Written by Kwabena Donkor
Historical-conditioning is a phrase that does not adequately express the manner in which Scripture came into being. A more accurate description will be to say that Scripture is historically constituted.
What does it mean to say that the Bible is historically conditioned, and how can this allegation be made when the Bible explicitly says that all of Scripture is inspired by God? (2 Tim 3:15-17). To begin with, when contemporary critical theologians say that the Bible is historically conditioned, they are making a statement about the cognitive status of the Bible. In other words, the factual content of the Bible is subordinated to history and hence to culture.
Two words need careful attention in order to understand the notion of historical conditioning clearly: history and condition. A condition is defined as something that is essential to the appearance or occurrence of something else. In this case, historical conditioning means that “history” is essential to the appearance of the Bible. For many theologians this is not to say that history is that which caused the Bible to appear; rather, history was an essential element in the appearance of the Bible. They will probably agree in principle that God or the Holy Spirit is the principal cause of the Bible, but according to their understanding history was a prerequisite in order for the Bible to come about in its present form. In any case, one’s conception of the manner in which God or the Holy Spirit caused the content of the Bible to come about is essential to one’s understanding of what is implied in the phrase “historical conditioning.”