“Lewend en kragtig”? Die hermeneutiese dinamika en implikasies van (her)interpretasie in die Ou Testament

Abstract

Biblical interpretation remains a contentious matter. Not only are there regularlyfierce debates in church circles on how the Bible should be interpreted on issuesof dogma and ethics, but even the letter columns of newspapers and chatroomson the internet are often full of discussions on all aspects of biblical interpretation.These debates cover the whole spectrum of opinions ranging from those who insiston the factual accuracy and credibility of the Bible and who cling to this belief witha passionate conviction as a guide to doctrine and to life, to those who think thatthe Bible no longer has any value in a scientific age and that it should therefore berejected as a source which has any authority. In these debates there is not muchroom for nuance.The conviction is expressed in this article that a study of how interpretation isundertaken in the Bible could open up important perspectives on the difficultquestions of the interpretation of the Bible in our own time. In addressing theissue of interpretation in the Bible this article concentrates on the Old Testament,the field of specialisation in biblical scholarship of the author. The study startswith an overview of the research done in the discipline of Old Testament studieson the phenomenon of inner-biblical interpretation. In a subsequent section thephenomenon of inner-biblical interpretation is illustrated with reference to researchon the books of Chronicles. This survey and the illustrations are followed by a sectionin which the hermeneutic implications of the dynamics of (re)interpretation inthe Bible are spelled out for theology and the church. In the conclusion the articlereturns to the questions posed in the introduction.