Text and interpretation
Posted on | November 5, 2008 |
In his Dictionnaire philosophique (Philosophical Dictionary, 1764), Voltaire has a section on ‘Contradictions’ in which he discusses, among other things, examples of contradictions (or apparent contradictions) in the biblical writings. He refers to Jean Meslier (1664-1729), who lived the life of a priest but meanwhile wrote a book, found after his death, in which he lamented biblical contradictions and other problems that undermined traditional theology and persuaded him that atheism was a better alternative.
Voltaire in discussing scriptural anomalies examines the question of the census (or numbering) recorded in the Gospel of Luke. He points out that the historians Tacitus and Suetonius say nothing about a census of the empire, and that at the time when Jesus is said to have been born Syria was governed by Quintilius Varus (as noted by Tertullian and confirmed by coins) and not Cyrenius, who came to Syria ten years later. He considers that a census would have been for Roman citizens, and so would not have included Joseph and Mary.
However, Voltaire offers a solution. Quintilius Varus might have sent Cyrenius – or Cirinius as the scribes call him – to Jerusalem to impose a poll-tax, and Joseph and Mary may have been required to go to Bethlehem as their birth-place to pay the tax. While acknowledging the difficulty that Herod and not the Romans imposed taxes on the population at that time, Voltaire proposes that there could have been a special arrangement in an emergency.
Though rationalist and sceptical in many ways, Voltaire expressed the view in his dictionary article that the Gospels were written to foster holy living and not to provoke learned criticism. He disapproves of the decision of Meslier to abandon his faith in resorting to reason, since (Voltaire argues) the difficulties of life – including irreconcilable contradictions – are sent to exercise the one and humble the other.
We can with reason advance another viewpoint, that the interpretation of texts requires consistent adherence to responsible historical, literary and text-critical analysis, and that we have to be prepared to accept and admit the results of methodologically rigorous investigation. The alternative is to abandon the evidence of texts and the methods of history – an option that lays no sound basis for understanding matters human or divine.
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