Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture: Reading the Bible Critically in Faith

by David Crump

Overview

Personal, experiential faith is seldom given a seat at the table of academic theology and biblical studies. David Crump, however, with the assistance of Søren Kierkegaard's religious philosophy, claims that "authentic understanding, and thus authentic Christian commitment, can only arise from the personal commitment that is faith."

Examining the various biblical, historical, cultural, theological, and academic hurdles demanding a truly Kierkegaardian leap of faith before one can meet the resurrected Jesus, Crump's Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture provides a very insightful discussion of key New Testament texts and issues revealing how Truth is discovered only through the subjectivity of faith.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780802864666
Publisher:	Eerdmans, William B. Publishing Company
Publication date:	05/26/2013
Pages:	155
Product dimensions:	8.80(w) x 6.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

David Crump is professor of religion at Calvin College,Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the author of Jesus theIntercessor: Prayer and Christology in Luke-Acts andKnocking on Heaven’s Door: A New TestamentTheology of Petitionary Prayer."

Table of Contents

Foreword James K. A. Smith vi

Acknowledgments x

1 Introduction 1

2 Recognizing the Messiah When You See Him 15

3 Offended by Uncertainty 47

4 The Apostle Paul, from Encounter to Belief 71

5 Believing the Blasphemous Word 95

6 Education, Experience, and Transformation 113

Index of Subjects and Names 135

Index of Scripture References 142

Editorial Reviews

James K. A. Smith
— from the foreword
"Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture is part bombshell, part pastoral epistle. . . . Both Kierkegaard and Crump have a way of chopping a path through all the brush of hermeneutical debates and academic wrangling about historical criticism to remind us of a simple but still disconcerting truth — that the point of Scripture is to encounter Jesus. . . . Students and other interpreters need to read this book to be reminded that what's at stake in biblical studies is an encounter with the Lover of our souls."

C. Stephen Evans
— Baylor University
"It is not surprising that David Crump's Encountering Jesus, Encountering Scripture exhibits a deep understanding of the issues raised by historical-critical biblical scholarship. But Crump's book is far more than a learned piece of New Testament scholarship. He shows how it is possible for a person who knows about the critical issues to read the Bible as God's word for today, addressed to existing human beings. Crump carries on a continual conversation with Kierkegaard that I found illuminating and that the great Danish thinker would have found gratifying."

Catholic Biblical Quarterly
"A passionate and exciting book . . . . It is a voice that should continue to be heard as it enriches and challenges us all."

Choice (American Library Association)
"This engaging book emerges from applying the writings of Kierkegaard on faith in God to some important questions about New Testament interpretation. . . . Highly recommended."

Mission Today
"In this book we meet David Crump as a sincere Christian disciple whose faith and love seek a reliable platform for an authentic understanding and a vibrant interpretation of Sacred Scripture."
 

From the Publisher