IMC 2008: Sessions

Session 1103: Written Inside and Outside, I: Outside Letter and Inside Meaning in Biblical Exegesis

Organiser:	Ineke van 't Spijker, Clare Hall, University of Cambridge
Moderator/Chair:	Ari Geiger, Department of History, Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan
Paper 1103-a	Metonymy and Augustine's Interpretation of Matthew 24. 36 / Mark 13. 32 (Language: English) John J. Kitchen, Department of History & Classics, University of Alberta, Edmonton Index terms: Biblical Studies, Rhetoric, Theology
Paper 1103-c	Peshat and Derash versus Letter and Allegory: A Comparative Approach (Language: English) Robert A. Harris, Department of Bible & Ancient Semitic Languages, Jewish Theological Seminary, New York Index terms: Biblical Studies, Hebrew and Jewish Studies, Theology
Abstract	From early on, interpreters confronted with what they saw as difficult passages in the Bible developed various interpretational strategies. Papers in this session discuss Augustine's specific view of language and of traditional rhetorical concepts in his solution to the particularly difficult issue of the Vulgate's omission in Matthew 24. 36 of 'neque filius'; also, the different ways in which both Jewish and Christian exegetes used the concept of a division between a surface / literal meaning, and a deeper, inside level, will be compared, as well as the way in which exegetes negotiated the boundaries between the two, providing them with ways of coping with what were 'obstacles' within Scripture.