History or Encounter?
In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a certain priest . . . Luke 1:5 NASB
In the days of – Is your faith based in God’s acts in history or does it rest on your experience with God today? Maybe that isn’t a fair question since it supposes a dichotomy that might not be true. Maybe you would answer, “Both.” But if you don’t realize that rabbinic Judaism has a very different view of history than our Greek worldview, you are not going to understand the rabbinic view of Torah nor the importance Torah plays in the rabbinic community. Since this alternative view of history was already being developed during the time of Yeshua, it has an impact on the way the New Testament authors write. We discover that someone like Luke adopts a much more Greek view of history in his reporting but since we find it so compatible with our own views, we don’t think much about how radically different Luke’s gospel would have been in the first century.
Neusner describes the rabbinic view:
“Torah-study forms an acutely present-tense encounter with God. It should not be confused with the academic study of the history of Scripture or the history that Scripture may make available, if any. Scripture preserves not the history of God’s self-manifestation alone or mainly, but the occasion for humanity’s engagement with God in the here and now. Revelation takes place, direct encounter with God becomes possible, whenever and wherever the faithful enter into the disciplines of Torah-study. And those disciplines do not involve historical learning at all.”[1]
The danger in such a view is that once God’s Word is disconnected from the culture and the events that surrounded its original proclamation, it becomes subject to the culture of the interpreter. This disconnection allows the rabbis to jump across centuries when they connect the words of one verse with the words of another. This is why we feel so uncomfortable with much of rabbinic commentary. We often wonder how the rabbis can go from one thing to another without any apparent basis.
But we aren’t immune. Contemporary Christianity carries the same orientation in its penchant for devotional reflection on the Bible. Far too often we don’t bother to investigate the culture, the social setting, the history or politics of the particular passage. We read it for its ability to connect our spirits to God. We ignore the setting because we want to be lifted into the heavenlies. I have yet to meet any church group of Christians who accurately understand the social-political-economic and linguistic settings of the passages they so frequently recite. In this sense, Christian are merely New Testament rabbis, seeking spiritual enlightenment rather than the historical acts of God.
You might ask yourself if you read the Bible in order to understand what God was doing in the lives of people who lived thousands of years ago or if you read the Bible “stories” in order to have the feeling of God’s presence. If you are in the latter camp, then the opening of Luke will be a problem. Luke attempts to recall what happened. He is not trying to give you devotional fodder. His message is this: if these events happened, then there are significant implications for all human beings, even if God never demonstrates His presence again. Could you read the history of God’s self-manifestation as history, without all the “application sermons”? Would that be enough for you to change the way you live?
Think about significant one-time events in history that have reshaped the world you live in today. The Reformation, the American Revolution, the signing of the Magna Carta, the bombing of Nagasaki – all happened once, never repeated and yet they forever changed the face of humanity. What if that’s what God did with Israel? Would that be enough for you – or would you have to find devotional comfort in every verse?
Topical Index: rabbinic history, Torah-study, Luke 1:5, history
[1] Jacob Neusner, Judaism When Christianity Began, p. 16.
The one time event that comes to my mind that reshaped the world and continues to this day. “Then the Lord came down upon Mt Siani, Exodus 19:20.”
GOOD MORNING ALL – I HAVE AN INTERVIEW THIS MORNING WITH A GODLY/CHRISTIAN YOUNG MAN THAT I PRAY GOD OPENS THE DOOR TO & ANOTHER INTERVIEW TOMORROW MORNING IN A PLACE THAT IS LIKE SLAVERY TO ME & YOU HAVE HARD TASKMASTERS BREATHING DOWN YOUR NECK TO MAKE A QUOTA – I KNOW WHERE I FIT BEST & I PRAY GOD KNOWS THAT TOO & I’M SURE HE DOES – SO PRAY GOD’S WISDOM & WILL FOR ME BE MANIFEST THIS MORNING/TODAY IN JESUS’ NAME… JAN
Praying for you, Jan, and all those with whom this has to do. May His Will be made manifest. May you have work that feeds your soul.
Amen Amen!
Skip,
The Gospels gives accounts of groups of people and also individuasl who had life transforming encounters with Messiah, Yeshua!
Richard Bauckham writes on p. 502 of his book, Jesus and the Eyewitnesses.
In this and other cases, including the Gospels, testimony asks to be trusted. It does consist in the presentation of evidence and argument for what only the witness, the involved insider, can tell us. In all cases, including the law courts, testimony can be checked and assessed in appropriate ways but nevertheless has to be trusted. In the uniquely unique events we are considering, this is all the more true. To insist, with some Gospel critics, that the historicity of each and every Gospel pericope must be established, one by one, with agruments for each, is not to recognize testimony for what it necessarily is. It is suppose that we can extract individual facts from testimony and build our own reconstructions of events that is no longer dependent on the witness. It is to refuse that privileged access to truth that precisely participant testimony can give us. Ancient historiography rightly valued such testimony as essential to good history, and the Holocaust shows us how indispensable it can be when the events we confront are “at the limits.” ~ End of quoting Richard Bauckham. ~
We need to take in to account the purpose for Luke writing this Gospel.
Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. Luke 1:1-4 ESV
The reason seems to me is obviously stated here at the beginning of this Gospel. Does this make the Gospel unique within the Jewish view of history of that day? If we take Luke’s premise legitimately as he stated to Theophilus from the beginning, then we can appreciate why his delivery and writing style is of a Greek orientation.
By the way, Skip. Martin Hengel highly recommends this book by, Richard Bauckham. I read this book a few years back and enjoyed certain aspects immensely. In His Care, Brian
Skip, have you read Karen Armstrong’s book The Bible? It succinctly gives a broad historical overview of what was going on in the cultures of those interpreting the Scriptures. I thought it was very informative.
~ And I fell before His feet and worshiped him, and He said to me, “No! I am your fellow Servant and of your brothers who have the testimony of Yeshua. Worship G-d, rather, for the testimony of Yeshua is the spirit of prophecy.” ~ (Revelation 19.10)
We would all do well to remember “the Bible is not the Book of the month- it is the Book of the Ages”
~ The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our G-d will stand forever ~ (Isaiah 40.8)
David, also, knew this: ~ Your word, O LORD, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens ~ (Psalm 119.89)
And today- “Who” do we pray to and “Who” do we serve? – (The very same G-d as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob!)
Abraham had a story. So did Moses. So did David. – So will I, so will you – today is but another chapter..
You might want to read material from Dr. Robert Linthicum. He’s a theologian who has worked with the poor here in the US as well as the Global South. He’s a personal friend and mentor. His work on the Biblical concept of Shalom and the World as God intended it is powerful. He opens the Hebrew and the Greek in a way I haven’t seen. He has a lectionary online at http://www.rclinthicum.org. I think you would find it eye opening. Blessings and thank you for your work. I’m new to finding your site but have loved it. It speaks my language.