Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Dissertations Theses and Dissertations 2015 Equilibrium in Biblical Exegesis: Why Evangelicals Need the Catholic Church Robert Andrews Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.edu/luc_diss Part of the Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Andrews, Robert, "Equilibrium in Biblical Exegesis: Why Evangelicals Need the Catholic Church" (2015).edu/luc_diss/1628 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact ecommons@luc. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.
Copyright © 2015 Robert Andrews LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO EQUILIBRIUM IN BIBLICAL EXEGESIS: WHY EVANGELICALS NEED THE CATHOLIC CHURCH A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL IN CANDIDACY FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY PROGRAM IN CONSTRUCTIVE THEOLOGY BY ROBERT A EUGENE ANDREWS CHICAGO, ILLINOIS AUGUST 2015 Copyright by Robert A Eugene Andrews, 2015 All rights reserved. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I express deep love and affection for Carol Joy, my mother, who first taught me to walk, and then to read. I am thankful for Rubin and his many furry friends, who taught me to walk and read at the same time, thus financing my education. I am indebted to my entire family for their love and support, especially Lynne, Jacob, David, Benjamin, Samuel, and my father, Bill.
I am humbled by the entire theology department at Loyola University Chicago. I am aware that I did not deserve this opportunity, but I am grateful for their tremendous guidance and patience. I especially am beholden to my dissertation committee, Dr. Bernardi, and Dr.
iii For a man speaks more or less wisely to the extent that he has become more or less proficient in the Holy Scriptures. —Augustine, De Doctrina, Book IV On essaie sans cesse d’inventer un idéal meilleur et plus beau, une vérité plus large. A mesure que l’humanité grandit, le Christ se lève. (People always try to invent a better and more beautiful ideal, a larger truth.
But as humanity grows, Christ rises above the horizon.) —Maurice Blondel, “Letter to Victor Delbos, May 6, 1889” TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS iii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER ONE: THE STABILIZING ROLE OF ECCLESIOLOGY IN BIBLICAL EXEGESIS, AND ITS STEADY DEMISE 8 Introduction 8 The Axiomatic Relationship between Church and Sacred Text 9 The Church’s Book 9 Ecclesial Christology 13 Ecclesial Exegesis 18 Tradition and Exegesis 22 Presumed Textual Unity 28 Unity between the Literal and Spiritual Meanings 32 Interpretive Unity through Church Authority 41 The Rise of Biblicism 47 Noticeable Flaws within the Church 47 Biblicism in the Early Reformation 49 Luther and Cajetan 50 Luther and Latomus 59 Radical Reformation and Spiritual Exegesis 61 Philology and Zwingli 66 Conflicting Biblicism in Marburg 72 Pietism 75 The True Church 79 Enlightenment Demystification 84 Scientific Analysis of the Text 88 Francis Bacon 88 Baruch Spinoza 92 Hermann Samuel Reimarus 96 David Friedrich Strauss 100 Epistemological Developments 107 Rational Deism 109 Hume’s Skepticism 112 Kantian Critique 115 Conclusion 120 CHAPTER TWO: AMERICAN PROTESTANT AND EVANGELICAL THEOLOGY: AN IMBALANCED PENDULUM 122 Introduction 122 Princeton Scholastic Theology 124 v Four Aspects of Princeton Theology 125 Inerrancy 135 Ecclesiology 138 Summary 139 Revivalism 140 Calvinism and Revivals 141 Biblicism and Revivals 146 The New Century and Revivals 153 Summary 156 American Liberalism 158 Historical Criticism and Inerrancy 158 The Briggs Affair 164 A Warmer and More Practical Gospel 167 Horace Bushnell 167 Walter Rauschenbusch 176 Summary 181 Mercersburg Theology 182 Christocentric Theology 183 Ecclesiology 187 Interpretation of Scripture 193 Soteriology 197 Summary 202 The Resultant Rupture 204 Conclusion 207 CHAPTER THREE: BUOYANT EFFECT OF CATHOLIC ECCLESIOLOGY: TÜBINGEN 212 Introduction 212 Early Catholics at Tübingen 215 Johann Sebastian Drey 218 Drey and Revelation 218 Drey and Catholicism 222 Drey and Ecclesial Exegesis 230 Johann Adam Möhler 236 Möhler and Revelation 237 Möhler Shifts 243 Möhler’s Ecclesiology 252 Möhler and the Hierarchy 258 Möhler