BI352 History of Biblical Interpretation II: Seventeenth Century through the Present
Overview
In BI351 Dr. Bray examines the foundations of the Old and New Testaments as well as the development of new theological perspectives since the 17th century. He outlines significant trends and major players in biblical criticism and how these relate to the modern scholarly climate. Dr. Bray provides guidance on how to approach Bible study and emphasizes the importance of applying God’s word.
Top Highlights
“The real breakthrough in ot criticism came in the winter of 1806–1807 when a German by the name of de Wette, a German scholar—a young man at the time, he was only in his mid-twenties—published a book which he called An Introduction to the Old Testament. It’s hard to believe now, but until that time, nobody had ever written anything like this because nobody really thought an introduction to the ot was necessary. You could pick it up and read it and just take it as it came.” (source)
“But the awful truth is that the Pilgrim fathers sailed to Massachusetts not because they wanted religious freedom, but because they wanted the freedom to oppress people who didn’t agree with them. In England, they were told that they had to be more tolerant, and they didn’t like this, so they went off and established their own colony where they could lay down the law to suit them.” (source)
“Theodore Beza—Beza, who was Calvin’s right-hand man in Geneva. He worked with Calvin, and when Calvin died, he took over and directed the Reformation from there. Beza was, without any doubt, the greatest biblical scholar of his time. It was thanks to him that Bible verses—the verses that we have today—were introduced into the text to make it easier to study.” (source)
“They rejected the idea that the Bible was inspired. The Word of God, to them, was not the same thing as the text of the Bible. You would have the text of the Bible, which was a human creation, and God might use this to communicate His word to people, He might speak through it, but the two things were not one and the same.” (source)
- Title: BI352 History of Biblical Interpretation II: Seventeenth Century through the Present
- Author: Gerald Bray
- Series: Logos Mobile Education
- Publisher: Lexham Press
- Print Publication Date: 2016
- Logos Release Date: 2016
- Language: English
- Resources: 1
- Format: Digital › Courseware
- Subjects: Bible › Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History; Education › Bible--Criticism, interpretation, etc.--History
- Resource ID: LLS:BI352BRAY
- Resource Type: Courseware Monograph
- Metadata Last Updated: 2022-02-11T17:15:16Z
Dr. Gerald Bray is Research Professor of Divinity at Beeson Divinity School in Birmingham, AL, and Distinguished Professor of Theology at Knox Theological Seminary, Fort Lauderdale, FL.
He was born and raised in Montreal, Canada, where he did his undergraduate work at McGill University. He completed his doctoral studies at the Sorbonne in Paris and went on to study theology in Cambridge. In 1978 he was ordained in the Church of England and served a parish in London for two years before going on to teach at Oak Hill College in London. He has been at Beeson since 1993.
Dr. Bray is the editor of the Anglican journal Churchman and has published a number of books, including the award-winning Biblical Interpretation: Past and Present (InterVarsity Press, 1996), Yours Is the Kingdom: A Systematic Theology of the Lord's Prayer(InterVarsity Press, 2007), God Is Love (Crossway, 2012), and his most recent work, God Has Spoken: A History of Christian Theology (Crossway, 2014).
Dr. Bray speaks several languages fluently. He has lived in Germany, Greece, and Russia, and he has taught in several European countries and Australia. He can often be found in one of the archives of the Church of England, researching parts of its history, on which he has also published a number of important works. He is also an avid swimmer and cyclist.