Materialistic Bible reading

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The materialistic Bible reading is a form of biblical exegesis , the Biblical texts in the light of their economic, political, social and religious embedding and perceives in the historical context of specific power struggles and interpreted.

It developed in Germany in the 1970s in various Protestant student congregations and in groups of the organization Christians for Socialism . George Casalis was inspiring as a teacher at the Berlin Church College and later involved in the Paris uprisings of May 1968 . Writings by Fernando Belo and Michel Clévenot were fundamental .

The term materialistic refers to the emphasis on the above-mentioned aspects in the context of the genesis and reality of biblical texts in contrast to exegesis procedures idealistic from this point of view , such as existentialist exegesis ( Rudolf Bultmann ). The materialistic reading of the Bible draws its theoretical understanding from the reference to social theoretical writings by Karl Marx , historical materialism and Louis Althusser , as well as linguistic approaches by Julia Kristeva and Roland Barthes, for example .

The historical-materialist method was initially used in church history. Corresponding readings of the Gospels , Old Testament texts and, more recently, those too early Christian groups followed.

Theoretical prior understanding and basics

Concept of reading

Fundamental to the approach of materialistic Bible reading to the texts is the statement that there is no such thing as neutral reading: “The social point of view of the reader is very important. None of the forms of treatment and interpretation of the Bible developed in the Christian tradition are uninterested and neutral. (...) Already in the Bible itself there is a conflict between the two readings of biblical traditions: productive-subversive reading on the one hand, legitimizing-stabilizing reading on the other. ”The standpoint of materialistic reading of the Bible is explicitly named. It is the "perspective of the poor and the oppressed".

Likewise, the biblical text itself is not viewed as a neutral source: “The text (...) is not just the verbal / written reflex of something that takes place elsewhere. Texts turn out to be (...) determined in several ways: physically, psychologically, economically, politically, ideologically. The text itself becomes a place of social context. "

Accordingly, the idea that reading is a mere gathering of apparently neutral information is rejected. Kuno Füssel speaks of the double illusion, "the transparency, as if the things themselves could be expressed in the words" and "as if the language was only the means of transporting a coherent thought that flows directly from the author's head into the des Readers would be transferred ”. Similar to Michel Clevenot , who refers to Ferdinand de Saussure and Jean-Joseph Goux : “The reader reads the text as if its 'value' were to convey a reality in a straight line. There is a secret behind this fetish. The real value of a text is the work that is expressed through the relationship of the signifier [the expressive side of a linguistic sign] to the signified [the content side, meaning of a linguistic sign]: 'The meaning is not transcendent to the signs that represent it; and it does not refer (...) to the thing itself, in its natural existence, but to other signs, to the writing of all social signs'. "

Based on Louis Althusser's approach to reading Marx's texts, the call is made to “get under the surface of the visible text”, “to make the invisible and the 'oversights' visible, the gaps in the density of the text and the empty spaces in his Identify context ”( symptomatic reading ). This is a productive process: “Reading selects a reading from what is written. It therefore produces the text that is understood in it anew. ”“ Reading, that means practicing a problem, making a text work. Reading - that is, decoding the text based on its deciphering and reading it. "

Materialistic reading of the Bible makes use of the knowledge of modern linguistics ( Ferdinand de Saussure , Roland Barthes , Louis Althusser , Julia Kristeva and others) to make it possible to read it and, on the other hand, of historical studies to examine the economic, political and ideological conditions at the time of the capture biblical texts.

Current directions

Currently, three directions of materialistic Bible reading can be distinguished, some of which are linked to one another, but some of which also develop their own special character.

1. The socio-historical interpretation ( Frank Crüsemann , Marlene Crüsemann , Rainer Kessler , Luise Schottroff , Claudia Janssen and others): The focal point is the “Heidelberger Kreis”, which organizes a conference once a year and from its work the Bible in fair language and numerous Publications on various topics of socio-historical exegesis have emerged. In 2009 the Social History Dictionary was published. The socio-historical exegesis is established in the academic field, if not without controversy. The magazine Junge Kirche also belongs to their circle .

2. Reading inspired by French structuralism ( Kuno Füssel , Christians for Socialism ). Fernando Belo's materialistic reading of the Bible was fundamental to this direction. As a result, introductory literature emerged that made materialistic Bible reading known to a wider audience beyond student congregations and CfS. The approach was continued and expanded with a Markus comment ( The Disappeared Body ) and a Lukas comment.

3. The group inspired by Dutch theology around the exegetical journal texts and contexts ( Ton Veerkamp , Andreas Bedenbender). The starting point for her reading of biblical texts is the so-called “final form of the canon”. The postmodern view that the great narratives have become obsolete ( Jean-François Lyotard ) is countered by the fact that the biblical texts with all their contradictions, their entries, their historically-critically analyzed elements are a great narrative of historically congealed human experiences that have arisen against the background of economic, political and ideological disputes and must be interpreted in this way if they are to have anything to say about today's economic, political and ideological disputes.

An overall presentation of the first Jesuan groups up to Constantine is currently in progress , especially against the background of the economic and political changes of the time. Fundamental works of this direction are:

  • Ton Veerkamp: Autonomy and equality. Economics, Politics and Ideology in Scripture. Alektor Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-88425-057-4 .
  • an interpretation of the Gospel of John that appeared in the magazine Texts and Contexts .
  • Ton Veerkamp: The God of Liberals. A Critique of Liberalism. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-88619-470-1 .

