Theology, History, and Biblical Interpretation

Darren Sarisky received his PhD from the University of Aberdeen, UK. From 2009-2013, he was a Teaching Associate and then a Junior Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, UK. He is now a Lecturer in Systematic Theology at King’s College London, UK.

These extensive readings provide a wonderful resource for engaging biblical hermeneutics. Darren Sarisky’s introductions are clear and concise, gently helping the reader to keep central questions in mind. Whatever one’s inevitable quibbles over a text getting left out, these selections represent important moments of the modern conversation about theology and interpretation. Sarisky is one of the young scholars who can advance that conversation to a new stage, and here he does so by helping us attend to its historical context.

• Copyright Acknowledgments viiIntroduction: Theology, History, and Biblical Interpretation 11 Spinoza, Benedict de. Theological-Political Treatise. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Chapter 7, “On the Interpretation of Scripture.” 112 Strauss, David F. The Life of Jesus Critically Examined. London: SCM, 1973. Selections from Introduction, “Development of the Mythical Point of View in Relation to the Gospel Histories.” 293 Kierkegaard, Søren. Concluding Unscientific Postscript to Philosophical Fragments. Vol. 1. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1992. Chapter 1, “The Historical Point of View.” 694 Troeltsch, Ernst. “On the Historical and Dogmatic Methods in Theology.” In Religion in History, 11–32. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1991. 895 Barth, Karl. The Epistle to the Romans. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1968. Prefaces 1–6. 1096 Bultmann, Rudolf. “The New Testament and Mythology.” In The New Testament and Mythology and Other Basic Writings, edited by Schubert Ogden, 1–44. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984. 1317 Pope Pius XII. Divino Afflante Spiritu: On Promoting Biblical Studies. Rome, 1943. 1658 Ebeling, Gerhard. Selections from “The Significance of the Critical Historical Method for Church and Theology in Protestantism.” In Word and Faith, 17–61. London: SCM Press, 1963. 1879 Lubac, Henri de. History and Spirit: The Understanding of Scripture According to Origen. San Francisco: Ignatius, 2007. Selections from the Conclusion. 219 10 Stendahl, Krister. Selections from “Biblical Theology, Contemporary.” In The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, edited by George A. Buttrick. New York: Abingdon, 1962. 23911 Childs, Brevard S. Introduction to the Old Testament as Scripture. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979. Chapter 3, “Canon and Criticism.” 25512 Steinmetz, David C. “The Superiority of Pre-Critical Exegesis.” Theology Today 37 (1978): 27–38. 26713 Luz, Ulrich. “Reflections on the Appropriate Interpretation of New Testament Texts.” In Studies in Matthew, 265–289. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005. 27914 Marion, Jean-Luc. God without Being: Hors-Texte. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1991. Chapter 5, “Of the Eucharistic Site of Theology.” 30315 Schüssler Fiorenza, Elisabeth. “The Ethics of Biblical Interpretation: Decentering Biblical Scholarship.” Journal of Biblical Literature 107 (1988): 3–17. 32116 Levenson, Jon D. “The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism.” In The Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, and Historical Criticism: Jews and Christians in Biblical Studies, 1–32. Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1993. 33717 Plantinga, Alvin. “Two (or More) Kinds of Scripture Scholarship.” Modern Theology 14 (1998): 243–278. 36518 Ricœur, Paul. “The Nuptial Metaphor.” In Thinking Biblically: Exegetical and Hermeneutical Studies, edited by André LaCocque and Paul Ricœur, 265–303. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1998. 40319 Barr, James. The Concept of Biblical Theology: An Old Testament Perspective. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1999. Chapter 12, “Evaluation, Commitment, Objectivity.” 43920 Webster, John. Holy Scripture: A Dogmatic Sketch. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003. Chapter 1, “Revelation, Sanctification, and Inspiration.” 459Index 485