Beyond the Echoes: Extending the Framework for Biblical Intertextuality

Abstract

Although the framework for biblical intertextuality currently used by R. B. Hays and his followers has contributed much to our understanding of the role of the OT in the Pauline letters, it does not account fully for the ways in which the OT writings are used. In addition to the explicit citation and the more implicit allusion and echo, this dissertation argues that the framework should be extended to include the use of Scripture as an ideational resource, as well as the use of the Narrative Summary as a literary device.

By revisiting the idea of intertextuality expounded by Kristeva, the hermeneutical framework devised by Schleiermacher, and to a lesser extent borrowing from the ideas of de Saussure, Boyarin and others, a broader model of biblical intertextuality that includes the use of Scripture as an ideational resource is developed. While the analysis of biblical intertextuality under Hays' framework relies on the presence of verbal correspondences in the texts, the proposed approach includes analysing Paul's texts in the light of the ideational resources that his readers who are ingrained in the cultural codes of Scripture would have understood. The method is then demonstrated using Rom 9:1-3, where the wider signification of the OT in Paul's writing has not been sufficiently analysed thus far.

Next, a framework for analysing Paul's use of the Narrative Summary is developed. Comparison is made with a group of writings known as the rewritten Bible, which are found mainly among the Dead Sea Scrolls. Despite certain similarities, there are fundamental differences as well. Applying the developed framework on the analysis of seven specimen texts (Rom 4:1-25; Gal 4:21-31; Rom 9:6-13; 1 Cor 10:1-13; 2 Cor 3:7-18; Rom 9:4-5; Rom 11:1-6), the study reveals that they share substantially the same features, and departures from these are largely accounted for by Paul’s use of the Narrative Summary as a literary device. This shows that the Narrative Summary is a specific intertextual category that deserves to be treated separately.