Biblical Interpretation – An Integrated Approach

W. Randolph Tate (PhD, Florida State University) is professor emeritus of humanities at Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri, where he taught for twenty-seven years. He is the author of several books, including Handbook for Biblical Interpretation.

• ContentsPreface to the Third EditionPreface to the Revised EditionPrefaceIntroduction: A Journey into Three WorldsAuthor-Centered Approaches to MeaningText-Centered Approaches to MeaningReader-Centered Approaches to MeaningAn Integrated Approach to MeaningUNIT I: THE WORLD BEHIND THE TEXTChapter 1: Why Study Backgrounds? An Apology for Historical ResearchSummaryReview & StudyChapter 2: The Importance of Language: The Grammatical BackgroundPhonologyMorphologyLexicologySyntaxSummaryReview & StudyChapter 3: Reading and the World Behind the Text: The Historical and Ideological BackgroundsHistorical and Cultural BackgroundSome Examples of Historical Background StudiesThe Ideological ContextThe Ideological World of the Old TestamentExamples of Comparative StudyThe Ideological World of the New TestamentSummaryReview & StudySupplement I: Illustrative Methods That Focus on the World Behind the TextSource CriticismSocial-Scientific CriticismCanonical CriticismUNIT II: THE WORLD WITHIN THE TEXTChapter 4: The Bible as Literature and Literary FormsCommon Literary Sub-GenresArchetypesSummaryReview & StudyChapter 5: How the Hebrew Bible Communicates as LiteratureHebrew NarrativeHebrew PoetryHebrew ProphecySummaryReview & StudyChapter 6: How the New Testament Communicates as LiteratureThe Gospels and ActsThe Gospel of Matthew: A ModelSub-Genres in the GospelsEpistolary LiteratureSub-Genres in the New Testament Epistolary LiteratureApocalyptic LiteratureSummaryReview & StudySupplement II: Illustrative Methods That Focus on the World Within the TextRedaction CriticismLiterary CriticismGenre CriticismUNIT III: THE WORLD IN FRONT OF THE TEXTChapter 7: What Happens When We Read?The Dialectics of DiscourseSummaryReview & StudyChapter 8: What the Reader Brings to the Text: The Role of Reader PresuppositionsThe Role of PreunderstandingReader PresuppositionsTheological PresuppositionsSummaryReview & StudySupplement III: Illustrative Methods That Focus on the World in Front of the TextReader-Response CriticismAutobiographical CriticismFeminist CriticismUNIT IV: INTEGRATING THE THREE WORLDSChapter 9: Mark's Gospel and the Merging of Three WorldsMark's Use of Literary AllusionMark's Use of IntercalationJesus' Relationship to His Contemporary Worldview according to MarkConclusion: The Ending of Mark and the Predicament of the ReaderReview & StudyConclusion: The Never-Ending StoryAPPENDIXES: SYNOPSES OF ADDITIONAL INTERPRETIVE METHODS EMPLOYED BY SCHOLARSOverview: How Methods Affect InterpretationAppendix I: Methods That Focus on the World behind the TextForm CriticismGenetic CriticismTradition CriticismAppendix II: Methods That Focus on the World within the TextFormal CriticismRhetorical CriticismSpeech Act TheoryStructuralismAppendix III: Methods That Focus on the World in Front of the TextAfrican-American CriticismCultural CriticismDeconstructionNew HistoricismPostcolonial Criticism & Liberation TheologyReception TheoryWomanist Criticism/TheologyAppendix IV: Methods Involving More than One WorldIdeological CriticismIntertextual CriticismMarxist CriticismMimetic CriticismNarrative CriticismSocio-Rhetorical CriticismIndexes