The Conflict of Interpretations

Abstract

Abstract Scripture and its interpretation played a key role in the discourse about factions in the second century. Before Justin, Clement of Rome, the Epistle of Barnabas, and Ignatius of Antioch engage in agonistic scriptural interpretation, but Justin marks a new departure in anti-heretical deployment of scriptural interpretation. In answer to Justin’s arguments, Ptolemy’s Letter to Flora offers a sophisticated attempt to provide a hermeneutical rationale for a differentiated approach to scripture. Tatian and Theophilus of Antioch may also participate in anti-heretical exegetical debates, although the evidence is not always entirely clear. Irenaeus for his part is the first to insist with equal emphasis upon the polemical representation of heretical exegesis and the norms designed to fight methodically against opposing interpretations. The formal definition which he gives to the dispute serves as a model to his successors, by emphasizing the authority of a New Testament in progress.

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