Thursday, 12 November 2015

Torah and Canon: 2nd Edition,
James A. Sanders, Cascade Books, 2005, page 139

Moving rapidly towards the conclusion of the book, James Sanders gives us a reason why he think canonical criticism is a good idea:

Judgement and redemption, crucifixion and resurrection are not the only themes in the Bible. The Bible is highly diverse and comes from experiebces of institution as well as destitution, from the need to face the tought problems of life-style in an ongoing existence as well as the existential question of identity in crisis. But the basic gestalt of what is there is, by the nature and function of canon, transcendent to any threat of tragdey or historical accident which might come up at this latedate. It is,finally, a matter of how to read it, that is, hermeneutics - the art of asking the questions that are profoud enough to unlock its answers to who we are and what we should do. Canonical crticism attempts to discern the hermeneutics of those generations that gave the canon its basic shape.

Pointing out that the Bible was forged on an anvil of trial, and shaped by the question put to Ezekiel - How shall we live? (Ezk 33:10) - Sanders contends that the key is in recognising that G-d has set "life and death, death and evil" (Deuteronomy 30:15) before His people.

They had to take it to heart that G-d was not theirs to placate and manipulate. They had to learn that they were a servant people that lived, moved and had their being in witnessing to their crucifixion and resurrection.