Reading the Bible Theologically

Examines what theological reading is, and how it shapes the interpretation of Biblical text through explicit focus on the reader.

Darren Sarisky (Author)

9781108734097, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 15 October 2020

427 pages
14 x 21.5 x 2.5 cm, 0.56 kg

'… this book will go a long way toward helping scholars and students reframe the debate, moving away from theology versus history and thinking instead of how a historical reading of Scripture is transformed when it is approached theologically instead of naturalistically.' Austin Stevenson, International Journal of Systematic Theology

Theological interpretation of the Bible is one of the most significant debates within theology today. Yet what exactly is theological reading? Darren Sarisky proposes that it requires identification of the reader via a theological anthropology; an understanding of the text as a collection of signs; and reading the text with a view toward engaging with what it says of transcendence. Accounts of theological reading do not often give explicit focus to the place of the reader, but this work seeks to redress this neglect. Sarisky examines Augustine's approach to the Bible and how his theological insights into the reader and the text generate an aim for interpretation, which is fulfilled by fitting reading strategies. He also engages with Spinoza, showing that theological exegesis contrasts not with approaches that take history seriously, but with naturalistic approaches to reading.

1. The reader, redemption, and signs
2. Between scientia and the Trinity
3. In contradistinction to naturalism
4. Faith and the ecclesial community
5. The Bible and theological semiotics
6. Exegetical ends and means.

Subject Areas: Sacred texts [HRLC], Theology [HRLB], New Testaments [HRCF2], Bibles [HRCF], Philosophy of religion [HRAB]