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INTRODUCTION
There is no doubt that the vision of reality presented by the biblical
record does not always correspond with the valuations of the neighboring
societies. What, in some occasions, is considered as decadent and a bad model
in the Bible is contrasted with positive and respectful evaluations of the
contemporaries. An example will be enough to prove it. On one hand, Omri
did evilin the eyes of theLordand sinned more than all those before him.He
followed completely the ways of Jeroboam son of Nebat, committing the same
sin Jeroboam had causedIsrael to commit, so that they aroused the anger of
theLord, the God of Israel, by their worthless idols (1 Kings 16: 25-26); on the
other hand, Omri was king of Israel and he oppressed Moab for many days
because Kemosh was angry with his land (Mesha Stele, lines 4-6).
For decades, the omridas will describe the House of Israel to allies
and enemies with the connotation of governments of commercial success
and armed forces. Their diplomacy practices are among the most prominent
of their time. As Grabbe indicates commenting Liverani:
The main contribution of Omri was the new capital at Samaria which was not just
a simple royal residence but a true administrative centre of the kingdom. Under
Omri and Ahab Israel experienced a notable growth in economics and culture
After the Israel of the house of Omri - censured for Baal worship by the prophets
and later historiographers but politically strong and culturally flourishing came the house of Jehu - lauded as Yahwistic but politically subordinate and
territorially reduced to a minimum experienced a notable growth in economics
and culture.1
1
L. Grabbe, "Ahab Agonistes: The Rise and Fall of the Omri Dynasty", Journal for the Study of
the Old Testament Supplement 21 (Londres: T&T Clark, 2007), 4.
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And, however, in the eyes of the Bible writer, and even in the eyes of
the YHWH himself, there is no positive assessment.
Such conceptualization of reality, if we consider the biblical material
as a generator of worldviews comes to us, since centuries, forcing us to reflect
on the usual understandings compared to those impreGenated by the biblical
vision. It impels us to continue asking honestly: what perception of reality
I incorporate into my life as an intellectual and religious believer? Which
approach do I conduct to Scripture, Theology and ecclesiastical praxis? How
far does my position before the text affect each one of these dimensions?
The objective of this study is framed in these demands with the desire
to move closer to the biblical writers eyes and in addition, bold yearning, to
catch a glimpse YHWH himself.
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En los tiempos que corren, las cosas no pintan bien para las grandes Causas,
en una poca en la que, aunque la escena ideolgica est fragmentada en
una panoplia de posiciones que luchan por la hegemona, hay un concepto
subyacente: la poca de las grandes explicaciones ha terminado, necesitamos
un pensamiento dbil, opuesto a todo fundacionalismo, un pensamiento
atento a la estructura rizomtica de la realidad; tampoco en el mbito de la
poltica debemos aspirar ya a sistemas que lo expliquen todo y a proyectos de
emancipacin mundial; la imposicin violenta de grandes soluciones debe dar
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York, 1995). D. Aers, Medieval Literature: Criticism, Ideology and History (New York: St Martins, 1986); Ch.
Kannengiesser, y W. Petersen, Origen of Alexandria: his world and his legacy (Notre Dame, Ind: University
of Notre Dame, 1988); R. Schwartz, The Book and the Text: The Bible and Literary Theory (Oxford: Basil
Blackwell, 1990).
4
J. Antnez, Crnica de las ideas. En busca del rumbo perdido (Madrid: Encuentro, 2001), 196.
5
J. Le Goff, Una larga Edad Media (Barcelona: Paids Ibrica, 2008).
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primae noctis or droit de seigneur. The hierarchy that divides the world
in bellatores (military aristocracy that rules their domains), oratores (all those
who dedicate themselves to prayer and that have a remarkable religious
influence) and laboratores (usually farmers who maintain society with their
work). Le Goff argues6 that this ternary structure will be the ideal environment
for the appearance of the theology of purgatory. Honor was associated with
nobility and constantly reminded the sinful condition of common people. As
Carrasco indicated:
As, el punto de arranque radicaba en los motivos de la desigualdad jerrquica
en la estructura social, y se plante desde pticas diversas. Una de ellas situaba
la base de partida en una concepcin segn la cual, siendo todos nobles por
voluntad divina Dios fizo omes e no fizo linajes. A todos fizo nobles en su
nacimiento- la prdida de dicha condicin haba sido responsabilidad de los
errores o pecados de los individuos; despus, a lo largo del proceso histrico, en
razn de su comportamiento a todos se dio eleccin de costumbres quando
viven-, slo algunos haban sabido recuperar dicha condicin, y mantenerla,
transmitindola por la sangre.7
315
J. Le Goff, El nacimiento del purgatorio (Madrid: Taurus, 1985).
A. Carrasco, and M. Rbade, Pecar en la Edad Media (Madrid: Slex, 2008), 155.
6
7
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Todo ello supone una actitud reduccionista del mtodo teolgico tradicional.8
The value that he gives to the original Canon (Hebrew canon) and
its association with the principle of Sola Scriptura is similar to other turning
points generated at their time by Jerome of Stridon or by the Karaites. It
is a return to the reading of Scripture in its plain meaning without the
interference of auctoritas. The practice of hermeneutics in Luther empowers
two essential components for a better understanding of Scripture: the
historical-grammatical method and individuality. The personal approach to
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the Bible strengthens the religious and ecclesiastical identity. The historicalgrammatical hermeneutic (heir to Jewish and Antiochene traditions) is
strengthened by the studies of the humanists, especially Erasmus, that
contribute method to the analysis of the materials in Hebrew, Aramaic,
and specifically in Greek. The Word becomes, once again, verb, engine
generator of sense and actions.
