Download or read book A Manifesto for Theological Interpretation written by Craig G. Bartholomew and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 467 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent decades have witnessed a renaissance of theological interpretation. Craig Bartholomew, coauthor of the bestselling The Drama of Scripture, and Heath Thomas bring together a team of specialists to articulate a multifaceted vision for returning rigorous biblical interpretation to the context of the church. Developed by the internationally recognized Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar, this book is designed to bring clarity and unity to the enterprise of theological interpretation. It positively integrates multiple approaches to interpreting the Bible, combining academic rigor with pastoral sensitivity for professors, students, and church leaders.
Download or read book A Manifesto for Theological Interpretation written by Craig G. Bartholomew and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Recent decades have witnessed a renaissance of theological interpretation. Craig Bartholomew, coauthor of the bestselling The Drama of Scripture, and Heath Thomas bring together a team of specialists to articulate a multifaceted vision for returning rigorous biblical interpretation to the context of the church. Developed by the internationally recognized Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar, this book is designed to bring clarity and unity to the enterprise of theological interpretation. It positively integrates multiple approaches to interpreting the Bible, combining academic rigor with pastoral sensitivity for professors, students, and church leaders.
Download or read book Manifesto for Theological Interpretation written by and published by . This book was released on with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture written by Daniel J. Treier and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2008-07-01 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theological interpretation of Scripture is a growing trend in biblical interpretation, with an emphasis on the contexts of canon, creed, and church. This approach seeks to bridge the gap between biblical studies and theology, which grew wide with the ascendancy of critical approaches to Scripture. Introducing Theological Interpretation of Scripture is the first clear, systematic introduction to this movement for students. The book surveys the movement's history, themes, advocates, and positions and seeks to bring coherence to its various elements. Author Daniel Treier also explores what he sees as the greatest challenges the movement will have to address as it moves into the future. This helpful book is appropriate for pastors and lay readers interested in biblical interpretation.
Download or read book Reformed Catholicity written by Michael Allen and published by Baker Academic. This book was released on 2015-01-13 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Can Christians and churches be both catholic and Reformed? In this volume, two accomplished young theologians argue that to be Reformed means to go deeper into true catholicity rather than away from it. Their manifesto for a catholic and Reformed approach to dogmatics seeks theological renewal through retrieval of the rich resources of the historic Christian tradition. The book provides a survey of recent approaches toward theological retrieval and offers a renewed exploration of the doctrine of sola scriptura. It includes a substantive afterword by J. Todd Billings.
Download or read book The Interpreting Spirit written by Hannah R. K. Mather and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2020-10-08 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Interpreting Spirit is both a consideration of the Spirit’s role in the interpretation of Scripture and a celebration of renewal scholarship. It examines those who have focused on the Spirit’s role in their hermeneutical considerations, recognizing common, uniting themes amidst the diversity of scholarly approach and opinion. Working on the principle that the Spirit communicates in ways that seek to unify and celebrate the other, Mather works diachronically from 1970, identifying and drawing together these common, uniting hallmarks into a collective understanding. Pivotal to Mather’s argument is her emphasis that we do not just interpret Scripture, but that the Spirit through Scripture, and working in our lives in ways that lead us towards Scripture, interprets us. The Interpreting Spirit is the first comprehensive analysis of the conversation surrounding pneumatic interpretation that has been taking place, particularly among renewal scholars, since 1970. It seeks to answer the notoriously difficult question, “What does the Spirit do in the process of biblical interpretation?”
Download or read book The Future of Liberation Theology written by Ivan Petrella and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-03-02 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Future of Liberation Theology envisions a radical new direction for Latin American liberation theology. One of a new generation of Latin American theologians, Ivan Petrella shows that despite the current dominance of 'end of history' ideology, liberation theologians need not abandon their belief that the theological rereading of Christianity must be linked to the development of 'historical projects' - models of political and economic organization that would replace an unjust status quo. In the absence of historical projects, liberation theology currently finds itself unable to move beyond merely talking about liberation toward actually enacting it in society. Providing a bold new interpretation of the current state and potential future of liberation theology, Ivan Petrella brings together original research on the movement, with developments in political theory, critical legal theory and political economy to reconstruct liberation theology's understanding of theology, democracy and capitalism. The result is the recovery of historical projects, thus allowing liberation theologians to once again place the reality of liberation, and not just the promise, at the forefront of their task.
