Michael Legaspi | St. Vladimir's Orthodox Theological Seminary (2024)

Oxford Scholarship Online, 2018

The roots of modern culture lie in ancient soil. On this fertile ground grew a two-sided traditio... more The roots of modern culture lie in ancient soil. On this fertile ground grew a two-sided tradition, a dialectical relation between the legacies of ancient Greek civilization on the one hand and theological perspectives based on the Jewish and Christian scriptures on the other. Later periods—the late antique, medieval, and early modern—attest to the fact that, despite essential differences, Greek philosophy and biblical interpretation formed a lasting cultural synthesis. Part of what made this synthesis possible was a shared outlook, a common aspiration toward wholeness of understanding that refused to separate knowledge from goodness, virtue from happiness, cosmos from polis, divine authority from human responsibility. As that which names this wholeness, wisdom features prominently in both classical and biblical literatures as an ultimate good. In its traditional form, wisdom was understood to govern a variety of endeavors. It was a program for human flourishing that accorded with a...

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation

Although biblical criticism in the early modern period is often identified with the rejection of ... more Although biblical criticism in the early modern period is often identified with the rejection of tradition, a closer examination reveals a more complex effort to investigate the literal sense while retaining the authority of Christian culture and Antiquity. This chapter traces the development of early modern biblical criticism in relation to changing attitudes toward early Christian interpreters. Focusing on the Republic of Letters and figures such as Erasmus and Hugo Grotius, it also examines the pivotal contribution of French Oratorian Richard Simon. Simon is important not only for his critical histories of biblical literature but also for his articulation of the relation between criticism and traditional authority. Finally, this chapter considers the ways that Simon’s conception of criticism paved the way for academic interpreters in the eighteenth century, notably Johann Salomo Semler.

The Oxford Handbook of Wisdom and the Bible, 2021

This article surveys attempts to explore the relation of the so-called Wisdom Literature of the H... more This article surveys attempts to explore the relation of the so-called Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible—the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes—to figures and texts within Greek civilization. “Classical” and “biblical” texts have furnished a two-sided wisdom discourse within Western culture throughout the late antique, medieval, and early modern periods. Nevertheless, focused, comparative examinations of Wisdom texts in the two streams of tradition have not featured prominently in modern critical treatments of Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. This article provides a brief review of essential backgrounds: the old dialectic between “Athens” and “Jerusalem” as well as modern attempts to distinguish “Hebrew thought” from “Greek thought.” The final section of the article turns to more recent examinations of specific parallels between the book of Ecclesiastes and Greek skepticism, the book of Job and Greek tragedy, and the book of Proverbs and virtue ethics.

Journal of Jewish Studies, 2019

History of Religions

The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Erudition and the Republic of Letters

Between 1614 and 1617, Hugo Grotius wrote a treatise entitled De imperio summarum potestatum circ... more Between 1614 and 1617, Hugo Grotius wrote a treatise entitled De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra. Though the work was published much later (posthumously in 1647), it should be read in the context of Grotius’s involvement in the controversy associated with the Oath of Allegiance to James i and the conflict between Remonstrants and critics of the government in the 1610s. In De imperio, Grotius uses classical and contemporary sources to argue for government oversight of the churches. This article focuses on one biblical passage that figured prominently in the debate over state control of religion, Numbers 27:18–21. Grotius’s remarkable treatment of this passage shows how a leading figure in the Republic of Letters used the tools of historical and literary criticism to gain leverage in an ongoing hermeneutical debate, thus shedding light on the relation of irenicism to critical exegesis of the Bible.

Habakkuk is unique among books in the Twelve in its criticism of foreign cultic practices. Instea... more Habakkuk is unique among books in the Twelve in its criticism of foreign cultic practices. Instead of condemning Israel and Judah for the worship of other gods, it criticizes the worship offered to a foreign deity by that deity's own people. This article examines Hab 2:18-19, arguing that the reduction of the pesel or massēkâ to a lifeless object is intelligible in moral rather than ontological terms. The integration of this cul-tic criticism into a more standard denunciation of a foreign nation's non-cultic transgressions yields a distinctive form of opposition to idolatry. What Habakkuk shows is that disbelief in the reality of idols may owe less to a mocking, debunking rationalism than to a cynicism regarding the uses of ritual. Keywords Idolatry – Habakkuk – the Twelve – personification of death

