Julius Wellhausen (1844-1918) is, of course, famous for his work on the
documentary hypothesis concerning the Pentateuch. While reading through his section in Baird's
History of NT Research 151-156), I couldn't help but think of the debate going on in the biblioblogosphere concerning exegesis and theology (to read more about this topic see posts by
Bird,
Meyers, and
Chaplin). Here are Wellhausen's two cents on the subject:
Generally, on has no right to establish a priori any privileged points of view...One must rather proceed from certain impulses furnished by exegesis itself. (Baird, 2:152)
Was Wellhausen right? Should we try not to approach the text with our presuppositions? Or should be just admit that it can't be done and unabashedly do so anyhow?
