Theology Politics and Exegesis: Essays on the History of Modern Biblical Criticism

Modern biblical scholars often view the methods they employ as objective and neutral tracing the history of modern biblical scholarship to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In this volume Jeffrey Morrow examines some earlier lesser known roots of modern biblical scholarship. He explores biblical scholarship from the fourteenth through the seventeenth centuries and then discusses its new place in the Enlightenment of the eighteenth century where such scholarship would flourish. Far from merely an objective and neutral method such scholarship was never without philosophical theological and political underpinnings. Morrow concludes the volume with a look at the separation of biblical studies from theology using the example of Catholic moral theology in the twentieth century. As biblical scholars have come increasingly to acknowledge the importance of disciplinary self-understanding the history of scholarship has taken on new and critical importance. In this accessible amply documented collection of essays Jeffrey Morrow introduces the reader to an impressive array of figures in biblical interpretations rich and complex history casting valuable light on the political contours of what can no longer be regarded as a neutral scientific enterprise. --Michael Legaspi Associate Professor of Classics and Ancient Mediterranean Studies and Jewish Studies Pennsylvania State University Jeffrey Morrows grasp of the political history of modern biblical scholarship is simply stunning. On page after page he calmly and brilliantly explodes the common assumption that biblical criticism has nothing to do with politics. The chapter on Biblical Studies at the Enlightenment University alone is worth the price of the book. A must-read for anyone interested in the roots of historical-critical exegesis and its relationship to politics and theology. --Brant Pitre Professor of Sacred Scripture Notre Dame Seminary Graduate School of Theology Jeffrey L. Morrow is Associate Professor of Theology at Immaculate Conception Seminary School of Theology at Seton Hall University and is a Senior Fellow of the St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology. He is the author of Three Skeptics and the Bible (2016).