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doi: 10.1017/S0009640710001228 The Judaizing Calvin: Sixteenth-Century Debates over the Messianic Psalms. By G. Sujin Pak. Oxford Studies in Historical Theology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. xii + 217 pp. $65.00 cloth.
In The Judaizing Calvin, G. Sujin Pak seeks to discover the place that John Calvin occupies in the history of the interpretation of scripture by exarnining his interpretation of the Messianic Psalms 2, 8, 16, 22, 45, 72, 110, and 118. Pak has three primary objectives in this study. Her first goal is to attempt to locate the place of John Calvin in the transition from pre-critical to critical exegesis, by placing Calvin's interpretation of these Psalms in the context of the prior work of Medieval and Reformation exegetes. Her second goal is to discover the role of biblical exegesis in the development of confessional identity. Her third goal is to seek to uncover the contribution Calvin might make to a more edifying encounter between Jews and Christians in their interpretation of scripture.
Pak attempts to discover the place of Calvin in exegetical history by discussing the interpretation of these eight Psalms by Calvin's predecessors and contemporaries. She begins with the interpretation of the medieval and late medieval tradition, focussing on the Glossa Ordinaria, Nicholas of Lyra, Dennis the Carthusian, and Jacques Lefevre d'Etaples. She discovers that all of them read these Psalms as direct prophecy of Christ, and do not see them in the context of David or Solomon at all. All see in them clear teachings concerning the doctrines of the Trinity and the two natures of Christ, and all identify the "enemies" mentioned in these Psalms with thé Jews who rejected Christ. She then rums to the...