Download or read book Spirit Hermeneutics written by Keener and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2016 with total page 550 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How do we hear the Spirit's voice in Scripture? Once we have done responsible exegesis, how may we expect the Spirit to apply the text to our lives and communities? In Spirit Hermeneutics biblical scholar Craig Keener addresses these questions, carefully articulating how the experience of the Spirit that empowered the church on the day of Pentecost can -- and should -- dynamically shape our reading of Scripture today. Keener considers what Spirit-guided interpretation means, explores implications of an epistemology of Word and Spirit for biblical hermeneutics, and shows how Scripture itself models an experiential appropriation of its message. Bridging the Word-Spirit gap between academic and experiential Christian approaches, Spirit Hermeneutics narrates a way of reading the Bible that is faithful both to the Spirit-inspired biblical text and the experience of the Spirit among believers. -- from book flap.
Download or read book The Word of God for the People of God written by and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2010-01-04 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book fills a real need for pastors and students. Though there is currently a large body of material on the theological interpretation of Scripture, most of it is highly specific and extremely technical. J. Todd Billings here provides a straightforward entryway for students and pastors to understand why theological interpretation matters and how it can be done. / A solid, constructive theological work, The Word of God for the People of God presents a distinctive Trinitarian, participatory approach toward reading Scripture as the church. Billings's accessible yet substantial argument for a theological hermeneutic is rooted in a historic vision of the practice of scriptural interpretation even as it engages a wide range of contemporary issues and includes several exegetical examples that apply to concrete Christian ministry situations.
Download or read book Theological Interpretation of Scripture as Spiritual Formation written by and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2022-12-19 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Theological Interpretation of Scripture often begins and ends in the academy even though it is intended to find its bearing in the heart of the church. This volume seeks to bridge that gap by showing how the exegetical methods of TIS are themselves spiritually formative and naturally intersect into the life of the church.
Download or read book A Nazareth Manifesto written by Samuel Wells and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-03-24 with total page 342 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Nazareth Manifesto is an eloquent and impassioned ecumenical proposal for re-envisioning Christianity's approach to social engagement away from working "for" the people to being "with" them. Questions the effectiveness of the current trend of intervention as a means of fixing the problems of people in distressed and disadvantaged circumstances Argues that Jesus spent 90% of his life simply being among the people of Nazareth, sharing their hopes and struggles, therefore Christians should place a similar emphasis on being alongside people in need rather than hastening to impose solutions Written by a respected priest and broadcaster and renowned Christian ethicist and preacher Supported by historical, contemporary, exegetical and anecdotal illustrations
Download or read book Poetry and Theology in the Book of Lamentations written by Heath A. Thomas and published by Sheffield Phoenix Press Limited. This book was released on 2013 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book of Lamentations is a challenge to its readers. Its ambiguous theology, strident protestations against its deity, and haunting imagery confound interpreters. This monograph engages the enigma of Lamentations by assessing its theology. It does so, however, neither by tracing a single theological perspective through the book nor by reconstructing the history of the composition of the book. Rather, Heath Thomas assesses the poetry of Lamentations by offering a close analysis of each poem in the book. He reconsiders the acrostic as the foundational structure for the poetry, reads the book as an intentionally composed whole, and assesses the pervasive use of repetition, metaphor, and allusion. For the first time in the field, the analysis here is grounded on the insights of the Italian semiotician Umberto Eco. Drawing upon Eco's distinction between 'open' and 'closed' textualities, Thomas argues that Lamentations represents a distinctively 'open' text, one that presents its reader with a myriad of surprising avenues to interpret the poetry. This distinctive approach avoids a polarization in the portrait of God in Lamentations, arguing that its poetry neither justifies God outright nor does it exonerate God's people in the exilic age. Rather, it enables these theological visions to interrelate with each another, inviting the reader to make sense of the interaction. The ambiguous theological vision of Lamentations, then, is not a problem that the reader is intended to overcome but an integral feature in the construction of meaning. This original monograph offers a new perspective on how the poetry informs our appreciation of theological thought in the exilic age.
