Viewing Last Supper through imagination
‘Son of man’
Other Filipino biblical scholars later called David “the son of man” (the only christological title that came from Jesus himself) because of his research on the topic.
His doctoral dissertation dealt with the composition and structure of the Book of Daniel. He obtained his doctorate in theology, with specialization in Old Testament exegesis, summa cum laude, from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in 1991.
In 2001, David became the first Filipino scholar to present a major paper on the son of man, “The Roots of Collective Messianism in Deutero-Isaiah and Daniel,” at the annual convention of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines. (The annual biblical scholars’ convention previously had only known international biblical scholars as major paper presenters).
A man of varied interests—from gardening to cooking, to teaching subjects in philosophy and courses in the Old Testament, all of which he has done well with seemingly unbridled enthusiasm—David is not to be stuck with the usual roles.
Article continues after this advertisementStereotyped
Article continues after this advertisementLast year, when he offered to teach the seminar course on reading the Scriptures with imagination, he asked to be excused from his core courses.
“The disadvantages of being a biblical scholar is that you sort of get stereotyped in your area of specialization and because they know you are an Old Testament scholar, it’s like you cannot do anything else but teach Old Testament,” he said.
He clarified that the use of imagination cannot be purely arbitrary. “I think there should be some rules also,” he said.
He calls the method interpolative reading because it is like using the method of interpolation used in geometry.
Interpolation, he said, is connecting the dots. If you have points, you try to find the trend by connecting the dots and then you see upward and downward trends.
“But before you can connect the dots, take the dots seriously. First, you have to find all the dots,” he said.
“The other term that I use is supplying and filling in the gaps. But before you fill in the gaps, take seriously first the existing material. You have to respect the text and then let the text stir up your imagination.”
The 22 papers presented during the two-day joint SNTS-CBAP conference used wide-ranging methodologies, prompting one participant to ask, “Is there one best method to study the Word of God?”
Commenting on this question, David said, “There is no such thing as one correct methodology in approaching the Scriptures.”
Moment of grace
Fr. Clarence Marquez, OP, who cochaired the conference’s organizing committee, said the conference was a moment of grace. “I am affirmed in the conviction that biblical scholarship always already needs a context, a community of faith to sustain it and render it relevant,” he said.
“These ancient texts of Scriptures call for new readings and nearer meanings for us here in the Philippines and in the Asia-Pacific,” he added.
David could only say Amen to that. He said, “Using imagination is so Filipino. It can be the Filipinos’ unique contribution especially for cross-cultural readings and for better interpretation of the Word of God.”
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