John L. Thompson (1)

Author John Thompson, Presbyterian pastor and professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California, USA, has produced a high quality argument with copious examples for the historical approach to Biblical exegesis. He argues that those who read the Bible today as Scripture, looking for inspiration and guidance in their faith, would benefit from doing so "in the presence of the past." He means that such readers need to realize they are not the first to wrestle with the Biblical texts, and that the best interpretations are not necessarily going to be the ones that begin with a clean slate, disregarding the nearly 2000 years of experience of Christians struggling over the same texts.

Thompson uses nine case studies, concentrating on difficult texts, meaning texts that throughout history have usually shocked or disturbed the members of the faith: Abraham's abuse of Hagar; the sacrifice of Jephthah's daughter; the curses in the Psalms; the immorality of the patriarchs; Hosea's abuse of Gomer; women preaching in church; divorce; the deception of Adam by Eve; and sexual violence against women. In all of these areas Thompson shows the approaches of various exegetes from late antiquity to the Reformation, and illustrates how and where they have pondered and struggled to make sense of these texts within the Christian Bible as a whole, and how they come to conclusions that are often conflicting or unsatisfying. In each case study the author derives a few guidelines, or principles, that should inform today's interpreters and inject a healthy degree of uncertainty in their conclusions. In all of the cases Thompson shows no cut-and-dried solutions.

The book is meant for pastors, preachers, adult Bible study groups, seminary students, and anyone who wants to expand their sense of Bible study beyond reading a passage in the light of today's psychology and newspaper headlines. The author says that newcomers to this approach must begin with some knowledge of the history of their own traditions and of the history of the church and theology in general.

This book assumes the interpreter is reading and interpreting the Bible within itself. That is, the interpreter is looking for how one part of the Bible informs the other, and how it coheres in some way to make a whole. The assumption is that the Bible, as scriptural authority, somehow cannot be wrong, even though we as imperfect humans cannot always understand this. The author is not addressing those who would do exegesis or criticism from outside the tradition, a move which has become stronger especially after the Enlightenment. For this reason there will be some exegetes, particularly women, who will be frustrated with Thompson's book.

Beyond an index, reference notes, and bibliography, other aids are thoughtfully provided: a glossary of Biblical Commentators and other writers and writings; an index of scripture references; and a most valuable Finding Guide to translations in English of Scripture commentaries written before 1600. So if one wanted to see what Jerome, for instance, or Aquinas or Calvin had to say on a particular book of the Bible, this guide would show you where to find his commentary.

In sum, this book calls for humility in interpretation: the finest minds in the past have not agreed over the meaning of difficult passages, and Christian readers of today should not expect to agree either.… (más)