Models for Interpretation of Scripture
ISBN 978 1894667 40 1
340 pages.
Published 1/1/2004
£25.00
Paperback
This definitive study looks at the task of interpreting Scripture by exploring four broad models for understanding Scripture, namely, “witnessing tradition,” “authoritative canon,” “inspired word,” and “experienced revelation.” The diversity of interpretive approaches implied by the use of these four models is carried further by a methodological catholicity and openness within each of the four major divisions of the book. For instance, in dealing with the interpretation of scriptural narrative, Goldingay carefully explains how literary approaches to Scripture and a concern for the history narrated in the Bible’s stories can be held together with other interpretive focuses. In his discussions of differing approaches and focuses in interpretation, Goldingay is impressively clear and informative and demonstrates a sophisticated ability to respond to and challenge what other scholars have written. Throughout this volume, Goldingay continually moves toward the interpreter’s final task-communication to others of what has been gained in interpretation.He asks, for example, what are the implications of the different interpretive strategies for Christian life, human liberation, preaching and Christian community life. He demonstrates his conclusions with numerous examples of interpretation-his own and those of others-of specific Bible passages.
JOHN GOLDINGAY is David Allan Hubbard Professor of Old Testament at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California. He is the author of numerous scholarly books and commentaries on Daniel (Word Biblical Commentary) and Isaiah (New International Biblical Commentary). He has also written several more popular expositions such as After Eating the Apricot and Men Behaving Badly.
A thoughtful, useful and eminently readable teaching tool on biblical interpretation offers common sense judgements and practical examples. I commend it.
Anthony C Thistelton
Goldingay is extremely thorough in this book. He examines multiple approaches to reading Scripture, he is fair charitable towards all of them, and his final conclusion synthesizes a lot of prior analysis very well. There are a few moments in which he goes on tangents about some pet peeves in interpretation (i.e., understanding homosexuality in interpretation), but it’s not enough to deter me from rating it as a must-read for Biblical exegetes.
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1. Introduction: Scripture’s Varied Forms 1
Approaches to the Interpretation of Scripture 2
Approaches to Preaching 7
PART I
SCRIPTURE AS WITNESSING TRADITION: INTERPRETING NARRATIVE 13
2. Witness in the Form of Story: Beginning from the Text 15
History and Story 15
Focusing on the Story’s Own Form and Structure 21
Looking for the Structures under the Surface of the Story 24
Deconstructing the Structures in the Story 27
The Story and Its External Referents 31
Authors and Audiences 33
3. Beginning from the Audience 36
The Audience Implied by the Story 36
The Role of Ambiguity and Openness in Stories 39
What We Bring to Stories 42
What We Read into Stories 45
Is It Audiences That Make Sense of Stories? 46
Vil
viii CONTENTS
Why Is There Diversity in the Way People Understand Texts? 50
4. Scripture as Witness: Some Implications
for Interpretation 56
As Witness Scripture Points Us to God’s Deeds
More Than to Our Obligations 56
Witness to One Story: Implications in Terms of Typology 61
Witness to One Story: Implications for
Liberation Hermeneutics 66
5. How Stories Preach 71
How Biblical Stories Preach 73
How Stories Engage Their Readers 76
Interpreting the Parables 78
The Parable of the Broadcaster 84
PART II
SCRIPTURE AS AUTHORITATIVE CANON: INTERPRETING TORAH 87
6. Scripture as a Collection of Norms for Behavior 89
The Meaning and Applicability of Scriptural Commands 91
The Diverse Perspectives and Levels of Scriptural Commands 94
Pointers from Jesus’ Handling of the Torah 96
The Authority of Jesus and the Authority of the Torah 99
7. Handling the Variety of Levels in Scripture 104
The Canon within the Canon 105
The Place of a Hermeneutic of Suspicion 106
Compromises in the Canon 114
8. Interpretation as a Feature of the Canonical Process 121
Canonical Reapplication 121
Forms of Books 127
Complexes of Books 132
PART III
SCRIPTURE AS INSPIRED WORD: INTERPRETING PROPHECY 139
9. The First Testament Prophets in the Second Testament 141
Prophecy in Matthew 1-2 142
Matthew’s Aims and Methods 144
Conscious and Unconscious Meanings 148
10. The First Testament Prophets in the Modern World 152
Traditional Figurative Interpretation 152
Contemporary Figurative Interpretation: Allegorical,
Devotional, Liberationist, and Preterist-Millennialist 155
The Characteristics of Figurative Approaches 160
11. Interpreting a Historical Word 167
The Place of Historical Interpretation 167
The Process of Historical Interpretation 171
The Role and the Nature of Biblical Criticism 174
The Presuppositions of Tradition and of Criticism 177
12. Hearing the Words of God in the Words
of Human Writers 183
The Risk, Promise, and Ultimate Aim of
Historical Interpretation 183
Interpretation That Goes Deeper Than the Historical 186
Hearing the Word of God in the Words of Isaiah or Ezekiel 189
Critical Interpretation and Interpretation in Faith 194
PART IV
SCRIPTURE AS EXPERIENCED REVELATION: INTERPRETING APOCALYPSE, TESTIMONY,
AND THEOLOGICAL STATEMENT 201
13. Interpreting a Revelation 203
Revelation and Myth 204
The Concepts of Myth and Demythologizing 209
The Complementarity of the Objective and the Self-Involving 212
14. Interpreting Accounts of Human Experience 216
How Such Interpretation Starts 216
How Such Interpretation Develops 221
Interpretation in the Context of an Interpretive Tradition 226
Interpretation in the Context of History 229
15. The Corporateness of Scriptural Interpretation 233
The Context of a Confessional Community 233
The Context of the Academic Community 236
The Context in Society 238
The Context of the Universal Church 242
The Universal Human Context 247
16. Subjectivity and Objectivity in Interpretation 251
Exegesis and Appropriation 252
Exegesis and Application 256
Appropriation and Communication 262
The Complementarity of the Reflective and the Experiential 264
17. Reflective Expository Preaching 266
Discovering How the Text Addressed Its Hearers 267
Discovering How the Text Applies Today 272
How Expository Texts Communicate,
and How We Communicate 279
Guidelines for the Expositor 283
Abbreviations 288
Bibliography 290
Index of Authors 317
Index of Scriptural and Other Ancient Jewish
and Christian Writings 324