A few weeks ago I had the privilege of sitting in on my friend David Stark's successful dissertation defense. His dissertation was entitled "The Hermeneutical Roles of the Teacher of Righteousness and of Jesus of Nazareth in the Qumran Sectarian Manuscripts and in the Epistle to the Romans." His academic advisor was Dr. Andreas Köstenberger. His 2nd reader was Dr. Benjamin Merkle, and his outside reader was none other than Dr. James Charlesworth from Princeton seminary.
Dr. David Stark's dissertation was definitely unique in that he incorporates Thomas Kuhn's The Structure of Scientific Revolution into his theological investigation. Here, with David's permission, is the abstract of his ably-defended dissertation:
"Thomas Kuhn’s arguments about scientific paradigms and their shifts can illuminate the paradigms through which Paul and the Qumran community interpreted their scriptures. The Qumran community experienced a paradigm shift because of their encounter with the Teacher of Righteousness. Within the community’s new paradigm, the Teacher of Righteousness determined certain, specific facets of the presuppositional matrix through which the Qumran community interpreted their scriptures. Similarly, Paul experienced a paradigm shift because of his encounter with Jesus, and within Paul’s new paradigm, Jesus determined certain, specific facets of the presuppositional matrix through which Paul interpreted his scriptures. Nevertheless, although Paul and the Qumran community had similar core canons, similar interpretive methods, and similar patterns of religion, the differences between the figures to which they owed their allegiance shaped different hermeneutical paradigms and different patterns of valid interpretations. These differences further reinforced Paul and the Qumran community’s distinctive patterns of religion."
Congratulations, David, and may the Lord bless your future work!
Thanks so much, Paul!
ReplyDelete