and the Interpretation of Scripture 265 Möhler as Catholic 269 Conclusion 275 CHAPTER FOUR: RESTORING EFFECT OF CATHOLIC ECCLESIOLOGY: BEYOND THE MODERNIST CRISIS 278 Introduction 278 vi Promotion of Neo-Scholasticism 279 Philosophical Neo-Scholasticism 282 Pius IX and Vatican I 282 Giovanni Perrone 290 Joseph Kleutgen 292 Leo XIII 294 Theological Neo-Scholasticism 298 Leo XIII 298 Manualistic Theology 301 Mutual Suspicion 305 Maurice Blondel 306 Alfred Loisy 315 Disciplinary Responses 324 Catholic Ressourcement: Henri de Lubac 329 De Lubac, Ecclesiology, and Exegesis 331 Conclusion 344 CHAPTER FIVE: A CALL FOR EVANGELICAL POST-CRITICAL REASSESSMENT OF ECCLESIOLOGY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 352 Introduction 352 Contours of Post-Critical Reassessment 354 Michael Polanyi 355 Polanyi’s Critique 357 Personal Knowledge 362 Critique of Polanyi 364 Paul Ricoeur 365 Critique of False Consciousness 366 Advancing Beyond Critique 368 Sympathy 372 Criticism of Ricoeur 377 Observable Contours of Post-Critical Analyses 378 Self Criticism 379 Openness to New Ways of Knowing 380 Continuity 381 Summary 382 Renewing Evangelicalism 382 Biblical Literalism 383 Fundamentalism 384 Neo Evangelicalism 386 Summary 390 Evangelical Ressourcement 396 Thomas Oden 397 Daniel Williams 400 Reformed Catholicity 404 Summary 405 vii Communal Hermeneutic 405 Stanley Hauerwas 409 Miroslav Volf 415 Popular and Influential 423 Summary 427 Conclusion 428 CHAPTER SIX: READING SCRIPTURE IN LIGHT OF ECCLESIOLOGY AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 430 Introduction 430 Realistic Impossibility 430 Applicable Contours 433 Self-Criticism and Mistaken Understandings 433 Openness to Ecclesial Ways of Knowing 442 Continuity and the Petrine Ministry 443 Summary 451 Ecclesial Characteristics of Revelation 451 Ecclesial Setting of Revelation 452 Christocentric Focus of Revelation 455 Soteriological Effect of Revelation 464 Paradoxical Quality of Revelation 470 Practically Engaging Catholicism 482 Contextualizing the Discussion 483 Keeping Focus on the Text 484 Maintaining Mystery 484 Practical Steps of Engagement 487 Trust in God’s Providence 487 Dialogue with Family 488 Reading Scripture in the Context of Mystery 489 Conclusion 490 CONCLUSION 492 BIBLIOGRAPHY 494 VITA 529 viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ANF Ante-Nicene Fathers CCC Catechism of the Catholic Church ESV English Standard Version (2001) DV Dei verbum (Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation) GS Gaudium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the modern world) ICBI 1 International Council on Biblical Inerrancy: The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978) ICBI 2 International Council on Biblical Inerrancy: The Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics (1982) ICBI 3 International Council on Biblical Inerrancy: The Chicago Statement on Biblical Application (1986) LG Lumen gentium (Dogmatic Constitution on the Church) NPNF-1 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series 1 NPNF-2 Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers series 2 ThQ Theologische Quartalschrift UR Unitatis Redintegratio ix INTRODUCTION Evangelical1 biblical exegesis suffers from a loss of equilibrium. A hallmark of evangelical Christianity is faith in the supreme authority of Scripture, often conveyed in the phrase sola scriptura. However, this conviction has not prevented a multiplicity of interpretations of the Bible, some of which flatly contradict others, and some outlying interpretations which clearly part from traditional Christian dogma. In addition, polemics over the best interpretation of Scripture has often resulted in deep divisions, even formal fragmentation of Christian unity.
This dissertation argues that the lack of equipoise across evangelical exegesis is due largely to its underdeveloped hermeneutical framework.2 Specifically, it lacks clear ecclesial support. 1 The term “evangelical” is used variously. Carl Braaten gave one of the simplest and most direct definitions of the term when he described it as being “defined by the evangel, the good news of the gospel. Braaten and Robert W., The Catholicity of the Reformation (Grand Rapids, MI: W.
