Biblical interpretation between history and theology: an interview with Paul Hanson on the biblical studies

This paper is based on an interview with Paul Hanson, an Old Testament professor at Harvard Divinity School. Taking the debates between the historical criticism and canonical criticism as the main issue, this paper discusses some basic problems in the area of biblical studies. For instance, the relationship between the "original" and "final" form of the texts, canonical form and canonical process, archaeology, philology and theology, etc. Paul Hanson's proposal to understand biblical theology as a kind of "historical ontology" is elaborated. In this article, the current methodologies in biblical studies are reviewed against the general historical background of biblical interpretation in the Christian tradition. The role of biblical interpretation in public discourse, the inspiration from Jewish and Catholic exegetical tradition for the Protestant biblical interpretation, the possible approach for the biblical interpretation in Chinese context, are widely discussed as well.