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Models for Interpretation of Scripture

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Models for Interpretation of Scripture

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Overview

This definitive study looks at the task of interpreting Scripture by exploring four broad models for understanding Scripture, namely, "witnessing tradition," "authoritative canon," "inspired word," and "experienced revelation." The diversity of interpretive approaches implied by the use of these four models is carried further by a methodological catholicity and openness within each of the four major divisions of the book. For instance, in dealing with the interpretation of scriptural narrative, Goldingay carefully explains how literary approaches to Scripture and a concern for the history narrated in the Bible's stories can be held together with other interpretive focuses. In his discussions of differing approaches and focuses in interpretation, Goldingay is impressively clear and informative and demonstrates a sophisticated ability to respond to and challenge what other scholars have written. Throughout this volume, Goldingay continually moves toward the interpreter's final task-communication to others of what has been gained in interpretation. He asks, for example, what are the implications of the different interpretive strategies for Christian life, human liberation, preaching and Christian community life. He demonstrates his conclusions with numerous examples of interpretation-his own and those of others-of specific Bible passages.

JOHN GOLDINGAY is David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is the author of numerous scholarly books and commentaries on Daniel (Word Biblical Commentary) and Isaiah (New International Biblical Commentary). He has also written several more popular expositions such as After Eating the Apricot and Men Behaving Badly.

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Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781894667401
Publisher:	Piquant Publishing
Publication date:	01/01/2004
Pages:	340
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.76(d)

Introduction: Scripture's Varied Forms

Approaches to the Interpretation of Scripture
Approaches to Preaching

PART I SCRIPTURE AS WITNESSING TRADITION: INTERPRETING NARRATIVE

Witness in the Form of Story: Beginning from the Text

History and Story
Focusing on the Story's Own Form and Structure
Looking for the Structures under the Surface of the Story
Deconstructing the Structures in the Story
The Story and Its External Referents
Authors and Audiences

Beginning from the Audience

The Audience Implied by the Story
The Role of Ambiguity and Openness in Stories
What We Bring to Stories
What We Read into Stories
Is It Audiences That Make Sense of Stories?
Why Is There Diversity in the Way People Understand Texts?

Scripture as Witness: Some Implications for Interpretation

As Witness Scripture Points Us to God's Deeds More Than to Our Obligations
Witness to One Story: Implications in Terms of Typology
Witness to One Story: Implications for Liberation Hermeneutics

How Stories Preach

How Biblical Stories Preach
How Stories Engage Their Readers
Interpreting the Parables
The Parable of the Broadcaster

PART II SCRIPTURE AS AUTHORITATIVE CANON: INTERPRETING TORAH

Scripture as a Collection of Norms for Behavior

The Meaning and Applicability of Scriptural Commands
The Diverse Perspectives and Levels of Scriptural Commands
Pointers from Jesus' Handling of the Torah
The Authority of Jesus and the Authority of the Torah

Handling the Variety of Levels in Scripture

The Canon within the Canon
The Place of a Hermeneutic of Suspicion
Compromises in the Canon

Interpretation as a Feature of the Canonical Process

Canonical Reapplication
Forms of Books
Complexes of Books

PART III SCRIPTURE AS INSPIRED WORD: INTERPRETING PROPHECY

The First Testament Prophets in the Second Testament

Prophecy in Matthew 1-2
Matthew's Aims and Methods
Conscious and Unconscious Meanings

The First Testament Prophets in the Modern World

Traditional Figurative Interpretation
Contemporary Figurative Interpretation: Allegorical, Devotional, Liberationist, and Preterist-Millennialist
The Characteristics of Figurative Approaches

Interpreting a Historical Word

The Place of Historical Interpretation
The Process of Historical Interpretation
The Role and the Nature of Biblical Criticism
The Presuppositions of Tradition and of Criticism

