Winter 2004/Pasadena
CH839/539
J. Thompson
CH839/539: SPIRITUAL OR PRACTICAL EXEGESIS IN THE REFORMATION.
(Texts and
Themes in Reformation Theology) John L. Thompson
DESCRIPTION:
- This graduate seminar, open to a limited number of master's-level
students, will consider how the commentators of the Reformation and earlier
addressed the problem of how to read and appropriate the scriptures of the Old
and New Testaments. The first half of the course will look at patristic and
medieval exegesis as background to the Reformation; the second half will
examine representative texts and figures of the Reformation era. To be
addressed will be issues such as Alexandrian and Antiochene trajectories; the
allegorical imperative; the "fourfold rule" of interpretation; letter and
spirit; and varieties of "literal" exegesis in the Reformation.
RELEVANCE FOR MINISTRY:
- Protestants have typically invoked the Reformation motto of sola
scriptura as if the phrase were self-explanatory, despite the clear
disagreements among the many sixteenth-century advocates for a return to Holy
Scripture as the only reliable authority in matters of faith and religion. For
those who seek to serve as ministers of the Word of God in the diverse church
and pluralistic culture of the twenty-first century, it is crucial to grasp the
continuities and discontinuities between the ideals and legacy of the
Reformation and the task of the interpreter and expositor today.
COURSE FORMAT:
- Seminar format, meets for two and a half hours weekly to discuss
readings and issues. Graduate students will be expected to stay for an
additional half hour of Latin tutorial.
REQUIRED READING:
- Augustine. On Christian Doctrine. Trans. D. W. Robertson.
Old Tappan, N.J.: Macmillan, 1958.
- Augustine. On Genesis. Trans. Edmund Hill, O.P. Hyde Park, N.Y.: New
City Press, 2002.
- Calvin, John. Genesis. Reprint ed. Carlisle: Banner of Truth,
1992.
- Origen. Homilies on Genesis and Exodus. Trans. Ronald E. Heine.
Fathers of the Church 71. Washington: Catholic University of America Press,
1982.
- Preus, James S. From Shadow to Promise: Old Testament Interpretation
from Augustine to the Young Luther. Harvard University Press, 1969.
Reprint: Wipf & Stock, 1999.
- Young, Frances M. Biblical Exegesis and the Formation of Christian
Culture. Cambridge University Press, 1997. Reprint: Hendrickson, 2002.
- Other texts (photocopies or on reserve) including excerpts from
Lutheran, Catholic, and Anabaptist writers. Students are urged to contact the
instructor for additional bibliographical advice.
RECOMMENDED READING:
- de Lubac, Henri. Medieval Exegesis: The Four Senses of
Scripture. Vols. 1-2. Eerdmans, 1998-2000.
- Luther, Martin. Lectures on Genesis. Luther's Works, Vols. 1-8.
Concordia, 1958-1970.
- McKim, Donald, ed. Historical Handbook of Major Biblical
Interpreters. InterVarsity Press, 1998.
- Muller, Richard A. Post-Reformation Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2:
Holy Scripture: The Cognitive Foundation of Theology. Baker, 1993;
revised 2003.
- Muller, R. A. & J. L. Thompson, eds. Biblical Interpretation in the
Era of the Reformation. Eerdmans, 1996.
- Puckett, David L. Calvin's Exegesis of the Old Testament.
Westminster John Knox, 1995.
- Thompson, John L. Writing the Wrongs. New York: Oxford University
Press, 2001.
ASSIGNMENTS:
- 1) Class participation & assigned reading of 1700 pp. for
master's students, 2100 pp. for graduate students. 2) Weekly written response
to readings, to be completed before each class. 3) Final examination,
take-home essay. 4) Research paper, optional for master's students but required
for 800-level. 800-level students only: 5) Critical book review. 6) Latin
tutorials.
PREREQUISITES: For master's level: CHB (or equivalent) and permission of
instructor; CHA is desirable.
RELATIONSHIP TO CURRICULUM: M.Div. Elective.
FINAL EXAMINATION: Yes.