countered these groups by asserting that the apostles were authoritative in their doctrine and interpretation should be traced back to them. Their allegorical interpretation followed the rule of faith. This is the name given to the ultimate authority or standard in religious belief. The interpretation was christological and christocentric.

Christocentric - Jesus as central to all interpretation
Christological - Jesus as the fulfillment of all prophecies
They taught that allegory required intelligence and spirituality. The literal level was non-spiritual. In the third to fifth centuries two major schools of interpretation developed, the Antiochenes and the Alexandrians.

“It is generally true that the Alexandrians saw a literal and allegorical meaning in Scripture and the Antiochenes found a historical and typological sense. The Alexandrians looked to the rule of faith, mystical interpretation, and authority as sources of dogma. On the other hand, the Antiochenes looked to reason and historical development of Scripture as the focus of theology.” P.120

[Bella Briška · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good introduction to Early Church hermeneutics, but not enough info on contemporary discussion.