Download or read book A Theology of Literature written by William Franke and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2017-07-14 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the tools of far-reaching revolutions in literary theory and informed by the poetic sense of truth, William Franke offers a critical appreciation and philosophical reflection on a way of reading the Bible as theological revelation. Franke explores some of the principal literary genres of the Bible—Myth, Epic History, Prophecy, Apocalyptic, Writings, and Gospel—as building upon one another in composing a compactly unified edifice of writing that discloses prophetic and apocalyptic truth in a sense that is intelligible to the secular mind as well as to religious spirits. From Genesis to Gospel this revealed truth of the Bible is discovered as a universal heritage of humankind. Poetic literature becomes the light of revelation for a theology that is discerned as already inherent in humanity’s tradition. The divine speaks directly to the human heart by means of infinitely open poetic powers of expression in words exceeding and released from the control of finite, human faculties and the authority of human institutions. CHRIS BENDA: The main title of your book, A Theology of Literature, is rather expansive in scope - it's the title of a manifesto - while the subtitle, The Bible as Revelation in the Tradition of the Humanities, narrows the focus to a particular text. This title seems to adumbrate your conception of the relationship between literature and the Bible. What is that relationship? WILLIAM FRANKE: Picking up on your suggestions, I would say that the book is a manifesto for literature as a revelation of the highest sort of truth of which the human heart and intellect are capable, and at the same time a manifesto for theology as the source and core of traditions of human knowledge. The Bible is taken as an outstanding example of both types of discourse, literature and theology, in some of their most marvelous and miraculous revelatory capacities. CB: In the introduction to your book, you ask, "What is a theological reading of the Bible, and what is a literary reading?" This question suggests different methods, different purposes, different outcomes. But you put forward another way of thinking about the relationship between the theological and the literary. What is that way? WF: The usual idea of the "Bible as literature" is that one can read the Bible just as good literature without presupposing any kind of religious belief. This makes it palatable to many who would otherwise not be interested. My approach, likewise, is to read the Bible for all that it is worth as literature, but I find precisely there the Bible's most challenging and authentic theology. Understanding literature in its furthest purport requires a kind of belief in language and the word. It entails a hopeful, loving, and faithful sort of understanding of what is said, and that already constitutes the rudiments of a theology. This is to take the Bible as an especially revealing example of a humanities text. The greatest of these texts generally contain an at least implicitly theological (or sometimes a/theological) dimension to the extent that they envision the final purpose of life and the meaning of the world as a whole. Whether or not they speak of "God," such texts are in a theological register wherever the unity and origin of existence are in question. Personalizing this origin as "God" is one interpretation that remains inevitable and imaginatively compelling for us, since we are persons. CB: You are not reading the Bible as literature in the same way that many others have been doing over the last several decades (even though Robert Alter, one of the foremost practitioners of that art, appears frequently in the pages of your book). Which aspects of the "Bible as literature" approach are, in your view, problematic, at least for your project, and which do you find of continuing value? WF: The tendency to reduce the Bible to mere literature is the approach that I wish to eschew. I emphasize that the Bible is truly revelatory as literature. This enables us to understand theological revelation, too, in a non-dogmatic sense, as having a much more general human validity. Appreciating the literary qualities and excellence of the Bible remains as crucial to my project as to the traditional approach. However, I stress that these literary features are not merely aesthetic effects or ornaments. They can be revelatory of the real. The ultimately real and true, which exceeds objectification and its inevitable oppositions, cannot be apprehended except through the imagination. CB: When you speak of the Bible as revelation, what do you mean? WF: I mean especially that it enables uncanny insight into the nature of reality as a whole and in its deepest core. Revelation conveys an infinite intelligence of life and of everything that concerns us as humans. I recognize knowledge as "revealed" to the extent that it rises beyond ordinary limits to a degree of knowing that somehow fathoms the whole or total or infinite. This means for many that revelation comes from God. But even before presupposing that we know anything about God, we can simply let revelation emerge from this extraordinary capacity of the mind to transcend itself toward what it cannot comprehend. In certain encounters with others, we can experience an infinite depth of love and life that boggles the mind and exceeds comprehension. It can transform our lives. Theological revelation is a compelling interpretation, handed down over generations in the human community, of this register of experience. CB: You seem to make a distinction between revelation and theological revelation. What is that distinction, and what import does it have for your argument? WF: No, I would rather emphasize the continuity between theological revelation and revelation in a more general, phenomenological sense of things simply coming to be known or openly "disclosed." This is important for keeping theology connected with the rest of human knowledge, although human knowledge itself, all