In the criticism of George Weigel’s intemperate and churlish source criticism of Pope Benedict XVI’s new encyclical, criticism which is warranted, it has not been much noted that biblical scholars engage in source criticism on a regular basis. The same criticisms raised of Weigel’s “gold pen” and “red pen” theory – that this is a means to choose what is “best,” “original” and “authentic,” as opposed to that which is “interpolated,” added” or “not essential” and which may be rejected out of hand – can be raised with respect to biblical scholars. Biblical scholars often seek out sources, and this in itself is not problematic. Finding various sources in Matthew and Luke, for instance, can allow us to determine more precisely how these sources have been shaped and adapted for their various audiences. It is when some sources are preferenced as “early” and so more “authentic” than other sources, and more significant than the completed and received text as a whole that we run into problems. It is the final text of each of the biblical documents that the Church has received into the canon, and so the whole text commands our respect and attention. I recall reading Rudolf Bultmann’s commentary on John and being shocked, honestly shocked, by his decision to determine what belonged in the “original” text of the Gospel, to such an extent that he simply did not deal with parts of the canonical text that he felt were later additions to the Gospel. Let it be said, too, that Bultmann was a superior scholar, an excellent exegete. The failings, to my mind, were based on a particular understanding of the role of the biblical scholar as an expert who knew the ancient texts better than the ancients themselves or the Church which considers the whole text the word of God. I have summed up such scholarly viewpoints in the little ditty below, which is sung to the tune of the Beverly Hillbillies Theme:

“Come and listen to a Gospel by an apostle named John,

A poor disciple, barely kept his stories straight.

Then one day he was searchin’ for a source,

And off of the shelf jumped the Logos prologue.

Cosmic, gold pen, soteriology.

Well the first thing you know ol’ John’s an author,

His disciples said, “John add that source here.”

They said pre-existence is the place you got to be,

So he rewrote the text to reflect the Trinity.

Incarnation, they said,

Divine condescension, the Word made flesh.”

My apologies to all of you, but I believe the point is a serious one. Biblical scholars can run headlong into the same trap into which Weigel has fallen. The expert, due to serious study, inside information, and genuine knowledge, can mistake these for a transcendence over the text. This hubris is tempting, because people ask us to explain texts, to make sense of them, to understand them. But no interpreter by virtue of training alone has access to the meaning of serious texts, revealed or otherwise. The text must be encountered, and as much as the interpreter “interprets” the text, the interpreter must be shaped by the text. Sometimes it is necessary for the interpreter to expand their horizons, to admit they are not up to the challenge until they are able to measure up to the text. Sometimes blind spots, biases and ideology must be removed. Generally, what is necessary is conversion, intellectual, moral or religious. This is why, I believe, Jesus pointed to the humble, the little ones, children, as privileged hearers of the word of God: 

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 18:1-4).

This is a hard lesson, which is necessary to learn hundreds of times, by experts on encyclicals and biblical texts. There was a reason Jesus chose fisherman to be his apostles and not biblical scholars, not to mention “Templeologists,” who knew all the right high priests and high-ranking members of the Sanhedrin.

John W. Martens

John W. Martens is an associate professor of theology at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minn,where he teaches early Christianity and Judaism. He also directs the Master of Arts in Theology program at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity. He was born in Vancouver, B.C. into a Mennonite family that had decided to confront modernity in an urban setting. His post-secondary education began at Tabor College, Hillsboro, Kansas, came to an abrupt stop, then started again at Vancouver Community College, where his interest in Judaism and Christianity in the earliest centuries emerged. He then studied at St. Michael's College, University of Toronto, and McMaster University, with stops at University of Haifa and University of Tubingen. His writing often explores the intersection of Jewish, Christian and Greco-Roman culture and belief, such as in "let the little children come to me: Children and Childhood in Early Christianity" (Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2009), but he is not beyond jumping into the intersection of modernity and ancient religion, as in "The End of the World: The Apocalyptic Imagination in Film and Television" (Winnipeg: J. Gordon Shillingford Press, 2003). He blogs at  www.biblejunkies.com and at www.americamagazine.org for "The Good Word." You can follow him on Twitter @biblejunkies, where he would be excited to welcome you to his random and obscure interests, which range from the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota Timberwolves, to his dog, and 70s punk, pop and rock. When he can, he brings students to Greece, Turkey and Rome to explore the artifacts and landscape of the ancient world. He lives in St. Paul with his wife and has two sons. He is certain that the world will not end until the Vancouver Canucks have won the Stanley Cup, as evidence has emerged from the Revelation of John, 1 Enoch, 2 Baruch, and 4 Ezra which all point in this direction.