Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 64:2 (Jun 2021)
Article: Challenges To Intertextuality And Christotelism: A New Model Of Canonical-Linguistic Priming
Author: Kyle C. Dunham

JETS 64:2 (June 2021) p. 287

Challenges To Intertextuality And Christotelism: A New Model Of Canonical-Linguistic Priming

Kyle Dunham*

^* Kyle Dunham is Associate Professor of Old Testament at Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, 4801 Allen Road, Allen Park, MI 48101. He may be contacted at [email protected].

Abstract: First proposed by Douglas Moo and developed more recently by G. K. Beale, the so-called “assimilated use” of earlier texts suggests that occasionally New Testament authors cite or allude to texts from the Old Testament simply because the writers are so steeped in these texts that they form the intellectual framework by which the biblical authors think and write. This understanding sits uncomfortably with conventional approaches to intertextuality, which seek to establish more rigorous criteria for how subsequent writers advance the arguments, add to the meaning, or signal the consummation of earlier texts. This approach also challenges aspects of Christotelic interpretation, which seeks to relate biblical texts through a redemptive lens to Christ by privileging the hermeneutical priority of the NT to expand the intention of the OT. This essay incorporates insights from corpus linguistics, with its emphasis on formulaic language, and from the subsidiary field of lexical priming, to build on the conclusions of Moo and Beale. I designate this approach “canonical-linguistic priming” and argue that it provides a useful way to approach some difficult texts in the interpretation of the NT by evaluating them in the light of rhetorical convention. Several examples from Matthew are analyzed under this rubric to account for ways in which the NT writer repurposes earlier texts that are formulized for rhetorical purposes.

Key words: intertextuality, Christotelism, progressive covenantalism, hermeneutics, the use of the Old Testament in the New Testament, lexical priming, corpus linguistics, formulaic language, rhetorical use, Matthew, Jeremiah

Writing over thirty years ago, Douglas Moo suggested an overlooked category of literary connection between the OT and NT. He proposed that some citations and allusions arise from the degree to which earlier biblical texts permeated the thinking of later biblical authors:

Granted the prominence played by the Old Testament in the lives and cultural milieu of the New Testament authors, it is more than probable that they frequently used scriptural language other than as authoritative proof.… New Testament writers often—without intending to provide a ‘correct’ interpretation of the Old Testament text—use Old Testament language as a vehicle of expression.”1

JETS 64...