WHY MY WIFE REFUSES TO READ B.S. CHILDS

The other day, my wife Emily noticed that I was reading a book entitled "Introduction to the Old Testament As Scripture." She laughed at the title, especially after I tried to explain that the book was quite revolutionary in the field of Old Testament studies.

My wife's reaction to this book was one of incredulity and offence. For her, the title was incredulous because the idea of studying the Bible as Scripture seems to be part and parcel with how one approaches the Bible and yet for some reason it had not dawned on scholars to do so (apparently) until the 1970s with the pioneering work of Brevard Childs. The question that I could see encoded in her furloughed eyebrow was: why had he can scholars so long to learn how to read the Bible in a way as has been completely obvious to any regular practicing Christian or Jew? For her, the title of book was also offensive because it seemed to imply that scholars were trying to lay claim to something that they didn't really discover. To claim to try to understand Old Testament as Scripture seems to imply that scholars are going to be in to try to incorporate faith within their methodological approach. I don't think my wife would put it this way, but her emotional response to this book is grounded in a kind of unresolved hypocrisy within the very title. To talk about the Old Testament as Scripture is to separate the notion of the body of writings from their place of authority within the community of faith. The very title poses the question: what is the relationship between the Old Testament and Scripture? For her (and for me for that matter!) the body of writings is inseparably bound to its authority. What makes this title initially offensive is that the writer is presuming to make use of a notion that properly belongs to insiders but he will do so from a dispassionate/outsider perspective. In other words, the question Childs is asking is: what would the Old Testament look like if we (scholars) study did as if it were Scripture (i.e. a body of authoritative writings that forms and in forms the community of faith)? For the person of faith, this is an impossible task. One cannot study the Bible as if one believed it to be true and authoritative. Either one accepts it as true and authoritative or one does not.

Now, my wife did not realize that her emotional response to this volume is precisely the response that Childs wants from his readers. He maintains that scholars from both sides of the fence have missed the mark. Conservative scholars (i.e. those who approach the Bible as Scripture) have failed to acknowledge the many advances in our understanding of The Old Testament brought about by Historical Critical Research (i.e. those who approach the Bible exclusively as a historical religious document). He argues that both camps have failed to acquire and make use of a proper understanding of canon, which is historically grounded in an understanding of the shape of the text, which is not necessarily found in a reconstructed/conjectural understanding of the process of canonization but in the final form of the canon itself. This means that conservative scholars have tended to interpret the Scriptures with a concept of canon, which has been formulated philosophically and theologically without the aid of a historical understanding of canon. Critical scholars, on the other hand, have disregarded any concept of canon as the legitimate framework for interpreting Scripture. So Childs, although Childs is at some level intending an emotive response to his book, he is more explicitly criticizing the relative failure of both conservative and critical scholars in order that he may propose a new (not sense of invention but in the sense of discovery) hermeneutical approach to interpreting the Old Testament.

There is much that could be said about Childs canonical approach, but let me briefly summarize. He states that the goal of the canonical approach is to take seriously the significance of the canon as a crucial element in understanding the Hebrew Bible and yet at the same time understanding it in its true historical and theological dimensions. This means that he will attempt to explore the meaning of the shape or structure of the biblical texts, while at the same time make use of the tools of historical critical Research to supplement his understanding. He is not attempting to ignore historical credit research, rather he is proposing a shift in emphasis that focuses on providing a description of the final form of the biblical text. The shape of the text refers to the "interpretive structure which the biblical text has received from them to form and used it as sacred Scripture." Basically, my wife's response was basically correct. Childs does intend to study the Bible As If he were a believer. The difference between Childs and my wife at this point is that Childs is saying that he intends to study scripture as if he were a Christian or Jewish believer about 2000 years ago or so.

I would like to think that my wife refuses to read Childs because of her strong emotional response to the perplexing title of his book, however it probably has more to do with the Scholastic nature of the book itself. To be absolutely fair to my wife, she is actually a strong advocate of the canonical approach to Scripture. About a year ago, she had the privilege of taking a course here at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson with Miles Van Pelt. The course that she took was entitled "Joshua to Kings." The very title of the course suggested a canonical approach because it suggests that the scope of the survey class was to cover the former prophets. During the course, Dr. Van Pelt, stressed the importance of the original Hebrew order of the canon for understanding Scripture. After that class, my wife became so convinced of that importance that she told me she wanted to have an English Bible with the original canonical order. So, just as soon as I could, I purchased a "Complete Jewish Bible,"had it leather bound," and gave it to her as an anniversary present. So although I may never be able to get my wife to read Brevard Childs, I can at least be assured by the fact She understands the value of canonical criticism and to some extent even makes use of it when she picks up her "Hebrew" Bible (as she likes to refer to it).