Hearing the Words of God in the Words of Human Writers

The Risk, Promise, and Ultimate Aim of Historical Interpretation
Interpretation That Goes Deeper Than the Historical
Hearing the Word of God in the Words of Isaiah or Ezekiel
Critical Interpretation and Interpretation in Faith

PART IV SCRIPTURE AS EXPERIENCED REVELATION: INTERPRETING APOCALYPSE, TESTIMONY, AND THEOLOGICAL STATEMENT

Interpreting a Revelation

Revelation and Myth
The Concepts of Myth and Demythologizing
The Complementarity of the Objective and the Self-Involving

Interpreting Accounts of Human Experience

How Such Interpretation Starts
How Such Interpretation Develops
Interpretation in the Context of an Interpretive Tradition
Interpretation in the Context of History

The Corporateness of Scriptural Interpretation

The Context of a Confessional Community
The Context of the Academic Community
The Context in Society
The Context of the Universal Church
The Universal Human Context

Subjectivity and Objectivity in Interpretation

Exegesis and Appropriation
Exegesis and Application
Appropriation and Communication
The Complementarity of the Reflective and the Experiential

Reflective Expository Preaching

Discovering How the Text Addressed Its Hearers
Discovering How the Text Applies Today
How Expository Texts Communicate, and How We Communicate
Guidelines for the Expositor

Abbreviations
Bibliography
Index of Authors
Index of Scriptural and Other Ancient Jewish and Christian Writings

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Editorial Reviews

If one wants an accessible overview of contemporary thought regarding the interpretation of the Bible, this is a good place to start. This book will lead one into the issues and acquaint one with the literature—and do so in such a way that helpful things about the art of biblical interpretation can be learned along the way.

Dialog

John Goldingay has established a reputation from books that manifest two qualities: (1) They provide a thorough survey of interpretive options (with massive bibliography); (2) They offer Goldingay's own creative approach in a clear but understated way. This book exemplifies both of these characteristics.

Homiletic

"A learned and engaging analysis that combines a commitment to an appropriately chastened biblical criticism with a concern to read the First and Second Testaments as Scripture.... Those who complain about the chasm between Scripture and preaching, Scripture and theology, Scripture and ethics, et al., will find Goldingay a sophisticated and perceptive conversation partner."

Journal for Biblical Literature

"A balanced yet quite provocative understanding of Scripture and its interpretation that presents challenges to both "conservatives" and "liberals.""

Presbyterian Outlook

"A book which is helpful in bringing an end to the strange silence of the Bible in the churches.... His constant attention to the audiences is one of the strengths of the book. All in all, a very useful books."

Reformed Review

Maintains the wide-ranging and thought-provoking qualities of the earlier book, and though addressed primarily to a Christian readership is well worth the attention of those concerned with issues of literary interpretation.... The wealth of bibliographical information is again impressively helpful.

Society for Old Book List Testament Study

"So sound, so balanced, so wise, so thorough, so stimulating, so insightful, so important—ways perhaps one could describe any of the works of John Goldingay, but that description is particularly appropriate to this vital book.... One could wish that everyone to whom the Bible is important would read and absorb this book by the charming and creative British evangelical."

Southwestern Journal of Theology

An innovative approach to a very complicated task.

The Bible Today

"A useful book for those who understand that exegetical methods for preaching must account for the varieties of different literary forms in Scripture. His argument is well illustrated by applications of his methodology concerning different forms.... This book is not light theological reading, but will urge the reader to consider many important steps in the interpretive process for preaching. The book is worth the price and the time spent on it."

The Clergy Journal

This book will have a deep appeal to the catechist, the theologian, the preacher and the serious listener.

The Living Church

"It would be a valuable discipline for a minister to make the book the basis for a sustained study, giving time to each of its four major sections.... This is an inclusive, ecumenical discussion to which many voices contribute, including liberation theology, feminism, the new literary criticism, and structuralism. The whole discussion is based on the churches foundational conviction that the human words of the Bible, enlivened and enhanced by the Holy Spirit are the medium of God's speaking today."

Theology Today

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