Abstract:
Eckart Otto’s four-volume commentary on Deuteronomy will remain for many decades a
benchmark for the study of Deuteronomy and the Pentateuch. One important aspect of Otto’s
work is his focus on research history, and in this article the importance of this kind of study is
highlighted by means of Hans-Georg Gadamer’s view of ‘Wirkungsgeschichte’ or the ‘historically
effected conscious’ and the notion that understanding is a way of participating in an intellectual
tradition. In the first volume of his commentary, Otto took us through an interpretation history
of more than three centuries. It was a staggering journey confronting us with many scholars,
showing us that understanding also implies participation ‘in an event of tradition’. In the light
of this history, Otto indicated how the problem of diachrony and synchrony could be
approached.
INTRADISCIPLINARY AND/OR INTERDISCIPLINARY IMPLICATIONS : This article highlights the importance
of the history of research for the understanding of the Old Testament as well as the New
Testament. It also emphasised the important contribution of philosophers such as Hans-Georg
Gadamer and his emphasis on ‘Wirkungsgeschichte’.
