The biblical commission, the Jews, and scriptures - Pontifical Biblical Commission

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Fall, 2002 by Roland E. Murphy

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"Fundamental themes" is meant to indicate that both Jews and Christians have a common base. But the development in [subsection] 19-65 is primarily a Christian interpretation in terms of continuity, as already noted. Only a few pages are given over to an explicit discussion of continuity/discontinuity, [subsection] 64-65. The PBC allows ([section] 64) that there are "ruptures" between the Testaments, but these do not "sub-merge continuity. They presuppose it in its essentials." There follows a series of glaring ruptures, from levitical priesthood to sabbath observance (and more could be added). It goes on to say that these issues are clearly matters of great importance to Judaism. "But it is also clear that the radical replacement in the New Testament was already adumbrated in the Old Testament and so constitute a potentially legitimate reading" ([section] 64). Potentially legitimate, yes, but "adumbrated"? The document strives to slide around this by means of "progression" ([section] 65): "Discontinuity on certain points is only the negative side of what is positively called progression." The progress is all one-sided, however, and the treatment in [section] 65 merely summarizes the continuity or progression displayed in the treatment of "fundamental themes."

What is missing here? A feeling for the Old Testament. The PBC could not be expected to develop the Jewish viewpoint on the Old Testament. Moreover, there is no simple and unique Jewish interpretation, as various divisions of Reform and Orthodox Jewry can remind us. But the interpretation of the Old Testament by itself 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. Has this been done? Yes, in the works of some Jewish scholars-Abraham Heschel on the prophets, Jon Levenson on Sinai and Zion, Moshe Greenberg on Exodus and Ezekiel, Michael Fox on Qoheleth. From an ecumenical point of view, the document is a missed opportunity. Christians need to learn how to read the Old Testament not merely in light of fulfillment, but with eagerness, and openness to its tentative and groping grasp of the mystery of the God whom Christians worship. And this is not beyond their reach. Gerhard von Rad captured the beauty and spirit of the Jewish Scriptures, even with his undeniable Christian presuppositions. Such also was the experience that Dietrich Bonhoeffer described in these memorable words:

   My thoughts and feelings seem to be getting more and more like the Old
   Testament, and no wonder, I have been reading it much more than the New for
   the last few months. It is only when one knows the ineffability of the Name
   of God that one can utter the name of Jesus Christ. It is only when one
   loves life and the world so much that without them everything would be
   gone, that one can believe in the resurrection and a new world.... I don't
   think it is Christian to want to get to the New Testament too soon and too
   directly [Bonhoeffer: 103-04].

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The biblical commission, the Jews, and scriptures - Pontifical Biblical Commission

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Fall, 2002 by Roland E. Murphy

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