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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.
List of contents
- List of abbreviations
- List of figures
- List of contributors
- Introduction
- Part I: Scripture
- 1: Lincoln H. Blumell: Scripture as Artefact
- 2: Reinhart Ceulemans: The Septuagint and Other Translations
- 3: Joseph Lienhard, SJ: Canons and Rules of Faith
- 4: Frances Young: Divine Discourse: Scripture in the Economy of Revelation
- Part II: Interpreters and Interpretation
- 5: Peter Struck: Greco-Roman Literary Criticism
- 6: Tarmo Toom: Early Christian Handbooks on Interpretation
- 7: John C. Cavadini: From Letter to Spirit: The Multiple Senses of Scripture
- 8: Peter W. Martens: The Ideal Interpreter
- Part III: Settings and Genres of Scriptural Interpretation
- I Exegetical Genres
- 9: Josef Lössl: Commentaries
- 10: Eric Scherbenske: Scholia
- 11: Lorenzo Perrone: Questions and Responses
- 12: Andrew Faulkner: Paraphrase and Metaphrase
- 13: Richard A. Layton: Catanae
- 14: Luke Dysinger, OSB: Sentences
- II Liturgical Interpretation
- 15: Wendy Mayer: Catecheses and Homilies
- 16: Jeffrey Wickes: Poetry and Hymnody
- 17: L. Edward Phillips: Liturgy as Performative Interpretation
- III Narrative and Visual Interpretation
- 18: Stephen J. Shoemaker: Christian Apocrypha
- 19: F. Stanley Jones: Novels
- 20: Bronwen Neil: Hagiography
- 21: Robin M. Jensen: Visual Art
- Part IV: Communities and Criteria
- 22: James Carleton Paget: Christianity and Judaism
- 23: John Granger Cook: Christians and Pagans
- 24: H. Clifton Ward: Marcion and His Critics
- 25: David Brakke: Gnostics and Their Critics
- 26: Jason BeDuhn: Manichaean Biblical Interpretation
- Part V: Scripture in the Life of the Church
- 27: Johan Leemans and Anthony Dupont: Scripture and Martyrdom
- 28: Lewis Ayres: Scripture in the Trinitarian Controversy
- 29: Andrew Hofer, OP: Scripture in the Christological Controversies
- 30: Michael Hollerich: Scripture and a Christian Empire
- 31: Elizabeth A. Clark: Scripture and Asceticism
- VI: Scriptural Figures and Motifs
- 32: Paul M. Blowers: Creation
- 33: Peter C. Bouteneff: Adam and Eve
- 34: Everett Ferguson: Covenants
- 35: Michael Graves: Exodus
- 36: B. Lee Blackburn, Jr.: Law
- 37: Michael Cameron: Psalms
- 38: Mark W. Elliot: Semon on the Mount
- 39: C. E. Hill: The Gospel of John
- 40: Judith L. Kovacs: P
About the author
Paul M. Blowers is Dean E. Walker Professor of Church History at Emmanuel Christian Seminary at Milligan College. He was formerly President of the North American Patristics Society from 2008-09. His publications include Maximus the Confessor: Jesus Christ and the Transfiguration of the World (2016) and Drama of the Divine Economy: Creator and Creation in Early Christian Theology and Piety (2012).
Peter W. Martens is Associate Professor of Early Christianity and Chair of the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. He is the author of Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life (2012) and the critical edition Adrian's Introduction to the Divine Scriptures (2017).
Summary
The Bible was the lifeblood of virtually every aspect of the life of the early churches. This Handbook explores a wide array of themes related to the reception, canonization, interpretation, uses, and legacies of the Bible in early Christianity.
Additional text
The Oxford Handbook of Early Christian Biblical Interpretation fulfils the intention that Toom claims typifies early Christian handbooks on interpretation: 'to be used as a reference work on a particular subject matter, presenting its material in an introductory yet systematic way.'
Report
Blowers and Martens have produced a volume worthy of the series within which it rests and will undoubtedly be a necessary resource for many years to come. Clark R. Bates, University of Birmingham, Review of Biblical Literature
