Parallel Reading Strategies and the Search for the Christian Bible: The Relationship Between the Testaments as a Crux Interpretum

This article examines the interpretive activity of reading biblical texts in parallel, focusing on its role in conceptualizing the relationship between the Old and New Testaments. Because the biblical canon provides no single, explicit articulation of its internal dynamic, this relationship is a crux interpretum that faces every reader of the Christian Bible. The first section surveys distinct biblical-theological frameworks for relating the testaments and notes that each conveys important insights but also has inherent limitations. The second section focuses on a specific example: the varied New Testament utilization of Psalm 110. This case study illustrates how the practice of parallel reading, even at the granular level of exegesis, requires navigating between canonical continuity and tension. Ultimately, this hermeneutical reflection on the canon’s internal complexity will deepen a reader’s understanding of Scripture’s multifaceted witness to Christ.