along, has also harbored something that transcends it and all its finite means. I say "all along" because this problematic of the self-transcendence of knowledge towards an extra-worldly Other can be traced to the Axial Age in the middle of the first millennium BCE. Of course, a relationship with the Other who reveals himself or herself or itself as God belongs to the full sense of theological revelation as understood in biblical tradition. I consider this as a degree of revelation of our relationship with others envisaged in its absoluteness. CB: What do you mean when you talk about the "poetic potential" of language? Does all language have such potential, even what we might not typically think of as poetic - or even literary? WF: Language has infinite potential for meaning, and poetic language shows and exploits this potential most intensively. Language can be thought of as beginning with one word like "OM" that means everything all at once. By a process of disambiguation, more limited and specific meanings are differentiated from each other and assigned to different words. However, poetic language reverses this process and allows us to hear the multiple meanings buried in our metaphors and to divine the original unity of meaning in language behind the rationally differentiated senses of words in the language that we pragmatically employ, yet with loss of its potential wholeness of meaning. CB: Your book is concerned with the Bible as a humanities text. What is a humanities text and what does a humanities text do? Might we think of any text as having the potential to be a humanities text, as long as it is read "humanistically"? WF: Yes. Being a humanities text is a matter of how a text is read. But certain texts lend themselves more than others to touching on matters of deep and perennial human concern: life and death and love and war, greed and heroism, suffering and hope for liberation, redemption, etc. CB: You state that, prior to modernity, texts, including the Bible, "exercise[d] sovereign authority in determining [their] own meaning and in interrogating the reader and potentially challenging the reader's insight and very integrity." In secular modernity, by contrast, "texts taken as specimens for analysis are dissected according to the will and criteria of a knowing subject considered to be wholly external to them." What implications have modern, secular readings of the Bible, and of literature more generally, had for human knowledge and, indeed, for human existence; and how does our present time - what you call "the 'post-secular' turn of postmodern culture" - change how we relate to the Bible and literature? WF: The modern, secular era is the era of the individual knowing subject. The self-conscious human subject becomes the ground and foundation of all knowing, emblematically with Descartes's "I think therefore I am" as the inaugural proposition of modern philosophy. Hegel construed the history of philosophy this way. Texts become artifacts created by finite human subjects. Prior to this modern era and its constitutive Narcissism, the creation of the text was a much more open affair. It was not under the control of a unitary finite subject, the author. Human authors could be channels for revelations from beyond their own ken. Readers could explore texts for revelations from a higher authority than just the author's own intention. Augustine's reading the Bible as meaning infinitely more than its presumable human authors, starting with Moses, were able to comprehend is a good example (Confessions, Book X-XIII). CB: You quote John 1:14 ("The Word became flesh and dwelt among us") and claim that this statement "announces a general interpretive principle: the meaning of tradition is experienced only in its application to life in the present." Could you unpack that a bit? WF: Meaning in literature and life is much more than just an intellectual sense or dictionary definition. How words mean for us is rooted in our way of existing in the world. They have to take on our own flesh and dwell in and with us in order to realize their full potential to signify. This fact is conveyed poetically by the doctrine of the Incarnation that is clairvoyantly and beautifully expressed in the Gospel of John. CB: A Theology of Literature largely consists of explorations of the revelatory aspects of varying literary genres in the Bible. You look at mythology, epic, history, prophecy, apocalyptic, literature, poetry, and gospel. In the conclusion of your book, you suggest that "[a]ll of these genres, in some manner, are summed up and recapitulated in the Gospel." This is convenient, since we can't discuss each of these genres in depth. How, in brief, does the Gospel provide such a summation and recapitulation? WF: The gospel is a prophetic word in which the archetypal myth of Genesis and the epic history of Exodus and the words of the prophets are fulfilled by the apocalyptic event of Christ as Savior. It contains the life history of the Redeemer and includes many of his own sayings uttered with all their poetry ("Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin," etc.). It brings all these various forms and genres of revelation to a culmination in a word that exceeds all genres, not least history, in order to recast the mold of meaning and the very meaning of "truth." Its truth is made in being enacted and incorporated by those who believe in it and live it. In the terms of I John 1: 6, these are those who would "do the truth." CB: Your book is able to cover significant portions of the Bible despite its brevity, but of course it can't cover everything. The legal materials are one type of literature that doesn't get extended treatment, so I'm curious how you might understand them as revelatory texts within the tradition of the humanities. WF: The legal materials fundamentally express a relationship with God. They enable Israel to live in fellowship with the Lord and as sanctified by his love. "O Lord how I love thy law!" (Psalm 119: 97) exclaims the psalmist. The legal prescriptions in the Bible reveal God and the way to God in very particular circumstances and social