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Renewing Biblical Interpretation

Volume 1

Edited by Craig Bartholomew, Colin Greene and Karl Möller. 
Published by Paternoster Press and Zondervan.

ISBN: 0-85364-034-3

'Church history is in large measure the history of biblical interpretation. And almost all contemporary cultural and intellectual movements eventually show up in biblical interpretation as well. Both modernity and modern biblical studies are showing signs of ageing, and it is agreed that the critical approach that has dominated the discussion for the last two hundred or so years has obscured the Bible's role as the Church's authoritative Scripture. All the more reason to be grateful, then, that there is now an academic seminar devoted to the project of recovering a theological dimension to the interpretation of Scripture. This first volume holds out the hope that certain hermeneutical developments will lead not only to the renewal of biblical interpretation, but to the renewal of the Church itself.'

Kevin J. Vanhoozer, Research Professor of Systematic Theology,Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

'There are few things more urgent for Christian thought in the churches and in universities and seminaries than to produce lively, intelligent and imaginative biblical interpretation. The Scripture and Hermeneutics Seminar is facing the deepest issues involved in doing this. It does not run away from complexity or controversy. But above all it is concerned to do justice to the extraordinary, generative richness of the Bible and to let it be genuinely "habitable" today. This book will illuminate, inspire and provoke anyone who wants to learn from some of the best in the field how to respond to the Bible in the aftermath of modern critiques and crises.'

David F. Ford, Regius Professor of Divinity, University of Cambridge

'This book brings together some of the key players in the present discussions of how to use the Bible, not simply to talk about how difficult it all is but to point new and creative ways forward. A refreshing and wide-ranging discussion that will help us all both to think clearly and to read – and teach! – more responsibly.'

Tom Wright, Canon Theologian, Westminster Abbey

Table of Contents

  • Foreword
    Brevard S. Childs
  • Introduction
    Craig G. Bartholomew
  • Uncharted Waters: Philosophy, Theology and the Crisis in Biblical Interpretation
    Craig G. Bartholomew
  • Scripture Becomes Religion(s): The Theological Crisis of Serious Biblical Interpretation in the Twentieth Century
    Christopher R. Seitz
  • The Social Effect of Biblical Criticism
    Walter Sundberg
  • A Response to Walter Sundberg
    John Riches
  • Confessional Criticism and the Night Visions of Zechariah
    Al Wolters
  • A Response to Al Wolters
    Rex Mason
  • The Philosophy of Language and the Renewal of Biblical Hermeneutics
    Neil B. MacDonald
  • A Response to Neil B. MacDonald
    Mary B. Hesse
  • Renewing Historical Criticism
    Karl Möller
  • Critical but Real: Reflecting on N.T. Wright’s Tools for the Task
    Thorsten Moritz
  • “In the Arms of the Angels”: Biblical Interpretation, Christology and the Philosophy of History
    Colin J.D. Greene
  • An Experiment in Biblical Criticism: Aesthetic Encounter in Reading and Preaching Scripture
    Stephen I. Wright
  • A Missional Approach to Renewed Interpretation
    Harry Daniel Beeby
  • Deconstructing the Tower of Babel: Ontotheology and the Postmodern Bible
    Brian D. Ingraffia
  • Imagination and Responsible Reading
    Trevor Hart
  • A Response to Trevor Hart
    Nicholas Wolterstorff
  • A First Retrospect on the Consultation
    Walter Brueggemann