Bible and Lay People

Revd Dr Andrew Village is Senior Lecturer at York St John University, York, UK

’... very good at questioning the assumption many 'expert' make about the attitudes of 'ordinary' churchgoers.’ Church Times ’... an important contribution to an area of biblical studies that certainly demands the attention of the scholarly community: biblical reception history... a useful volume that is a good example of a relatively unexplored area of biblical studies and is perhaps as helpful for the clear working out of the methodology as it is for what it tells us about Anglicans (though the insights into the latter gained from this study should not be underestimated).’ Theological Book Review ’... Village is to be congratulated on his pioneering work.’ Journal of Empirical Theology ’At the intersection of practical theology and biblical studies, this book is an important contribution to the small but growing literature examining how people in churches actually interpret the Bible. Village argues persuasively that studies such as his are needed in order to hold up a mirror to the church. Such a mirror can check the stereotyping of ordinary biblical interpretation from both ecclesiastical and academic sources, but more importantly challenges the Church regarding the discrepancy between hermeneutics in theory and hermeneutics in practice. This book will be of great interest to any who are concerned about the interpretation of the Bible in the Church, whether practitioners and/or academics.’ Practical Theology

• Chapter 1 Introduction; Chapter 2 Biblical Studies in Academy and Church; Chapter 3 The Bible and Ordinary Readers; Chapter 4 Biblical Literalism and Ordinary Readers; Chapter 5 Biblical Interpretative Horizons; Chapter 6 Personality and Scripture; Chapter 7 Interpretative Communities and Scripture; Chapter 8 The Holy Spirit and Biblical Interpretation; Chapter 9 Towards an Empirical Theology of Scripture;