Richard Simon (theologian)

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Title page of Richard Simon's main work

Richard Simon (born May 13, 1638 in Dieppe ; † April 11, 1712 ibid) was a French exegete , theologian, philosopher and historian of the Catholic faith . Richard Simon dealt very early on with the multitude of variants of Old and New Testament texts and is considered to be the actual founder of the historical-critical method in biblical studies .

Life

Simon was born in Dieppe, grew up in a strict Catholic family and studied theology at the Sorbonne .

“In 1662, after a failed first attempt (1658), he was accepted as a novice by the Oratorians . This transferred him alternately a lectureship at the Ordenskolleg in Juilly and the post of assistant librarian in the excellent library of the oratory in rue Saint-Honoré (Paris) (1663–1678). In 1670 he was ordained a priest. The years 1662–1678 are considered the most fruitful time for his literary activity. In the above and in the other libraries (especially the royal ones) of Paris he found the primary and secondary literature necessary for his biblical and oriental studies. This was flanked by the fruitful contact with Jews who knew Talmud and rabbinic literature (especially Jona Salvador). Under such excellent conditions he became the founder of biblical introductory studies, which he documented with his main work, the Histoire critique du Vieux Testament , 1678. More than 1,300 copies of the work, with the exception of the title page and dedication, were ready for printing and at the instigation of Bishop Jacques Bénigne Bossuet , who was influential at the court, it was confiscated, confiscated and officially burned. By resigning from the Order in 1678, Simon prevented an official expulsion. He retired to Bolleville. From there he came back to Dieppe in 1682. During this time he remained faithful to his profession as a priest and celebrated St. Mass and considered themselves faithful Catholics. A few saved copies of his confiscated main work formed the basis for a new edition in Rotterdam in 1685 (with a new foreword). "

Richard Simon's crucial study on the New Testament is the Histoire critique du texte du Nouveau Testament , published in Rotterdam in 1689. Richard Simon wanted to prove with his publication that only the texts put together by Jerome could represent the basis for theological reflections. He also came to the conclusion that the Christian faith could not be based on Scripture alone because of the sometimes widely differing text variants. This view contradicted the Protestant-Reformation principle of the sola scriptura . Richard Simon, on the other hand, supported the teaching of the apostolic tradition represented in the Catholic Church , which means that in addition to the scriptures there is a traditional interpretation that has only been passed on by the (Catholic) Church. In later writings Richard Simon attacked Protestant doctrine even more directly:

“The great changes that mark the manuscripts of the Bible ... as the first originals have been lost, completely destroy the principles of the Protestants ... who only consult the same manuscripts of the Bible as they are today. If the truth of religion had not lived on in the Church, it would not be safe to look for it in books which have undergone so many changes and which in so many cases have depended on the will of the copyist. "

plant

Simon recognized that in contrast to Islam, for example , Judaism and Christianity are not book religions. Rather, they are “personal religions of revelation”, in the center of which faith stands God, who reveals himself in and with the freedom of concrete historical persons. In Jesus Christ , the servant of God, the divine sonship of Israel came to completion.

Therefore, according to Simons insight, a historical-critical examination of the Bible is possible without destroying the faith. The Bible is not the revelation itself, but merely a testimony to it, which consists of various literary genres and levels of editing, which also have to be exegetized historically .

The question of whether God exists and whether God is a God of the living who can raise his servant Jesus of Nazareth, but ultimately all human beings, is a philosophical question that, in terms of validity, is not linked to biblical testimony. The old, untouched cliché of verbal inspiration is thus outdated, emphasizing the subject validity of humans: Everyone who speaks truth speaks in the Holy Spirit.

In doing so, Simon did not forget that the true meaning of the Bible could only be explored in that theistic tradition community which the Bible with its canonical writings also produced in the "dialogue with the reality of God": "In the church", that with the congregation of Israel began as a space of Jesus' experience. As Simon once said, Jews and Christianity are of the same nature.

Simon anticipated an essential step: The God of Jesus is the God of Christians; the Christian churches a reception-related development of the community of Israel that takes place through all cultures and times through all cultures and times with the liberating message of Jesus of the already dawning kingdom of God as the center.

According to Richard Simon, only those can be critical enough who have recognized what remains the actual prerequisite for all crises (= historical power of distinction): the "theistically gifted freedom of man" as the original place of divine revelation.

literature

  • Bart Ehrman : Copied, misquoted and misunderstood: How the Bible came to be what it is. Gütersloher Verlagshaus, Gütersloh 2008, ISBN 978-3-579-06450-5 .
  • Werner Georg Kümmel: The New Testament: History of the exploration of its problems. Alber, Freiburg 1970.
  • Sascha Müller: Critique and Theology. Christian hermeneutics of faith and scriptures according to Richard Simon (1638–1712) (= Munich Theological Studies. II. Systematic Department, Vol. 66). EOS, St. Ottilien 2004, ISBN 3-8306-7193-8 .
  • Sascha Müller: Critique and Theology. Christian hermeneutics of faith and scriptures according to Richard Simon (1638–1712). In: Munich Theological Journal. Vol. 56 (2005), No. 3, pp. 212-224
  • Sascha Müller: Richard Simon (1638-1712). Exegete, theologian, philosopher and historian. A biography. Echter, Würzburg 2005, ISBN 3-429-02399-8 .
  • Sascha Müller: Carpzov's argument with Richard Simon. Two Old Testament theologians. In: Stefan Michel, Andres Straßberger (Ed.): Eruditio - Confessio - Pietas. Continuity and change in the Lutheran confessional culture at the end of the 17th century. The example of Johann Benedikt Carpzov (1639–1699) (= Leucorea studies on the history of the Reformation and Lutheran Orthodoxy. Volume 12). Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, Leipzig 2009, ISBN 978-3-374-02725-5 , pp. 149–159.
  • Sascha Müller: The historical-critical method in the humanities and cultural studies. Echter, Würzburg 2010, ISBN 978-3-429-03312-5 .
  • Sascha Müller: Grammar and Truth. Salomon Glassius (1593–1656) and Richard Simon (1638–1712) in conversation. In: Christoph Bultmann, Lutz Danneberg (Ed.): Hebraistics - Hermeneutics - Homiletics. The “Philologia Sacra” in early modern Bible study (= Historia Hermeneutica. Series Studia, Vol. 10). Berlin / Boston 2011, ISBN 978-3-11-025944-5 , pp. 515-533.
  • Sascha Müller: Bossuet (1627–1704) and Leibniz (1646–1716) in conversation about the meaning of historicity. Richard Simon (1638–1712) on the 300th anniversary of his death. In: Munich Theological Journal . Vol. 63 (2012), No. 4, pp. 327-334.
  • Jean-Pierre Thiollet : Je m'appelle Byblos. H & D, Paris 2005, ISBN 2-914266-04-9 , pp. 244-247.
  • Franz Georg Untergaßmair:  Simon, Richard. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 10, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-062-X , Sp. 424-428.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Georg Untergaßmair:  SIMON, Richard. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 10, Bautz, Herzberg 1995, ISBN 3-88309-062-X , Sp. 424-428.  ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive ) Retrieved on January 17, 2010
  2. ↑ Ehrmann, p. 120
  3. ↑ Ehrman, p. 119 and p. 122
  4. ↑ Quoted from Bart Ehrman, pp. 122–123.
personal data
SURNAME Simon, Richard
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French exegete, theologian, philosopher and historian
DATE OF BIRTH May 13, 1638
PLACE OF BIRTH Dieppe (Seine-Maritime)
DATE OF DEATH April 11, 1712
Place of death Dieppe (Seine-Maritime)