In this work, the term will refer to “a large family of churches and enterprises” within Protestantism that exhibit a “consistent pattern of convictions and attitudes. Noll, American Evangelical Christianity: An Introduction (Oxford: Blackwell, 2001), 13–14. These markers include an emphasis on personal religious conversion, a reliance on Scripture as ultimate religious authority, an active concern for sharing the Christian faith with others, and a theological focus on Christ’s work on the cross. Evangelicals regularly worship in various denominations or independent groups.
The evangelical indicators just listed apply to a wide variety of Christians, including revivalists with hardly any ecclesiology, and Reformed theologians, both modern ones and those found at such places as Princeton and Mercersburg Seminaries in the nineteenth century. It is understood that some of these groups might prefer other terms than “evangelical” to describe themselves. In addition, while recognizing that many forms of evangelicalism exists around the globe, this dissertation will focus on American evangelicalism. 2 In this work, “hermeneutics” refers to the theories, methods, and principles of biblical interpretation, while “exegesis” refers to the act of interpretation.
In a more colloquial description, hermeneutics refers to the rules of the game, and exegesis refers to the actual game played on the field. 1 2 Evangelical exegesis of Scripture occurs within an assortment of hermeneutical models; however, a recurring theme is present in most of them. Although evangelicals disagree among themselves regarding the role of ecclesiology in hermeneutics, most give the Catholic Church little deference when it comes to biblical interpretation. To this reader, this exclusion is flawed and touches the nerve of the problem.
Historically, it has contributed to the diminution of nearly any Christian ecclesiology, the secularization of Sacred Scripture, and multiple unorthodox interpretations of Scripture.3 Ironically, knee- jerk antagonism by evangelicals toward anything Catholic unveils premises which contradict the very Bible evangelicals attempt to interpret. Several evangelicals have recently identified the need for biblical exegesis to return to its ecclesial Sitz im Leben. While suffering friendly fire from fellow evangelicals, some have even dared to dialogue with the modern Catholic Church. To this author, some of these attempts might be heading in a positive direction, but few go far enough.
Catholic and evangelical dialogue partners often talk over each other, and do not engage the other deeply. In addition, other attempts at retrieving the ecclesial Sitz im Leben of biblical exegesis simply exhibit inadequate goals. Most of these efforts only want to get back to the early days of the Reformation or retrieve influential reformed theologians;4 few attempt to openly face the living Catholic Church. 3 Carl Braaten lists two polarized “heresies” which thrive when the “church-relatedness of Scripture” is neglected: fundamentalism and historicism.
Braaten and Jensen, The Catholicity of the Reformation, 61. 4 For some recent examples, cf. Bradford Littlejohn, The Mercersburg Theology and the Quest for Reformed Catholicity (Eugene, OR: Pickwick, 2009); the entire edition of Theology Today 71, no. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2012).
3 This dissertation is written from an evangelical standpoint, and it is directed to an evangelical audience. It is specifically focused on how to read Holy Scripture. The author was professionally trained and later practiced what is often termed the “historical- grammatical” method of biblical interpretation. This work initially set out to critique the general lack of ecclesiology within that particular hermeneutical method.
However, it quickly became apparent that a high number of other evangelical hermeneutical models, whether liberal or conservative, similarly suffered from a lack of ecclesiology. In addition, those evangelical models which thankfully sought to incorporate some ecclesiology back into biblical interpretation were forged in inadequate molds. Some limited their focus to Protestant or Reformed ecclesial renewal, and held little regard for pre-Reformation Catholic ecclesiology. Others submitted the Catholic Church to a Hegelian view of history, and limited its validity to a past moment.
Still others simply advocated a post-liberal democratic model of ecclesiology, which frequently disdained hierarchy and nearly any traditional authoritative structure. Many positive aspects were discovered in most evangelical hermeneutical models, but nearly all of them remained reticent towards engaging the Catholic Church on Catholic terms. This dissertation was written to address that deficiency. Very few evangelical hermeneutic models seriously engage Catholic thought or retrieve the vast quantity of available Catholic documents.
The following work hopes to remedy that negligence.