conditions. But the relationship with God that they model is potentially valid in all times and places for those who wish to embrace the law as a gift for living in intimacy with the Almighty. CB: What dangers might accompany the recovery of texts as authoritative sources of truth in our post-secular, postmodern age? How might those dangers, should they exist, be avoided or met? WF: The authority of texts read in the perspective of a theology of literature never exempts the readers from responsibility for the implications and consequences that they draw from the text. The authoritativeness of the infinite potential for meaning that is inherent in these texts is in a dimension of depth that underlies all meanings and all being and all creatures. It does not valorize some over others. These determinations are always made by human beings, and they alone bear the responsibility for their choices and acts. The power and authority of the text resides in its infinite potential before the emergence of any divisive distinctions and oppositions. This type of authority of the text does not absolve humans of responsibility. It rather reveals their infinite responsibility for whatever authority they claim or evoke. They give this authority a determinate shape and particular application that is all their own. They are answerable for whether or not their interpretation respects and protects all creatures and creation. Questions by Chris Benda, Divinity Librarian, Vanderbilt University
Download or read book Paul and the Meaning of Scripture written by Matthew L. Halsted and published by Wipf and Stock Publishers. This book was released on 2022-08-23 with total page 315 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One exciting area of study is Paul’s use of the Old Testament. The apostle routinely appeals to Scripture to support his arguments and to persuade his readers. One gets the impression that Paul has a high respect for Scripture and that his knowledge of it is broad and comprehensive. And yet, there is something enigmatic about his use of the Old Testament at the same time—something elusive and even puzzling. His interpretations can appear strained, sometimes going beyond the text’s original context. Is Paul a poor reader of Scripture? Is there genuine tension between Paul’s interpretations and the original context of his quotations? In this riveting study, Matthew L. Halsted takes readers through Romans to explore these and related questions. In the end, he argues that such tension does exist and that the solution is not to ignore it or view it as a liability, but rather to preserve it by adopting a hermeneutic that can sufficiently account for it as an integral element for each and every act of interpretation. Following the insights of philosopher Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002), Halsted describes Paul’s use of Scripture as dialogical re-authoring—a term that captures the dynamic relationship between the apostle and the Jewish texts that were so important to him.
Download or read book Invitation to Biblical Theology written by Jeremy M. Kimble and published by Kregel Academic. This book was released on 2020-06-30 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Invitation to Biblical Theology provides a thorough overview of biblical theology that is accessible for those new to the topic but substantial enough for advanced study. Defining biblical theology as the study of the whole Bible on its own terms, Jeremy Kimble and Ched Spellman begin with a brief history of the discipline followed by a survey of contemporary approaches. They then lay out their own approach, built on the framework of the canon, the covenants, and Christ. Taking God's plan of redemption in Christ as the uniting theme of Scripture, Kimble and Spellman survey the grand storyline of the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, showing how each division of the canon moves the overarching story forward. The following ten chapters survey central and recurring themes of Scripture including kingdom, worship, Messiah and atonement, God's glory, and mission. The authors conclude with reflections on how biblical theology can serve the church as well as the academy.
Download or read book Luke written by F. Scott Spencer and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 894 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story Luke tells in his gospel, says F. Scott Spencer, is “a compelling, complex narrative confession of faith in God. To what degree anyone joins Luke in that faith journey is up to them, but any responsible interpreter must attend considerately to Luke’s theological roadmap.” In this latest addition to the Two Horizons New Testament Commentary series, Spencer integrates close textual analysis of Luke’s unfolding narrative with systematic theology, spiritual formation, philosophical inquiry, and psychological research. With section-by-section commentary, Spencer highlights the overriding salvific message that runs through Luke’s gospel. Pastors, scholars, and students alike will benefit from Spencer’s insight into Luke’s theological significance.
Download or read book Acts of Interpretation written by S. A. Cummins and published by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-25 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book features essays by biblical scholars and theologians offering broad reflections on key interpretive issues, rich readings of challenging biblical texts, and interaction with the Christian exegetical tradition from Melito of Sardis to Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The contributors to this volume are leading figures in the theological interpretation of Scripture. Mindful of the Bible’s role in relation to God’s purposes, people, and world, these essays together offer “acts of interpretation” that aim to advance the faithful and fruitful correlation of Scripture, theology, and culture. Contributors: Craig G. Bartholomew Hans Boersma S. A. Cummins Peter Enns Stephen E. Fowl Joel B. Green Edith M. Humphrey Charles Raith II Christopher R. Seitz Robert W. Wall Jens Zimmermann
