The Christian Bible serves as the sacred scripture of the Christian community. It is read regularly by many people around the world today, as it has been for centuries. But how should one interpret this text? This reader presents a variety of perspective on how to relate historical and theological considerations when approaching the Bible. It encourages students and scholars to ponder how historical and theological categories shape one’s view of three crucial realities: the text of the Bible, the human subject who reads the text, and the nature of the exchange between the two in the practice of reading. As historical and theological categories are applied to these realities, are they mutually exclusive, or can they be combined in some way? This reader encourages students and scholars to explore these important questions by bringing together a selection of some of modernity’s most influential discussions of the issues as well as some of the present day’s most distinguished attempts to weigh in on the debate.
Darren Sarisky received his PhD from the University of Aberdeen, UK. From 2009-2013, he was a Teaching Associate and then a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is now a Lecturer in Systematic Theology at King’s College London, UK.
Copyright Acknowledgments viiIntroduction: Theology, History, and Biblical Interpretation 11 Spinoza, Benedict de. Theological-Political Treatise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Chapter 7, “On the Interpretation of Scripture.” 112 Strauss, David F. The Life of Jesus Critically Examined. London: SCM, 1973. Selections from Introduction, “Development of the Mythical Point of View in Relation to the Gospel Histories.” 293 Kierkegaard, Søren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments. Vol. 1. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. Chapter 1, “The Historical Point of View.” 694 Troeltsch, Ernst. “On the Historical and Dogmatic Methods in Theology.” In Religion in History, 11–32. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1991. 895 Barth, Karl. The Epistle to the Romans. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968. Prefaces 1–6. 1096 Bultmann, Rudolf. “The New Testament and Mythology.” In The New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings, edited by Schubert Ogden, 1–44. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984. 1317 Pope Pius XII. Divino Afflante Spiritu: On Promoting Biblical Studies. Rome, 1943. 1658 Ebeling, Gerhard. Selections from “The Significance of the Critical Historical Method for Church and Theology in Protestantism.” In Word and Faith, 17–61. London: SCM Press, 1963. 1879 Lubac, Henri de. History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to Origen. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2007. Selections from the Conclusion. 219 10 Stendahl, Krister. Selections from “Biblical Theology, Contemporary.” In The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by George A. Buttrick. New York: Abingdon, 1962. 23911 Childs, Brevard S. Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. Chapter 3, “Canon and Criticism.” 25512 Steinmetz, David C. “The Superiority of Pre-Critical Exegesis.” Theology Today 37 (1978): 27–38. 26713 Luz, Ulrich. “Reflections on the Appropriate Interpretation of New Testament Texts.” In Studies in Matthew, 265–289. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005. 27914 Marion, Jean-Luc. God without Being: Hors-Texte. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Chapter 5, “Of the Eucharistic Site of Theology.” 30315 Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. “The Ethics of Biblical Interpretation: Decentering Biblical Scholarship.” Journal of Biblical Literature 107 (1988): 3–17. 32116 Levenson, Jon D. “The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism.” In The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism: Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies, 1–32. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1993. 33717 Plantinga, Alvin. “Two (or More) Kinds of Scripture Scholarship.” Modern Theology 14 (1998): 243–278. 36518 Ricœur, Paul. “The Nuptial Metaphor.” In Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies, edited by André LaCocque and Paul Ricœur, 265–303. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. 40319 Barr, James. The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999. Chapter 12, “Evaluation, Commitment, Objectivity.” 43920 Webster, John. Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Chapter 1, “Revelation, Sanctification, and Inspiration.” 459Index 485
These extensive readings provide a wonderful resource for engaging biblical hermeneutics. Darren Sarisky’s introductions are clear and concise, gently helping the reader to keep central questions in mind. Whatever one’s inevitable quibbles over a text getting left out, these selections represent important moments of the modern conversation about theology and interpretation. Sarisky is one of the young scholars who can advance that conversation to a new stage, and here he does so by helping us attend to its historical context.