Abstract
This article studies the role of theological preunderstanding in interpreting the text of Scripture in the middle of the fourth century CE. It investigates Hilary of Poitier’s use of Scripture in Trinitarian controversies, his hermeneutical approach in his De Trinitate, and his theological exegesis of John 1:1–2. It is contended that Hilary’s pro-Nicene theology determined his particular reading of the opening verses of the Gospel of John. The article demonstrates how this exactly worked. Encountering the exegesis of Arius/‘Arians’/Latin Homoeans, Hilary attempted to show that the Son was eternally born from the Father and therefore, one could not speak about the temporal or even pre-temporal beginning of the Son’s existence. The Son already “was” “in the beginning.”
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©2016 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Hilary of Poitiers’ “Ruled” Exegesis in His De Trinitate: A Case-Study of John 1:1–2
- Gog and Magog in Literary Reception History: The Persistence of the Fantastic
- Southcottians and Shiloh: Genesis 49:10 and the Morphology of a Messianic Hope
- Between Exodus and the Final Judgment: “Sertaneja” Worldview and the Trajectory of Antonio Conselheiro’s Belo Monte (Brazil, 1893–1897)
- Mystical Unification or Ethnic Domination? American Biblical Archeologists’ Responses to the Six-Day War
- Winston Peters “Puts His Hand to the Plow”: The Bible in New Zealand Political Discourse
- Book Reviews
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Bible and Gender Studies
- There is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire
- Shared Stories, Rival Tellings: Early Encounters of Jews, Christians and Muslims
- English Psalms in the Middle Ages, 1300–1450
- The Bible in Arabic: the Scriptures of the ‘People of the Book’ in the Language of Islam
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Hilary of Poitiers’ “Ruled” Exegesis in His De Trinitate: A Case-Study of John 1:1–2
- Gog and Magog in Literary Reception History: The Persistence of the Fantastic
- Southcottians and Shiloh: Genesis 49:10 and the Morphology of a Messianic Hope
- Between Exodus and the Final Judgment: “Sertaneja” Worldview and the Trajectory of Antonio Conselheiro’s Belo Monte (Brazil, 1893–1897)
- Mystical Unification or Ethnic Domination? American Biblical Archeologists’ Responses to the Six-Day War
- Winston Peters “Puts His Hand to the Plow”: The Bible in New Zealand Political Discourse
- Book Reviews
- The Oxford Encyclopedia of The Bible and Gender Studies
- There is No Crime for Those Who Have Christ: Religious Violence in the Christian Roman Empire
- Shared Stories, Rival Tellings: Early Encounters of Jews, Christians and Muslims
- English Psalms in the Middle Ages, 1300–1450
- The Bible in Arabic: the Scriptures of the ‘People of the Book’ in the Language of Islam