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History and Tradition in Old Testament Studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 February 2009

Extract

One who is engaged in university teaching must often wonder what happens to the discipline of knowledge with which he is concerned, when his pupils begin to make professional use of it. The example of Aristotle may haunt him. Alexander the Great was a distinguished enough pupil. But did the master ever intend that his teaching should be exploited as Alexander exploited it? A universe seems to lie between the search for truth we see in Aristotle, and the practical utilisation of knowledge for the purpose of world hegemony that we see in Alexander. The university teacher who specialises in biblical studies is in a fascinating position, for at least two kinds of pupil take what they have learned from him, and then begin themselves to teach. They are the schoolteacher and the minister or parson. What kind of use do they make of what they have learned? What has happened to the product by the time the process has come to an end?

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Scottish Journal of Theology Ltd 1964

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References

page 213 note 1 Son of the distinguished Old Testament Scholar Franz Delitzsch, a convert from Judaism.

page 213 note 2 See Die grosse Taüschung, 2 vols. (1920–1). There is a summary in Kraeling, Emil G., The Old Testament since the Reformation (1955), ch. 10.Google Scholar

page 215 note 1 Barth's thought is subtle, and he ought not to be included in this classification.

page 217 note 1 See Ramsey, I. T., Religious Language: an Empirical Placing of Theological Phrases (1957).Google Scholar

page 218 note 1 Reid, J. K. S., The Authority of Scripture (1957), p. 14.Google Scholar

page 222 note 1 See further von Rad, Gerhard, Genesis (E.T. by John Marks, 1961).Google Scholar

page 223 note 1 The Church's Use of the Bible, ed. by Nineham, D. E. (1963), p. 22.Google Scholar

page 224 note 1 See Noth, M., Überlieferungsgeschichtliche Studien, I (1943).Google Scholar

page 224 note 2 Richardson, op. cit., p. 241.

page 224 note 3 G. von Rad, Old Testament Theology, p. 118.