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Paul M. Blowers, and Peter W. Martens (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2019).

Abstract

"The Bible was the essence of virtually every aspect of the life of the early churches. The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation explores a wide array of themes related to the reception, canonization, interpretation, uses, and legacies of the Bible in early Christianity. Each section contains overviews and cutting-edge scholarship that expands understanding of the field. Part One examines the material text transmitted, translated, and invested with authority, and the very conceptualization of sacred Scripture as God's word for the church. Part Two looks at the culture and disciplines or science of interpretation in representative exegetical traditions. Part Three addresses the diverse literary and non-literary modes of interpretation, while Part Four canvasses the communal background and foreground of early Christian interpretation, where the Bible was paramount in shaping normative Christian identity. Part Five assesses the determinative role of the Bible in major developments and theological controversies in the life of the churches. Part Six returns to interpretation proper and samples how certain abiding motifs from within scriptural revelation were treated by major Christian expositors. The overall history of biblical interpretation has itself now become the subject of a growing scholarship and the final part skilfully examines how early Christian exegesis was retrieved and critically evaluated in later periods of church history. Taken together, the chapters provide nuanced paths of introduction for students and scholars from a wide spectrum of academic fields, including classics, biblical studies, the general history of interpretation, the social and cultural history of late ancient and early medieval Christianity, historical theology, and systematic and contextual theology. Readers will be oriented to the major resources for, and issues in, the critical study of early Christian biblical interpretation."--Publisher description.

Contents

Part I: Scripture -- Scripture as artefact / Lincoln H. Blumell -- The Septuagint and other translations / Reinhart Ceulemans -- Canons and rules of faith / Joseph T. Lienhard, SJ -- Divine discourse: scripture in the economy of revelation / Frances Young -- Part II: Interpreters and interpretation -- Greco-Roman literary criticism / Peter Struck -- Early Christian handbooks on interpretation / Tarmo Toom -- From Letter to Spirit: the multiple senses of scripture / John C. Cavadini -- Ideal interpreters / Peter W. Martens -- Part III: Settings and genres of scriptural interpretation -- I. Exegetical genres -- Commentaries / Josef Lössl -- Scholia / Eric Scherbenske -- Questions and responses / Lorenzo Perrone -- Paraphrase and metaphrase / Andrew Faulkner -- Catenae / Richard A. Layton -- Sentences / Luke Dysinger, OSB -- II. Liturgical interpretation -- Catecheses and homilies / Wendy Mayer -- Poetry and hymnody / Jeffrey Wickes -- Liturgy as performative interpretation / L. Edward Phillips -- III. Narrative and visual interpretation -- Christian apocrypha / Stephen J. Shoemaker -- Novels / F. Stanley Jones -- Hagiography / Bronwen Neil -- Early Christian visual art as biblical interpretation / Robin M. Jensen -- Part IV: Communities and criteria -- Christianity and Judaism / James Carleton Paget -- Christians and pagans / John Granger Cook -- Marcion and his critics / H. Clifton Ward -- Gnostics and their critics / David Brakke -- Manichaean biblical interpretation / Jason BeDuhn -- Part V: Scripture in the life of the church -- Scripture and martyrdom / Johan Leemans and Anthony Dupont -- Scripture in the trinitarian controversies / Lewis Ayres -- Scripture in the christological controversies / Andrew Hofer, OP -- Scripture and a Christian empire / Michael Hollerich -- Scripture and asceticism / Elizabeth A. Clark -- VI: Scriptural figures and motifs -- Creation / Paul M. Blowers -- Adam and Eve / Peter C. Bouteneff -- Covenants / Everett Ferguson -- Exodus / Michael Graves -- Law / B. Lee Blackburn, Jr -- Psalms / Michael Cameron -- Semon on the Mount / Mark Elliott -- The Gospel of John / C.E. Hill -- Paul the Apostle / Judith L. Kovacs -- The cross / John Behr -- Heaven and hell / Jeffrey A. Trumbower -- VII: Retrievals and criticisms -- Medieval Latin reception / Franklin T. Harkins -- Byzantine reception / Mary B. Cunningham -- Reception in the Renaissance and Reformation / Esther Chung-Kim -- Modern biblical criticism and the legacy of pre-modern interpretation / Michael C. Legaspi -- Retrievals in contemporary Christian theology / Matthew Levering.

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