Daniel_Cheung
01-30-2009, 10:43 AM
MARTIN VS. BARTON ON HISTORICAL CRITICISM AND THE ISSUE OF MEANING, by Ben Witherington III
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2009/01/martin-vs-barton-on-historical.html
Two recent books have begun to cause a lot of stir in the guild of Biblical studies, one as an attempt to suggest a change in direction in seminary curriculum, the other more of an apologia for the nature and importance of historical criticism as a means of getting at the meaning of the Bible. The former of these is by a Yale (and former Duke) Professor of NT Dale B. Martin (Pedagogy of the Bible. An Analysis and Proposal, Louisville: Westminster/J. Knox, 2008), the latter by an Oxford Professor of OT John Barton (The Nature of Biblical Criticism, (Louisville: Westminster/J. Knox, 2007). Both are written by seasoned scholars whose previous writings have been well received. Martin tends to be more of an agent provocateur in some respects, Barton more of a defender of scholarly rigor and each book has its own merits and demerits. There is some overlap between the two books, but in some fundamental ways they are at odds with one another especially when it comes to the issue of ?meaning? which will be the focus of this critique and review. Martin is weary of the hegemony of the historical critical method as the method which is taught at seminaries and divinities schools as the fundamental tool for getting at the meaning of the Biblical text. He is of course right that there are other ways to read the Biblical text ranging from pre- or even anti-critical readings to what some now call post-critical readings of the text. But in his survey of American seminaries he came to the, for him, gloomy, conclusion that the hegemony of historical criticism has by no means been eclipsed or deposed, whatever his desideratum may be....
http://benwitherington.blogspot.com/2009/01/martin-vs-barton-on-historical.html
Two recent books have begun to cause a lot of stir in the guild of Biblical studies, one as an attempt to suggest a change in direction in seminary curriculum, the other more of an apologia for the nature and importance of historical criticism as a means of getting at the meaning of the Bible. The former of these is by a Yale (and former Duke) Professor of NT Dale B. Martin (Pedagogy of the Bible. An Analysis and Proposal, Louisville: Westminster/J. Knox, 2008), the latter by an Oxford Professor of OT John Barton (The Nature of Biblical Criticism, (Louisville: Westminster/J. Knox, 2007). Both are written by seasoned scholars whose previous writings have been well received. Martin tends to be more of an agent provocateur in some respects, Barton more of a defender of scholarly rigor and each book has its own merits and demerits. There is some overlap between the two books, but in some fundamental ways they are at odds with one another especially when it comes to the issue of ?meaning? which will be the focus of this critique and review. Martin is weary of the hegemony of the historical critical method as the method which is taught at seminaries and divinities schools as the fundamental tool for getting at the meaning of the Biblical text. He is of course right that there are other ways to read the Biblical text ranging from pre- or even anti-critical readings to what some now call post-critical readings of the text. But in his survey of American seminaries he came to the, for him, gloomy, conclusion that the hegemony of historical criticism has by no means been eclipsed or deposed, whatever his desideratum may be....