Hans Boersma, Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew

 

Hans Boersma, Five Things Theologians Wish Biblical Scholars Knew (IVP Academic USA, 2021)

152pp pb

https://www.ivpress.com/five-things-theologians-wish-biblical-scholars-knew

I’ve enjoyed Hans Boersma’s book which aims to address the perceived deficits of some (especially evangelical) contemporary academic biblical scholarship. Though I think in fact some of the book is some of Boersma’s favourite themes and things he has written about before (such as the nature of Scripture and contemplation of God in Christ). If the book covers some things Boersma gas been meaning to say, I don’t think that detracts from its value. The book isn’t full of specific examples of the sort of thing he wants to correct or supplement but at times I thought he was on to something. At other times the best evangelical bible scholars would no doubt say “yes, and Amen: we know that and that’s what we try to do”. So, you will have to judge whether or not the cap fits and ought to be worn. But I thought it a stimulating and worthwhile read. The introduction and the first chapter “no Christ, no Scripture” was especially rich and compelling.

Boersma’s main thesis is that biblical scholarship can sometimes be too historical, purely naturalistic and this world-focused. He argues that we should not read the Bible just like any other book but as sacramental, a means of grace mediating of the presence of Christ. Although we want the scholar working away in her study, our reading should be neither individualistic or elitist.

Boersma is of course concerned that we try to work out what Paul meant when he wrote to the Corinthians, but he doesn’t think that is the main or ultimate goal of biblical studies. Christ is the goal and substance of Scripture. He advocates for a patristic sort of exegesis which is attentive to the literal meaning of the text but which sees great depth and usefulness in the Bible. The divine authorship of Scripture is primary and the providence of God has governed both history and text. Boersma thinks typology and allegory are important in understanding God’s revelation and purposes in and through the Bible.  

We read the Bible rightly only from and for the love of Christ. Virtue shapes and is shaped by our Bible reading. And the starting point and goal for right reading is the heavenly contemplation God in Christ. Keeping in mind the ends and goals of the Bible and of the Christian life are vital for determining how we read.   

Our metaphysical and theological presuppositions are important. We all have them and a purely neutral reading is neither possible nor desirable.

The church down the ages and around the world is the primary interpretive community. These books are read above all in the liturgy of the church.

Boersma reflects on the tag lex orandi, lex credenda ("the law of what is prayed [is] the law of what is believed"). Prayer and worship, Bible reading and doctrine interact. And the Bible is part of, arises from and shapes a particular tradition. The Bible is the supreme authority and must be able to reform the tradition of the church, but Boersma criticises simplistic or naïve sola scriptura views which pretend that everything is up for grabs. The ecumenical consensus of the church should direct our reading. The Bible grew out of prior commitments to Jesus Christ as Lord and amongst those baptised into the name of the Triune God. It is inseparable from that tradition.  

Perhaps the chapter heading that will seem most surprising is “No Plato, No Scripture”. Boersma clarifies that “Christian metaphysics is theological in character: we dare not impose the pagan philosophy of Plato (or of anyone else) on Holy Scripture. Christian metaphysics must take its starting point in the Christian confession of Christ as the incarnate Lord.” (39) Nevertheless, Boersma thinks that a kind of Christian Platonism best reflects the Biblical world view. Drawing on the work of Lloyd P. Gerson’s From Plato to Platonism (11-14), which is also taken up by Craig A. Carter in Interpreting Scripture with the Great Tradition, Boersma stresses five characteristics for Christian reading: (1) antimaterialism (2) antimechanism, that is, there is more than the stuff that is visible and the way it seems to work (3) antinominalism, there are real essences or ideas not just individual things (4) antirelativism, based on goodness as a property of being which is not merely determined by human beings (5) antiskepticism, so that real knowledge is possible. (Boersma, 43).

I feel as if I ought to spend some time with the companion volume now: Scot McKnight, Five Things Biblical Scholars Wish Theologians Knew:  https://www.ivpress.com/five-things-biblical-scholars-wish-theologians-knew

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There could have been many more but here are some bits I happened to type out:

 

Boersma's claim will seem bold to some: from the first, the church has always taught that Christ is present on every page of Scripture (13)

 

Boersma argues that evangelicals have sometimes stressed formal authority (e.g., Scripture trumps tradition) and neglected material content (Christ and the Nicene Creed). Might he not be on to something? Is everything up for grabs as long as one claims Sola Scriptura?

 

Irenaeus insist that Christ "was sold with Joseph, and He guided Abraham; was bound along with Isaac, and wandered with Jacob; with Moses He was a Leader, and, respecting the people, Legislator. He preached in the prophets." (Fragments from the Lost Writings, 54; ANF 1:577). "If anyone therefore reads the Scriptures with attention, he will find in them an account of Christ, and a foreshadowing of the new calling. For Christ is the treasure that was hid in the field, that is, in this world (for "the field is the world"); but the treasure his in the Scripture is Christ, since he was pointed out by means of types and parables.... When it [the law] is read by Christians, it is a treasure hid indeed in a field, but brought to life by the cross of Christ." (Against Heresies 4.26.1; ANF 1:496) As quoted in Boersma, 5 Things, p32f

 

Boersma argues that at the most basic level typology does not move from earlier type to later antitype since Christ is the archetype. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first principle and end, the model and goal. Chronologically he is foreshadowed and comes as the climax at the fullness of time, but ontologically and logically the Logos is the original and basis. Typology, then, is more than noticing interesting similarities: it is metaphysically, providentially and stereologically grounded from eternity and in creation all the way down and to the depths of mystery. The Son is the eternal, ever-present and eschatological Word. (Based on p33f)

 

Maybe you will say no one really wants to read the Bible like that, but if you make your exegesis simply about human authorial intent, Boersma is surely right that you have made your reading historical and not theological - and, we might add, potentially boring and useless. He would have us read instead for Christ with wisdom and savour.