Handbuch der Bibelhermeneutiken: Von Origenes bis zur Gegenwart, 2016

New Blackfriars, 2011

New Blackfriars, 2013

Journal of Biblical Literature

Journal of Early Modern History, 2007

Journal of Early Modern History, 2009

Journal of Early Modern History, 2007

Oxford Scholarship Online, 2018

The roots of modern culture lie in ancient soil. On this fertile ground grew a two-sided traditio... more The roots of modern culture lie in ancient soil. On this fertile ground grew a two-sided tradition, a dialectical relation between the legacies of ancient Greek civilization on the one hand and theological perspectives based on the Jewish and Christian scriptures on the other. Later periods—the late antique, medieval, and early modern—attest to the fact that, despite essential differences, Greek philosophy and biblical interpretation formed a lasting cultural synthesis. Part of what made this synthesis possible was a shared outlook, a common aspiration toward wholeness of understanding that refused to separate knowledge from goodness, virtue from happiness, cosmos from polis, divine authority from human responsibility. As that which names this wholeness, wisdom features prominently in both classical and biblical literatures as an ultimate good. In its traditional form, wisdom was understood to govern a variety of endeavors. It was a program for human flourishing that accorded with a...

The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation

Although biblical criticism in the early modern period is often identified with the rejection of ... more Although biblical criticism in the early modern period is often identified with the rejection of tradition, a closer examination reveals a more complex effort to investigate the literal sense while retaining the authority of Christian culture and Antiquity. This chapter traces the development of early modern biblical criticism in relation to changing attitudes toward early Christian interpreters. Focusing on the Republic of Letters and figures such as Erasmus and Hugo Grotius, it also examines the pivotal contribution of French Oratorian Richard Simon. Simon is important not only for his critical histories of biblical literature but also for his articulation of the relation between criticism and traditional authority. Finally, this chapter considers the ways that Simon’s conception of criticism paved the way for academic interpreters in the eighteenth century, notably Johann Salomo Semler.

The Oxford Handbook of Wisdom and the Bible, 2021

This article surveys attempts to explore the relation of the so-called Wisdom Literature of the H... more This article surveys attempts to explore the relation of the so-called Wisdom Literature of the Hebrew Bible—the books of Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes—to figures and texts within Greek civilization. “Classical” and “biblical” texts have furnished a two-sided wisdom discourse within Western culture throughout the late antique, medieval, and early modern periods. Nevertheless, focused, comparative examinations of Wisdom texts in the two streams of tradition have not featured prominently in modern critical treatments of Wisdom in the Hebrew Bible. This article provides a brief review of essential backgrounds: the old dialectic between “Athens” and “Jerusalem” as well as modern attempts to distinguish “Hebrew thought” from “Greek thought.” The final section of the article turns to more recent examinations of specific parallels between the book of Ecclesiastes and Greek skepticism, the book of Job and Greek tragedy, and the book of Proverbs and virtue ethics.

Journal of Jewish Studies, 2019

History of Religions

The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

Erudition and the Republic of Letters

Between 1614 and 1617, Hugo Grotius wrote a treatise entitled De imperio summarum potestatum circ... more Between 1614 and 1617, Hugo Grotius wrote a treatise entitled De imperio summarum potestatum circa sacra. Though the work was published much later (posthumously in 1647), it should be read in the context of Grotius’s involvement in the controversy associated with the Oath of Allegiance to James i and the conflict between Remonstrants and critics of the government in the 1610s. In De imperio, Grotius uses classical and contemporary sources to argue for government oversight of the churches. This article focuses on one biblical passage that figured prominently in the debate over state control of religion, Numbers 27:18–21. Grotius’s remarkable treatment of this passage shows how a leading figure in the Republic of Letters used the tools of historical and literary criticism to gain leverage in an ongoing hermeneutical debate, thus shedding light on the relation of irenicism to critical exegesis of the Bible.

Habakkuk is unique among books in the Twelve in its criticism of foreign cultic practices. Instea... more Habakkuk is unique among books in the Twelve in its criticism of foreign cultic practices. Instead of condemning Israel and Judah for the worship of other gods, it criticizes the worship offered to a foreign deity by that deity's own people. This article examines Hab 2:18-19, arguing that the reduction of the pesel or massēkâ to a lifeless object is intelligible in moral rather than ontological terms. The integration of this cul-tic criticism into a more standard denunciation of a foreign nation's non-cultic transgressions yields a distinctive form of opposition to idolatry. What Habakkuk shows is that disbelief in the reality of idols may owe less to a mocking, debunking rationalism than to a cynicism regarding the uses of ritual. Keywords Idolatry – Habakkuk – the Twelve – personification of death

Handbuch der Bibelhermeneutiken: Von Origenes bis zur Gegenwart, 2016

New Blackfriars, 2011

New Blackfriars, 2013

Journal of Biblical Literature

Journal of Early Modern History, 2007

Journal of Early Modern History, 2009

Journal of Early Modern History, 2007