PRIMA SCRIPTURA

An Introduction

to

New Testament Interpretation

N. CLAYTON CROY

Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2011 by N. Clayton Croy

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Except as otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.; used by permission; all rights reserved.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Croy, N. Clayton.

Prima Scriptura: an introduction to New Testament interpretation / N. Clayton Croy.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes.

ISBN 978-0-8010-3588-3 (pbk.)

1. Bible. N. T.—Hermeneutics. I. Title.

BS2331.C76 2011

225.6′1—dc22 2010051136

To my parents, Otis and Helen Croy, who were my first teachers of the Bible and examples of Christian living

Contents

Preface: A Complex and Contested Enterprise

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Definitions, Theoretical Issues, and Preview of the Method

1. Analyzing and Preparing the Interpreter

2. Analyzing the Text

3. Evaluating and Contemporizing the Text

4. Appropriating the Text and Transforming the Community

Appendix 1: Sample Exegesis Paper—“Jesus on Probation” (Luke 4:1–13)

Appendix 2: Sample Exegetical Brief—Hebrews 1:1–4

Appendix 3: Pictograph of Philippians

Appendix 4: Pictograph of 2 Corinthians

Appendix 5: Chart of the Gospel of Mark

Appendix 6: Nestle-Aland27 and UBS4 Comparison Chart

Appendix 7: In the Laboratory with Agassiz

Bibliography

Subject Index

Author Index

Scripture Index

Preface

A Complex and Contested Enterprise

In January 2005 the Executive Council of the Society of Biblical Literature (SBL), the largest professional association of teachers and scholars of the Bible, faced a dilemma. The council had received a resolution from a group of members responding to the recent U.S. election in November 2004. The resolution observed that “values,” sometimes specifically called “Christian values” or “biblical values,” had emerged in the campaign as a key political issue. The group contended that the values “most commonly identified in public debates were the issues of gay marriage, abortion, and stem-cell research.”

The resolution went on to argue that these values “are not major concerns in the Bible, and in fact are not even directly addressed in the Bible. Rather, they tend to reflect the underlying problems of homophobia, misogyny, control of reproductive rights, and restraint of expression (including scientific research) in U.S. society today.” The ...