Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>]

L.M. Barre wrote,


>Do you think that this text is prophetically referring to Jesus?
>
>LMB
>

>
>> ** Original Message follows...
>
>>
>> L.M. Barre wrote,
>>
>>
>>
>> >Dear Rolf,
>> >
>> >My Jerusalem Bible translates the verbs in 53:1-9 as past.  Do you agree
>> >that the context supports this decision?
>> >
>> >Lloyd
>> >




Dear L.M.


I do no think I will venture a theological interpretation of the passage in
question because I try, as much as possible, to differentiate between
belief and science.

All researchers and scientists are influenced by their religious beliefs,
their philisophy, their ambitions and their ego - no question about that!
However, we should all strive to reduce this subjective influence on our
scientific work as much as possible. I have consciously tried to do this in
discussions on the list,  both by not revealing what my personal beliefs
are and by trying to be as balanced as possible. But nobody will succeed
completely in such efforts.

Recently I have revealed a small part of my personal views, because I felt
it was necessary in connection with a dilemma which has a bearing on
scientific methodology. I ackowledge that there is no place for metaphysics
in scientific research, yet my own studies in the natural sciences have
forced me to exclude chance as the origin of life. It is very difficult to
*exclude* from one's research something ("living intelligence") which
compared with the opposite view, by orders of magnitude better explain the
data. So I have found both inerrancy (categorically including God) and
traditional humanist science (categorically excluding God) inadequate in
Biblical studies. The effect of this  on my studies is not that I abandon
scientific principles, to the contrary, I become more strict in applying
such principles. And by strictly applying such principles I become more
critical to speculative theories which ar held by many, or most
researchers. I therefore think I should not state my view of the
application of Isaiah 52 and 53.


Regards

Rolf


Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo