Product Description

This book provides the first complete guide for students to the present state of biblical studies. The twenty-one specially commissioned chapters are written by established scholars from North America and Britain, and represent both traditional and contemporary points of view. The chapters in Part One cover all the methods and approaches currently practised in the academic study of the Bible, while those in Part Two examine the major categories of books in the Bible from the perspective of recent scholarship - e.g. historical books of the Old Testament, Gospels, prophetic literature. Major issues raised are: the relation of modern ‘critical’ study of the Bible to ‘pre-critical’ and ‘post-critical’ approaches; the place of history in the study of the Bible; feminist, liberationist and new historicist concerns; the relation of Christian and Jewish scholarship; and recent interest in the Bible as literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #174505 in Books
• Published on: 1998-07-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 354 pages

Review
"These studies are very informative overviews of the particular subjects and their advocates, and they will be persuasive to those who share the assumptions with which the topics are addressed." E. Earle Ellis, Southwestern Journal of Theology

"...a progress report on biblical interpretation in the 1990s...." New Testament Abstracts

"For an overview of recent Bible scholarship, one cannot do better than The Cambridge Companion to Biblical Interpretation....this is a lively, thorough, easy-to-read guide to the action." Tom D'Evelyn, The Providence Sunday Journal

"This is one of the best collections addressing methodological approaches and their application and is an important teaching tool in the face of the bewildering array of methodologies presently employed." Tammi J. Schneider, Religious Studies Review

Customer Reviews

Another fine volume in an excellent series
If you want to get an overview of what's happening in biblical interpretation at the start of the 21st century, this would be a very good place to start. The book is helpfully divided into two sections, the first concentrating on lines of approach, the second on trends in interpretation of different types of biblical writing (the Pentateuch, the prophetic books, and so on). In the first section, I especially enjoyed the concise and well-written introductions to sociological, feminist, political and the so-called 'New Historicist' approaches - all of which are emerging as alternatives to the more 'conventional' historical-critical method (though John Barton, in his chapter on this approach, argues that it is only now, after two hundred years, getting into its stride). In general, I found the second half of the book tried to cover too much ground and ended up being superficial. Despite this, chapters on current approaches to the non-Pauline letters and apocalyptic literature stood out as describing fresh and exciting emerging perspectives. Highly recommended.