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Roland Murphy, The Pontifical Biblical Commission, Jews, and the Bible - Book Review
Biblical Theology Bulletin, Fall, 2003 by Amy-Jill Levine
Abstract
Roland Murphy's understanding of the Old Testament both on its own terms and as interpreted throughout the history of the Church provides a helpful complement to the Pontifical Biblical Institute's THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEIR SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE. This article expands on Murphy's own critique of the document (BTB 32.3 [2002]: 145-49) in its analysis of seven issues: contextual understanding, historical criticism, use of the Old Testament to interpret the New, Jewish interpretation, comparing Testaments, Formative Judaism, and the Shoah. It concludes that Murphy's ways of understanding the Old Testament provide helpful guides for correcting and improving the PBC document.
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In his address given to the sixty-first annual meeting of the Catholic Biblical Association, Roland Murphy reclaimed and recuperated the historical-critical method from the dual accusations of theological irrelevance and abusive positivism. His arguments offered neither a naive recovery of past "biblical theology" projects seeking a textual "center" (Murphy: 2001) nor a wistful yearning for the days when "objective history" was not an oxymoron. To the contrary, in delineating the limitations of historical criticism as well as highlighting "the excitement that it produces when it displays the reality of Israel's understanding of the mysterious" Deity (1998: 113), Murphy reveals how the method corrects earlier Catholic readings, comports with Catholic sensibilities, and offers guidelines for theological understanding.
In 2002, Murphy brought his approach to the Pontifical Biblical Commission's Document, THE JEWISH PEOPLE AND THEIR SACRED SCRIPTURES IN THE CHRISTIAN BIBLE (2002; henceforth, PBC). The result is to some extent a happy one. The PBC grounds its acceptance of the historical-critical method in Thomas Aquinas's conclusion that "a valid argument cannot be constructed from the allegorical sense, [but] it can only be done from the literal sense" (SUMMA THEOLOGICA, 1a, q. 1, a. 10ad lum; cf. also QUODL. VII, 6); thus with Murphy it recognizes both the value of historical contextualization and the problems of reading the Old Testament through patristic allegory. At the same time, it affirms, as does Murphy, those Christian theological interpretations of the Old Testament that "avoid arbitrariness and respect the original meaning." For example, speaking of the Psalms, it advises: "In appropriating the prayers of the Old Testament just as they are, Christians re-read them in the light of the paschal mystery, which at the same time gives them an extra dimension." Murphy would agree. Describing the Psalms as "open-ended," he observes how they can "be expanded to fit into a post-biblical context" including "Catholic devotional traits" (1998: 115).
Yet Murphy finds the Document lacking in terms of its understanding of the Old Testament (I use this term throughout, both since this is the language Murphy and the PBC utilize and since it indicates here a Catholic "Old Testament" that includes the Apocrypha) as a collection with its own contributions to make to theology, its confidence in downplaying the New Testament's anti-Jewish polemics, and its tendencies toward promoting the very supersessionism it decries.
This essay expands upon Murphy's critique by reading the PBC in light of his theological and historical-critical interests. The result is on the one hand a harsher critique of the PBC than Murphy's own and on the other a set of caveats for those who would actualize in teaching and preaching the Document's commendable conclusions. Although my criticisms, like those of Murphy, are occasionally sharp (see Levine: 2003), I think he would agree with me that the benefits of the Document--including its recognition that Christological interpretations of the Church's Old Testament are retrospective; its averring that there are and will remain tensions between the two Testaments; and its direct statement that Jewish interpretations of the shared scriptures, including Jewish messianic speculations, are not in error--far outweigh the problems.
Thus, the following comments are offered not only as a tribute to the guide Murphy provides us all but also in appreciation for the efforts of the PBC.
The Text on Its Own Terms
The PBC's focus is not on the Old Testament per se, but on its interpretations and appropriations in the "Christian Bible" (an unfortunate term, since it may give the impression that the Old Testament is not part of the Bible of Christianity). However, since it does delineate, in detail, numerous themes from the Old Testament, Murphy's critique of its lack of appreciation for that earlier material's depth is warranted. "What is missing here? A feeling for the Old Testament ... the interpretation of the Old Testament could have been more text-centered, in the sense of a 'historical theology' on the basic level, with or without the legitimate progression into the Christian perspective" (2002: 147). Otherwise put, the PBC does not take up Murphy's invitation to find the "wonderment, awe, admiration" (2002: 147) present in Israel's relationship to the G-d of the Tanakh.
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