Feder, Inspiring for Liberation – Legitimizing for Occupationrhetoric of the text, the danger of “wrong” interpretation is not banished
but at least diminished.
3) Reception history is not just an interesting method. Regarding the
history of the interpretation of a biblical text can teach us which interpre-
tation was good and which was fairly good. By looking back, it is easier
to decide if an interpretation of a text was right or wrong. The reception
history should have an impact on our reading nowadays. Whenever
there was a “wrong” interpretation, it should not be repeated again.
Moreover, interpretation is never completed. There will be new methods
and new readings; and, by taking all these methods and approaches
responsibly into account, mistakes will be made but just interpretations
will also be found.
4) Ferdinand Deist worked on the Book of Deuteronomy and called it a
“dangerous book” (Deist 1994:28). He also referred to the Boers and the
Great Trek and how they used Deuteronomy to legitimize their actions.
At the end of his article, he states that not the Book of Deuteronomy is
the danger but the “uncritical readers” (Deist 1994:29). That does not
mean that everyone needs to be a biblical scholar or that biblical inter-
pretation should only be done by biblical scholars but that contact with
biblical narratives should base on reflected, detailed reading while trying
to internalize as many interpretations as possible and available. Without
doing this, one’s own perspective on the Bible could become a danger-
ous one.
Bibliography
Berner, Ulrich, “Erwählungsglaube und Rassismus. Das Alte Testament und die
Entstehung der Apartheid-Ideologie.“ Pages 134-49 in Prekäre Zeitgenossen-
schaft. Mit dem Alten Testament in Konflikten der Zeit; Internationales Bibel-
Symposium Graz 2004. Ed. by Joachim Kügler. Berlin et al.: Lit, 2006.
Bieberstein, Klaus, “Geschichte und Geschichten vom Auszug aus Ägypten.
Fiktional und wahr zugleich.“ Bibel und Kirche 62/4 (2007): 210-14.
Collins, John J. The Bible after Babel. Historical criticism in a postmodern age.
Grand Rapids, et al.: Eerdmans, 2005.
Deist, Ferdinand E.: “The dangers of Deuteronomy. A page from the reception
history of the book.” Pages 13-29 in Studies in Deuteronomy (Festschrift C.J. La-
buschagne). Ed. by García Martínez et al.
Dube, Musa W. Postcolonial feminist interpretation of the Bible. St. Louis Miss.:
Chalice Press, 2004.
Dube, Musa W, “Rahab is Hanging Out a Red Ribbon: One African Woman's
Perspective on the Future of Feminist New Testament Scholarship.” Pages