See also

literature

Introductory and basic literature

  • Christians for Socialism Münster (ed.): Theory and practice of an alternative Bible reading: Introduction to the method and the theoretical background of Fernando Belo's materialistic Bible reading , Alektor-Verlag, Stuttgart, 1979, ISBN 3-88425-005-1
  • Fernando Belo: The Gospel of Mark read materialistically. Alektor-Verlag, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-88425-010-8 . (basic work, first published in 1974 (French))
  • Casalis, George: The right ideas do not fall from the sky. Basics of an inductive theology. Stuttgart 1980.
  • Michel Clévenot: We don't know the Bible like that. Guidance on a materialistic reading of biblical texts; 2nd Edition. Kaiser, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-459-01322-2 .
  • Kuno Füssel: Three days with Jesus in the temple. Introduction to the materialistic reading of the Bible , Edition Liberación, Münster, 1987, ISBN 3-923792-20-4

to individual biblical books

  • Fernando Belo: The Gospel of Mark read materialistically. Alektor-Verlag, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-88425-010-8 .
  • Kuno Füssel, Eva Füssel: The missing body. New additions to the Gospel of Mark. Edition Exodus, Lucerne 2001, ISBN 3-905577-53-4 .
  • Gerhard Jankowski: The great hope. Paul to the Romans - an interpretation . Alektor Verlag, Berlin 1998, ISBN 3-88425-069-8 .
  • Dietrich Schirmer: Exegetical studies on the work of Luke, explained from its Jewish context. A work book. Self-published by D. Schirmer, Berlin 2001.

Further literature

  • Ulrike Bail et al. a. (Ed.): Bible in Righteous Language. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2006, ISBN 3-579-05500-3 .
  • Frank Crüsemann u. a. (Ed.): Social history dictionary for the Bible. Gütersloher Verlag-Haus, Gütersloh 2009, ISBN 978-3-579-08021-5 .
  • Hans G. Kippenberg: Seminar 'The emergence of the ancient class society' , Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt a. M. 1977, ISBN 3-518-07730-9 .
  • Dietrich Schirmer (Ed.): The Bible as a political book. Contributions to a liberating Christology , Verlag Kohlhammer, Stuttgart / Berlin / Cologne / Mainz 1982, ISBN 3-17-007072-X .
  • Ton Veerkamp : Autonomy and equality. Economics, Politics and Ideology in Scripture. Alektor Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-88425-057-4 .
  • Ton Veerkamp: The God of Liberals. a critique of liberalism. Argument-Verlag, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-88619-470-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Hartmut Futterlieb: The origins and current directions of materialistic reading of the Bible. Unpublished manuscript, Bad Hersfeld 2011.
  2. ↑ a b Fernando Belo: The Gospel of Mark read materialistically. Alektor-Verlag, Stuttgart 1980, ISBN 3-88425-010-8
  3. ↑ Michel Clévenot: We don't know the Bible like that. 2nd Edition. Kaiser, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-459-01322-2 .
  4. ↑ a b c d Kuno Füssel: Three days with Jesus in the temple. Introduction to the materialistic reading of the Bible. with a teaching project by Hartmut Futterlieb. Edition Liberación, Münster, 1987, ISBN 3-923792-20-4 , pp. 13-15.
  5. ↑ a b Kuno Füssel: Points of contact and methodological instruments of a materialistic Bible reading. In: Michel Clévenot: We don't know the Bible like that. Instructions for a materialistic reading of biblical texts. 2nd Edition. Kaiser, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-459-01322-2 , pp. 145-170.
  6. ↑ JJ. Goux: Freud, Marx: Economy and Symbolism. Frankfurt aM, / Berlin, Vienna, 1975, ISBN 3-548-13134-4 .
  7. ↑ Michel Clévenot: We don't know the Bible like that. Instructions for a materialistic reading of biblical texts 2nd edition. Kaiser, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-459-01322-2 , p. 80
  8. ↑ Louis Althusser, Etienne Balibar: Read the capital. Vol. 1, Reinbek b. Hamburg, 1972, p. 20.
  9. ↑ Saul Karsz: Theory and Policy: Louis Althusser , Ullstein Verlag, Frankfurt a. M./Berlin/Wien 1976, ISBN 3-548-03218-4 , p. 20.
  10. ↑ Ulrike Bail, Frank Crüsemann, Marlene Crüsemann, Erhard Domay, Jürgen Ebach, Claudia Janssen, Hanne Köhler, Helga Kuhlmann, Martin Leutzsch and Luise Schottroff (eds.): Bible in just language. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2006, ISBN 3-579-05500-3 .
  11. ↑ Frank Crüsemann u. a. (Ed.): Social history dictionary for the Bible. Gütersloher Verlag-Haus, Gütersloh 2009, ISBN 978-3-579-08021-5 .
  12. ↑ Christians for Socialism Münster (ed.): Theory and Practice of an Alternative Bible Reading : Introduction to the method and the theoretical background of Fernando Belo's materialistic Bible reading , Alektor-Verlag, Stuttgart, 1979, ISBN 3-88425-005-1
  13. ↑ Kuno Füssel, Eva Füssel: The missing body. New additions to the Gospel of Mark. Edition Exodus, Lucerne 2001, ISBN 3-905577-53-4 .
  14. ↑ Dietrich Schirmer: Exegetical studies on the work of Luke, explained from its Jewish context. a workbook. Self-published by D. Schirmer, Berlin 2001.

Remarks

  1. ↑ For example, Peter Winzeler's work on the acess with Helmut Gollwitzer in Berlin: The Anabaptist Empire of Münster 1534/35 and Bernhardt Rothmann's theology . Approaches to a historical-materialistic question . Dahlem booklet No. 2. Stuttgart 1972