The Bible changes adjectives; from being sacred it turned to be
holy. We are not dealing with a magic object, a totem pole per se, but
an element of sanctification, an instrument per relatio. That perception of
the biblical material strengthens comprehension by giving to the word
faith a dimension far more concrete not only in the salvation level but in
the understanding of everyday religious life. Faith is also the worldview
of the reformed person and his same culture. Bible verses are part of the
indoctrination and the teachings of professions, community events and the
regulation of the domestic, from the farthest depths of theology to the most
common praxis. Needless to say, therefore, that the authority given to the
Bible is normative. It is a Word that should generate transformation and
action.
There is, however, a factor that blurs the proposals of Luther, it is a
preeminence of the New Testament over the materials of the OT. His concept
of inspiration, induced by the emphasis on justification by faith, moves him
away from an understanding of Tota Scriptura.
One of the supports of this inflection is due to the translations of the
biblical texts. Delisle and Voodsworth state:
La calidad lingstica de la Biblia de Lutero obedece a la aplicacin de un cierto
nmero de principios de traduccin. Primero que todo, Lutero predicaba el
retorno de las lenguas originales de la Biblia, el hebreo para el AT y el griego
para el NT, sin por ello desechar por completo la Vulgata Tambin le daba
mucha importancia al medio cultural de los destinatarios de una traduccin.
Al traducir Las Sagradas Escrituras se esforzaba por darles un giro tpicamente
alemn, modificando el texto para adaptarlo a la mentalidad y el espritu de
la gente de su tiempo Lutero afirm tambin haber empleado un lenguaje
simple para que sus traducciones fueran fciles de entender. Trat de alcanzar
un justo equilibrio entre el registro formal y el familiar, entre la lengua litrgica
y la cotidiana. En su epstola (Sendbrief) afirm que se debera hablar alemn
como las personas en la plaza del mercado Pero su aporte ms importante
se sita en el plano estilstico. Claridad, facilidad de comprensin, simplicidad y
vigor son las grandes cualidades del estilo de sus traducciones, cualidades que
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an en nuestro das sirven de modelos de escritura. El mismo Lutero dijo de su
estilo que tocando cada uno de los cinco sentidos, penetra en el corazn y lo
hace vibrar (das also dringe und klinge ynns Hertz, durch alle Sinne).10
Reform
Availability
Variety
Configuration
Interpretative
approach
Allegorical hermeneutic
Relevance
Axis of action
Symbology
Faith
Authority
Normative
Understanding
the division
Translation
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10
J. Delisle, and J. Voodsworth, Los traductores en la historia (Antioqua: Universidad de Antioqua, 2005), 39-42.
11
A. Touraine, Pourrons-nous vivre ensemble? Egaux et diffrents (Paris: Fayard, 1997), 159-92.
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central and weak between the two opposing universes of the markets and
communities.12 Mallimaci describes from a similar horizon this period we
are experiencing:
Al comienzo del s. XXI, fruto de la globalizacin financiera, el derrumbe del
bloque socialista, la disminucin de los estados nacionales (mundializacin) y
el avance de la mercantilizacin en el planeta, hay autores que hablan de una
aceleracin de la modernidad capitalista. Hipermodernidad o modernidad
avanzada o individualidad en una sociedad de riesgo personal y mundial, con
categoras zombies, que han muerto y siguen vivas donde hay una nueva
concepcin del tiempo, el riesgo y las oportunidades junto a modernidades
mltiples y plurales y propuestas de otra modernizacin como la planteada por
el Forum Social Mundial son diferentes conceptos que tratan de dar cuenta de
una pluralidad en lo que hoy vivimos.
La amenaza y cercana al desempleo, a la pobreza, al riesgo y a la incertidumbre
en el futuro produce una angustia generalizada a nivel planetario. Si ayer
esto llevaba a crear organizaciones, hoy la individualidad acelerada produce la
disolucin de los vnculos entre las elecciones individuales y los proyectos y
acciones colectivas.13
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de comprensibilidad de los acontecimientos se vea sobrepasado por la excesiva
cantidad de informacin que recibimos. Por ello, distintos autores afirman que
la sociedad de la informacin no significa necesariamente una sociedad de
mayor conocimiento. Una cosa son los datos y otra bien distinta la capacidad de
interpretarlos, darles sentido y significado til para ciertos propsitos.14
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Fundacin Telefnica, Alfabetizacin digital y competencias informacionales (Madrid: Ariel,
14
2012), 22.
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Table 2
Scripture
Availability
Widespread access
Excess (infoxication)
Variety
National versions
Multiple versions
Configuration
Fragmented canon
Interpretative
approach
Relevance
Axis of action
History
Emotion
Authority
No authority
Worn authority
Understanding of the
division
Translation
Dynamic translation
The situation in the LMA is not so different from the lived in the Late
Middle Age. This submergent world has installed itself in the relativity, in
aesthetics with their symbols, in the ambiguity and confusion. As a result,
the person becomes a homo consumericus. As Lipovetsky suggests,16 there are
certain traits in the man of today that are approaching the turbo-consumer:
provisional participation, free community incorporation, behaviors on
demand, the primacy of the greater subjective welfare and the emotional
experience. Religiousness is dissolved in consumerism due to the lack of
models or because those we have appear to us like a supermarket of sense
where you can take or leave whatever you want.
How to position ourselves as believers and intellectuals? How to
provide a turning point that proposes models of fullness to people rather
than consumer offers? Maybe we should do an exercise of coherence and
transcendence.
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16
G. Lipovetsky, La felicidad paradjica: ensayo sobre la sociedad de hiperconsumo (Barcelona:
Anagrama, 2013).
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Table 3
Scripture
Availability
Variety
Related versions
Configuration
Original canon
Interpretative approach
Relevance
Axis of action
Faith
Authority
Authority of life
Bible
Translation
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