Reading the New Testament

Abstract

One of the strongest theological movements of the twentieth century was the effort to “demythologize” the three-story universe of biblical literalism. Scholars such as Rudolf Bultmann sought to pare away the angels and demons in search of an existential core, something more intelligible to modern thought. He sought to spare Christians the dilemma of “sacrificing” their intellects “in order to accept what we cannot sincerely consider true” (2004, 17). A literary approach to the Bible assumes that symbols are meanings; it will not do to simply peel away the cherubs. The texts of the Hebrew Scriptures are knit together by symbol; the motifs of firstborn sons, barren wives, and trickster figures interact in an expansive universe of cognates. Midrash, the ancient system of biblical interpretation, holds that every word of scripture is intrinsic to its meaning. Every iteration of “water” or “bread” is bound to the others. Every seven and twelve resonates with its antecedents. The New Testament is a meditation or a midrash on the Hebrew Scriptures. Symbol is the native language of the Bible; neither literalism nor iconoclasm provides a good translation.