PEACE THEOLOGY 101 LECTURE 2

PEACE THEOLOGY 101 Introduction to Peace Theology. This course will help the students to appreciate and to evaluate a biblical understanding and contemporary practice of Peace Theology. Such evaluation will be done within the framework of social sciences and informed from the perspective of biblical theology. The students will be intellectually, emotionally, and volitionally involved in the current discussions on the meanings, proposals, and tasks of Peace Theology.

PEACE THEOLOGY 101 BIBLICAL CRITICISM: A BRIEF INTRODUCTION

SOME EARLIEST TRADITIONS OF ISRAEL: 1.Most are pacifistic. Theirs was a relationship- based political interaction vis-à-vis military- based political interaction. 2.They were rounded upon a politics of promise during a period of political weakness vis-à-vis their neighboring nations 3.Prompt us to ask: “Why have so few traditions of patriarchal violence been handed down to us?” 2. WARFARE IN THE PATRIARCHAL PERIOD PEACE THEOLOGY 101

Biblical Criticism is the scholarly "study and investigation of Biblical writings that seeks to make discerning and discriminating judgments about these writings." It asks when and where a particular text originated; how, why, by whom, for whom, and in what circumstances it was produced; what influences were at work in its production; what sources were used in its composition and the message it was intended to convey. It will vary slightly depending on whether the focus is on the Old Testament, the letters of New Testament or the Canonical gospels. It also plays an important role in the quest for a Historical Jesus. BIBLICAL CRITICISM PEACE THEOLOGY 101

Biblical Criticism can be broken into two major forms: higher and lower criticism. 1. Higher Criticism deals with the genuineness of the text. Questions are asked such as: When was it really written? Who really wrote this text? 2. Lower Criticism is an attempt to find the original wording of the text since we no longer have the original writings. HIGHER & LOWER CRITICISM PEACE THEOLOGY 101

Redaction Criticism is a method of biblical study which examines the intentions of the editors or redactors who compiled the biblical texts out of earlier source materials. It thus presupposes the results of source criticism (higher) and form criticism (lower), and builds upon them. [Terrence Collins] REDACTION CRITICISM This book provides an introduction to current trends in the study of the biblical prophets. It surveys the growing volume of work that has been on the redactional analysis of individual books and represents the first attempt to bring together these different strands of redaction criticism and to evaluate the effect they have had on our appreciation of the prophetical books as a distinct genre. JSOT Press, pages PEACE THEOLOGY 101

Redaction Criticism tries to deal with the authentic and the inauthentic together, without blurring uncritically the difference between them. Redaction Criticism seeks to establish the way in which a body of literary material has been arranged, adapted and shaped into a book. The shaping process is often referred to as redaction (editing), and the people responsible for it are called redactors (editors). REDACTION CRITICISM PEACE THEOLOGY 101

JULIUS WELLHAUSEN A German biblical scholar and orientalist, noted particularly for his contribution to scholarly understanding of the origin of the Pentateuch/Torah (the first five books of the Bible). “…it is remarkable that the heroes of Israelite legend show so little taste for war, and in this point they seem to be scarcely a true reflection of the character of the Israelites as known from their history.” (Prolegomena to the History of Ancient Israel, 1957, pp. 320f.) PEACE THEOLOGY 101

1862–1932 HERMANN GUNKEL He was a German Protestant Old Testament scholar. He is noted for his contribution to form criticism and the study of oral tradition in biblical texts. He was an outstanding representative of the "History of Religion School.“ “…most of the legends of the patriarchs were known before Israel came into Canaan. This assumption is supported by the character of many of the legends of Genesis: the complaisance and peacefulness of the figures of the patriarchs are by no means Israelitish characteristics.” (The Legends of Genesis, 1901, p. 91f.) PEACE THEOLOGY 101

Also known as Documentary Hypothesis (DH), it holds that the Pentateuch (the Torah, or the Five Books of Moses) was derived from originally independent, parallel and complete narratives, which were subsequently combined into the current form by a series of redactors (editors). The number of these is usually set at four, but this is not an essential part of the hypothesis. WELLHAUSEN HYPOTHESIS JULIUS WELLHAUSEN PEACE THEOLOGY 101

The documentary hypothesis assumes that the text of the Torah as preserved can be divided into identifiable sources that predate its compilations by centuries, the Jahwist (J) source being the oldest, dating to as early as the 10th century BC, along with the Elohist (E), the Deuteronomist (D), and the Priestly source (P), dating to the 8th to 6th centuries. The final compilation of the extant text is dated to either the 6th or 5th century BC. DH ASSUMPTION PEACE THEOLOGY 101

DH DIAGRAM *includes most of Leviticus † includes most of Deuteronomy ‡ "Deuteronomic history": Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings PEACE THEOLOGY 101

Julius Wellhausen's contribution was to order these sources chronologically as JEDP, giving them a coherent setting in the evolving religious history of Israel, which he saw as one of ever-increasing priestly power. Wellhausen's formulation was: the Yahwist source ( J ) : written c. 950 BC in the southern Kingdom of Judah. the Elohist source ( E ) : written c. 850 BC in the northern Kingdom of Israel. the Deuteronomist ( D ) : written c. 600 BC in Jerusalem during a period of religious reform. the Priestly source ( P ) : written c. 500 BC by Kohens (Jewish priests) in exile in Babylon. The Redactors: first JE, then JED, and finally JEDP, producing the final form of the Torah c. 450 BC. JEDP CHRONO ORDER PEACE THEOLOGY 101