Original Research - Special Collection: Gateway to the Future from a deconstructed past

Deconstructing the past: Behind the text, in the text, confronted by the text

Ernest van Eck
HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies | Vol 73, No 1 | a4654 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v73i1.4654 | © 2017 Ernest van Eck | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 13 May 2017 | Published: 24 August 2017

About the author(s)

Ernest van Eck, Department of New Testament Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria, South Africa

Abstract

This article, taking the Faculty’s centenary celebration slogan of ‘Gateway to’ as cue, reflects on the contributions made by lecturers in the Department of New Testament Studies, University of Pretoria, that ‘opened the gates’ for the disadvantaged, excluded and marginalised. How did these scholars envisage inclusive believing communities and an open society with equal opportunities for all? It is argued that because of a historical, critical and close reading of the texts of the New Testament, many scholars belonging to the Department during the past 100 years were able to hear the texts of the New Testament in their original socio-historical settings (what it meant for its original readers), and therefore were able to apply these meanings in ever-changing new contexts (what it means).

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