The issue: Does the Bible contradict itself?
for judaism the problem can be framed in these terms:
1. it is self-evident that the plain text ("pshat") of the Torah or Tanakh appears to contradict itself.
2. whenever this happens in the pshat, an explanation must be sought in order to clarify the intent of the text.
3. it is *axiomatic* that the text itself is not corrupt and retains its integrity; it is our job to explain, clarify and interpret the text so that it can be implemented in our environment.
4. therefore when the text appears to contradict itself, we must consider this to have occurred in order to enable us to learn something that we could not have learned without a textual difficulty to resolve.
5. the whole of jewish law and the oral tradition is centred on this eternal attempt to understand G!D's Intent.
6. when the pshat of the text cannot be resolved through the hermeneutic methods established by tradition and precedent, more subtle methods are utilised relating to the deeper levels of
remez (implied meaning),
drash (metaphor) and
sod (anagogical/symbolic language).
criticisms that we're therefore "twisting the text" or "trying to get it to say something that wasn't meant" lack any credibility from a jewish point of view when not based upon a thorough knowledge of the *whole system*, context, language and frame of reference. from my perspective, "new testament" polemic aimed at "the law", the pharisees and so on must be seen within this context; these criticisms could equally well be aimed at the critics. the point is that nobody can *truly* say with 100% certainty that they know the ultimate, objective truth - although they can of course believe that they know it.
with regard to resolving this problem:
What's the deal with the angry God of the old testiment and the forgiving God of the new testiment? How can they possibly be the same figure?
because they are different perspectives from different people. think of a mother - she is a loving mother to her children, a friend and figure of sexual attraction to her partner and, perhaps, in business, someone who is a tough negotiator and takes no prisoners. this isn't her problem - but it may well be difficult for someone else to understand. think of how problematic it can be to see our own parents as sexual beings, for a start! besides, the OT was written for jews and the NT for christians. as a jew, there isn't a problem there for me to resolve. it's a problem for christians because they don't generally understand what the OT is there for, who its audience is, how it works, and so on - even what it says, what with the language and oral tradition. the obvious answer is to seek to understand the "OT" from the point of view of its "target customer" as it were; in the same way, if i am to study the Qur'an, or the NT, or the sutras, i'd want to understand it in its own context. the NT is somewhat unique, however, in sometimes apparently requiring the OT to be something other than what its, er, consumer base consider it to be.
b'shalom
bananabrain
