Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation of the Bible

by R. R. Reno; John J. O'Keefe

Publisher:

Johns Hopkins

, 2005

Overview

In Sanctified Vision John J. O'Keefe and R. R. Reno explain the structure and logic of the early Church fathers' interpretations of the Bible. These interpretations are considered foundational to the development of Christianity as a religion and offer insight into how the early church fathers thought about Christian doctrine and practice. By analyzing selected portions of patristic exegesis, the authors illustrate specific reading techniques employed by the church fathers to expound the meaning they believed intrinsic to biblical texts. This approach is organized around three basic analytic strategies: literal, typological, and allegorical. The literal strategy is an intensive and broad analysis that identifies particular word associations that intensify scriptural meaning. The typological strategy interprets distinct patterns of events within scripture and applies those patterns to other events in scripture and the history of the church. The allegorical approach to biblical reading, like the topological strategy, seeks patterns in the text, but these patterns are more diverse and represent larger themes or beliefs of the early church. Within this analytic framework, the authors explain the larger structure of patristic exegesis and argue for the importance of this structure in the emergence of Christian orthodoxy.

Contents

Top Highlights

“Modern readers assume that the Bible means by accurately referring to an x, whether event, mode of consciousness, or theological truth. For the fathers, the Bible is the array of words, sentences, laws, images, episodes, and narratives that does not acquire meaning because of its connection to an x; it confers meaning because it is divine revelation. Scripture is ordained by God to edify, and that power of edification is intrinsic to scripture.” (Pages 11–12)

“Jesus Christ is not the Bible. The scriptures remain the vast body of heterogeneous material, retaining its reality as a text that speaks about a vast array of events and people, and records laws, parables, proverbs, prayer, and poems. However, for Irenaeus and the patristic tradition as a whole, Jesus Christ is the hypothesis. He reveals the logic and architecture by which a total reading of that great diversity and literal reality may be confidently pursued.” (Page 41)

“Irenaeus, however, uses hypothesis in a more strictly literary sense. In the ancient rhetorical tradition, the gist of a literary work was called its hypothesis.^[10] In our time, we restrict the concept of hypothesis to scientific matters. For us the term has more abstract overtones than it had for the ancients.” (Page 34)

“This book is the fruit of our efforts to understand the structure of patristic interpretation of scripture. It is not concerned with the history of exegesis.” (Page 5)

“Our approach is organized around three basic strategies of textual analysis: intensive, typological, and allegorical.” (Page 19)

Product Details

• Title: Sanctified Vision: An Introduction to Early Christian Interpretation of the Bible
• Authors: R. R. Reno, John J. O'Keefe
• Publisher: Johns Hopkins
• Print Publication Date: 2005
• Logos Release Date: 2020
• Pages: 156
• Era: era:contemporary
• Language: English
• Resources: 1
• Format: Digital › Logos Reader Edition
• Subject: Bible › Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History--Early church, ca. 30-600
• ISBNs: 9780801880889, 0801880882
• Resource ID: LLS:WS_F5DA33F5304246B3B31822954572DB94
• Resource Type: Monograph
• Metadata Last Updated: 2022-09-30T04:28:18Z